Mommy Moments: Financial Tip

This blog has not been written on for the last three weeks.  I had a very bad experience with my previous internet service provider and had already finished my contract with them.  I am now looking for a new internet company and hopefully will get my new connection within the first two weeks of September.  I was browsing through my favorite blogs today and cannot pass on this week's theme for the Mommy Moments, hence, I am joining the fun.

So how do I teach my kid about finances?

1. I make grocery time a bonding and educational time for us.  I let him check out on the price of our commodities.  If the items are not too much, I  ask him to list down the prices and them sum them up before going to the counter to pay the amount.   And oh, did I already share that we do our grocery as a family?  That way each one will have his say on what things to buy and the things that we could avoid buying.

2.  He does have his own piggy bank.  And he only puts ten peso coin on his piggy bank.  He said he is saving for Christmas presents.  Last year, he was able to buy his gift to Lolo, Dada and Mama from his savings.

3.  I always tell him that he needs to either save or work for things he would like to have.  There are times that we went to Toy Kingdom and he was asking if we could buy a Transformers toy.  I said not until I see that his exams are okay.  It made him realize that most of the times you will have to work to get what you would like to have. 

4.  It is also a common practice in the household to only get enough food that you can consume.  We do not allow anyone to have left overs on their plate.  This educates him not just about the value of money that was used to pay for the food but for the food on his plate as well.

5.  Every June when school year opens, I also make it a point to instill the value of thriftiness.  We do not buy him new uniforms and new shoes or bags if he can still use his old ones.  I don't think it is depriving him on what he ought to have but more of letting him know that he needs to take care of his belongings because he will still be using most of them the next school year.

I would say that my Mom instill in us the value of each cent earn, maybe because early on in our life we were already taught to handle our own finances.  She even sends us to the market to buy stuffs for our little sari-sari store then and we had our schedule of who will attend on the store.  I am just passing them on to my kid now.  For more tips on how to teach kids about the value of money, head on to Mommy Chris' site.