Savings

The kids have been gathering pennies from Grandma and us, and other sources like birthdays, Christmas and other holidays. They have been keeping their coins in their piggy banks on their dressers. But the temptation to spend it is just to great. Every time Kaleb goes to a store he wants to bring money along to buy a toy. Don't get me wrong, spending is not a bad thing. But impulse spending for immediate gratification can become a problem later in life. Now perhaps teaching the lesson of saving to a 6 year old is over the top, but it is a lesson that Tim & I both struggle with even now. It is our personal financial goal to save a larger "rainy day fund" to solidify our financial future. And a family that saves together...is more likely to be successful!

We took each of the kids piggy banks and went to a coin star machine. Coin star is a coin sorting machine. Much to our dismay Kaleb had managed to save over $20 in coins. Jasmyn had $11 and Mason had $9. Pretty good for kids that don't even get an allowance yet! Not to mention the dollar bills they had gotten from relatives and friends. The kids were thrilled to use the coinstar machine and get paper money from the store. Although they are not sure how this whole bank account stuff works, they indulged me! Kaleb is the proud owner of a saving account with $36 buck in it! Jasmyn has $21! And Mason has $19. They got a fancy bank book and a water bottle as a prize! LOL!

As an ongoing savings goal the kids will make a monthly deposit to their savings accounts. 50% of what they earn or receive during the month goes to the savings account. 50% stays in the piggy bank for them to spend on toys and such. Hopefully this will help them delay gratification on instant toy purchase, make spending decisions more carefully and also save their "spending" 50% to buy a cool toy they REALLY want. I would like this to be a life long lesson they learn and apply to their adult lives!

I hope it works!