Helping Our Girls To Cultivate The Habit Of Saving.

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A PENNY SAVED IS A PENNY EARNED.

Benjamin Franklin.

It is imperative to teach our girl’s to cultivate the habit of saving as early as they can talk and count. Many of us may have started to do this very well, some may have not and others either started and stopped. This post serves as a reminder to help us to keep up, no matter what point we are now. A lot of grownups still struggle with saving money because habits formed at a young is difficult to change when of age. if you are in the group of an adult struggling to have a steady and good savings account or culture, check out this service, YNAB. It is super awesome because when you sign up for it, it ensures you save some money as much as possible. It is a life saver.

There are so many reasons why we need to teach them how to manage money from a young age, one of which is self-sufficiency. You want to raise your girls up in such a way that they can be independent financially. They should be able to live within their means and be content when they grow up either they are single or married. If they are not well tutored now, tendencies are they grow up always borrowing to make ends meet, some begin to steal to fit in, some incur credit cards debts which they don’t know how to pay back. Many parents just assumed that the concept of being frugal will be taught in the school, but that is not the case. Teaching them how to save is pretty straight forward, once we as parents make up our mind to take it seriously and by using every opportunity that presents itself in our daily activities.

Activities like:

• Grocery shopping: Take them along with you once in a while to buy groceries for the house and tell them the reason for the choice you make, the difference in the prices of the product, ask them to make choices too and have them explain why they made such choices. Give them some money to buy anything they choose from the list of shopping and allow them to pay for it separately.

• Bank and Atm trips: Allow them to go with you to the bank and to withdraw or deposit cash once in a while. Explain to them how it works and gives room for questions.

• Chores and Task: Give the regular chores that they must do like laying their bed, sweeping their room, washing their plates after eating and so much more. But cultivate the habit of giving them money for doing exceptional task especially without being told to do so. They take two lessons away from the experience; that they should learn to use their initiative to do things and not wait for mummy or daddy to always instruct them to do the obvious like; go tidy up, help your sister put her shoes on and others. They can also earn money from using their initiative or doing specifically assigned chores properly. For instance, my eldest of 8 years old would usually ask if she can help mop the floor or vacuum the room and so much more. So she gets to earn extra.

• Buying and selling: Encourage them to take out of their saved money to buy things they can turn into making more money, by selling them. For instance, they can buy beads and materials needed and teach them to make necklaces, bracelets, and others for sale. Most of them are taught arts and crafts in school and it’s something they enjoy doing, so they can make handmade cards to sell. They can learn how to sew doll clothes, buy fabric and sell. My daughters and their friend made doll clothes with paper and markers and it looked like the real deal, imagine when they can do if they have fabric and materials to make them and are taught to sew. They can bake cupcakes, lemonade, in fact, the list is endless. The good thing about all these is, the material needed is very affordable and cost next to nothing. Plus it’s not only about how much make at their age but the important life skill they are forming along the way.

Image of doll clothes made with paper, markers, stickers, and tape by my daughters and friend.

• Allowance: I love the idea of giving the girls allowance although some people frown about this, I, however, look at it from a different perspective. One of which is to further buttress the point of learning to save. Some parent makes a direct deposit into a bank account they created for their kids which is not a bad thing but I’d rather I give them the money and take them through the system I explained above (The Art Of Saving). The style of allowance we choose to use gives them the amount that equals their age. For instance, my eight years old gets $8 every month, that goes in the savings jar. Then it gets to undergo the process of the Art of Savings together with other saved money for that month. This kind of money will also serve the need of having to buy tampons or sanitary napkins as the need arises.

Another reason to teach your girls to cultivate the habit of saving at an early age is Independence. I for one have always frowned at a wife waiting on her husband for her every need! It is not a bad thing for one’s husband to take care of the wife’s need but not for every single thing. Even as a stay at home, they are so many things that can be done to make extra funds and if a girl has been well-trained to save from a young age. she will also have funds to fall back on. Close to this reason is the ability to manage the family funds appropriately. These girls grow up fast before you know it, they are an MRS. Most of the marital issues have to do with finances, so let do our best to guide our girls in the right direction.

The Art Of Saving

There are so many theories out there about methods of saving but the one that works for us is the old-fashioned piggy bank. My Oldest uses the transparent jar for her savings while the younger ones use the good old, not a transparent piggy bank. They keep all their savings in there and are always excited when they earned some more as they watch it grow. Some parent buys three different jars and labels it SAVINGS, SPENDING and GIVING/CHARITY. If this is the method you choose, fantastic! But we make use of only one jar or piggy bank for each child. The plan is to get a small journal for each child, at the end of each month (or whatever timing you choose), let them bring out all the money saved, count the money and record the total amount in the journal with the date of the day. Then teach them how to share the money.

♠ Take out 10 percent of the total money for tithe, and pay their tithe in church.

♠ Take 10 percent to buy anything they want and if nothing, put the money back in the piggy bank for the following month.

♠Take 10 percent to give out to someone in need or charity. There are so many people around us in need, take time out to drive them to shelters if there is no one around you in need.

♠ Open a savings account in their name and take them to the bank to save the money by themselves to teach them more about financial independence.

Find the model that works for your girls but please make time to give them these training as much as possible.

Get your girls piggy bank here ⇓

If you have any ideas apart from the discussed, please leave them in the comment section below. Your feedback is important to us.