photo: michele at unsplash

It's Never Too Early to Teach Your Children About Saving Money

I like to look at the beginning of the school year as a time for a refresher course for many things! A refresher for learning in an organized environment, a refresher for being back on a rigid schedule and so much more.

That is one of the reasons I am all about throwing out some other refreshers too.

Like refreshing my children (and myself if i’m being honest), on the best simple tips for saving money. Teaching your children to save money should be an all-the-time kind of thing, but hey..we all slack sometimes, right?

Jill Cornfield, a personal finance journalist, wrote an article for CNBC, called 'Make sure your kids grow up smart about money with these strategies'. In the article Jill says, "Smart families share their best strategies for teaching their kids, whether they’re 3 or 13, how to handle their own finances."

More Tips for Teaching Your Children to Save their Money

Jessica Leshnoff from OneMain Financial wrote an article, 'How Do I Teach My Child to Save Money'. It has great advice for to teaching kids about growing their money, like:

• Make savings fun for kids
  Incorporating imaginary money during playtime is a great way to bring money to life, especially for preschoolers. Try playing store or restaurant, then explain to your child that they have to pay for things like groceries and restaurant meals. Once they’re older, they can start counting out dollars and cents to “pay” for things they want.
• Give them an allowance
  Allowances are a great way to give kids a chance to experiment with spending and saving on a regular basis. While it’s tempting to wait until they’re older, experts warn not to wait too long to start giving an allowance. The ideal age is 5 years old or when they begin kindergarten.
• Try the 3-piggybank saving method
  When your child is using a piggybank, add two more to the mix. Label one “give” for charitable causes, another one “spend” and the last one “save.” This gives kids the foundation for understanding the concept of budgeting and giving back as well.

Sassafras® Paint-Your-Own Coin Banks

And speaking of piggy banks, any one of our Paint-Your-Own Coin Banks is a great start-- kids can paint the ceramic bank of their choice, whether it's the Mermaid, Princess, or Dinosaur. They can use the included 8-paint-set or add their own paints, pencils and markers and let their imaginations go wild!

When the crafty part is done, they can start adding coins to their bank, each deposit reminding them of the fun they had using their creativity.

Sassafras® Bobble Banks

Or maybe your little one would like a cute Bobble Bank from our Slight Seconds collection, an animal coin bank where the head and feet wobble–– Fun to play with every time they make a deposit!

Have you ever heard any good advice on teaching your children how to save their money? Let us know!