3 Ways to Teach Kids Good Money Habits

Spend, Save and Share Jars

Many parents teach their kids the value of hard work by paying them for chores. You can take this a step further by talking about what they can do with their hard-earned cash. Get three jars and add the label spend, save, and share to the jars. Then sit down talk to them about where they want to put the money and how much in each jar. This is also a great way to learn how to count change.

Budgeting for Groceries

Before you go to the grocery store, make a budget and shopping list of the items you need. Then have your kids guess the cost of different items. When you get home, compare the receipt with your shopping list and discuss the differences. This is also a great chance to teach kids the difference in price between name brand and generic items. Make a list of items and have your kids look online to find out how much money they can save by choosing generic items over name brand products.

Needs and Wants

Discuss the difference between needs and wants. In order to survive, you have needs. Food, water, shelter, and clothing are examples. Wants are things you would like to have but aren’t always necessary. Take this a step further by taking a large white sheet of paper and writing “needs” at the top of one column and “wants” at the top of the other. Then have your kids cut out images from magazines and grocery advertisements and put them in one of the two columns. Afterward, you will have a visual to discuss their choices. There are gray areas, so be prepared to tell your kids why cookies are food, but that doesn’t make them a need.