I do not pretend to be a great financial expert. I'm not even a good financial expert. The fact is that I love to shop! That being said, I’m not entirely devoid of financial sense. I understand the value of money and I also understand the value of not having any.
Call it what you want: savings, nest egg, retirement, rainy day fund, my-jalopy-broke-down-on-the-side-of-the-interstate fund, orthodontia savings, or whatever you want. Either way, there is great value in learning how to handle your money.
I’d like to be able to teach my daughter financial responsibility while she’s young. Hopefully she’ll have better sense than I did when I first moved away from home. (Crazy credit card companies…who gives so much credit to someone with so much risk? No wonder the banks needed a bail out!!)
There are a couple of things I want to teach my daughter in this process, so I built boards (with age appropriate tasks) to help illustrate my point:
Lesson #1: How much you are willing to work will determine how much money you make.
In my opinion, even paid jobs are voluntary. You don’t actually have to go to work, right? But, if you don’t go to work you shouldn’t expect to get paid. There is a cause and effect in play here. You go to work, you do a good job, and you get paid. The more money you want to make, the more you’ll have to work. This lesson is so important. Money doesn’t just appear - you have to work for it.
Each chore has a dollar amount (or cents right now) and as each person in our little family completes a task they can move them under their name. At the end of the week the totals are added up. I added myself to set an example, although I don't get paid. ;-) Our chart is in the kitchen, so its easy for everyone to access.
Lesson #2: Some things are required to be done simply because you are alive, you do not get paid to do these things.
I think this is an invaluable lesson to learn. You shouldn’t expect to be paid for certain tasks, like eating your dinner, brushing teeth, or picking up after yourself. These are basic expectations of living and being respectful to other people. Learning this lesson means accepting that things need to be done even though there is no monetary payment for doing them.
Each of these tasks are daily requirements. At the end of the day we check to see what we've done, and make sure we complete the rest. My kiddo loves to move these on her own; this chart is in her room.
Lesson #3: If you want something that costs more money than what you have now, you have to save; optimal word being, “want”.
This is pretty self-explanatory, yet so many people fail to understand it. If you don’t have the money right now, in your pocket, to get something, then you better start saving. That does not mean stealing it. That does not mean going into debt for it. That does not mean that your parents will get it for you (Grandparents are a different story). How much money you put aside is up to you, but that directly effects how long it will take for you to get what you want.
There are, of course, many more lessons about money that I’d like her to learn; but she’s only one. So I’ll give her a break...for now. :-)
I love these charts because the chores can change as my child grows up, I just have to make difference magnets. Also, the cookie sheets and magnet glass came from the dollar store. Cheap cookie sheets, as long as they are magnetic, are the best!!
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