[hmcart]

I am curious how you all teach your kids the importance of frugality. I try to make it fun for them so things like cooking from scratch they enjoy. We recently went through closets and I had my girls bag up clothes they didnt want anymore. Before we donated them we pulled out a couple of long sleeved tops and I showed DD12 how to make cute cardigans from them by cutting the front and doing a little sewing. This has inspired her to look twice before she gets rid of a piece of clothing. The girls love having "new" cardis in their closet that no one else has also!

So what do ya'll do to make it fun for kids?

 

[CookieLee]

Really good ideas! I encourage frugality by making DD spend her own money. It is amazing how quickly a "want" turns into a "don't want" when she has to part with her own hard-won cash.

 

[Karma]

I take my kids thrift store shopping for clothes. My oldest is name brand snobby but she takes her time looking things over and finding fancy named clothes she wants and we discuss how much we think we saved vs. buying new and talk about how we are able to have more clothes we like by thrift shopping.

 

[alotofgooddeals]

yes......I agree!

I take my kids thrift store shopping for clothes. My oldest is name brand snobby but she takes her time looking things over and finding fancy named clothes she wants and we discuss how much we think we saved vs. buying new and talk about how we are able to have more clothes we like by thrift shopping.

 

[Nadders11]

Dd and I are going to make a lot of Christmas gifts this year. She has just started earning money for doing extra jobs around the house, she has that as spending money at a store. We try to teach by living it everyday.

 

[frugalwarrior2]

My kids grew up thrifting,g.saling etc. It didn't take long before they got the concept of more for less. Great way to stretch your allowance.
I also sat and made list of things we needed and things we wanted to look for.
I have always used coupons so a lot came from example too.

When they all gave DD a hard (snobs) time in junior high i gave her a lesson on what a sucker is.
They have 7 pieces of name brand clothing to her 50. She could make endless outfits. I also let her rip and restyle anything. I mean it was .50 so why not.
Pretty soon little girls who lived in McMansions were begging mom to go to the S.A. boutique.lol Made me giggle.

 

[hmcart]

awesome ideas yall! I also take mine to the goodwill. They love going on half off day so they get more!

 

[Siebrie]

My oldest is only 4, so we take it easy. I bake with her and we cook together from scratch. If she does not finish an icecream it goes back to the freezer for another day, if she does not finish her apple, I cut it up for her little sister. We do not waste much or anything. We go clothes shopping only once or twice a year, the rest of her clothes are second or third hand from my sister and my friends.

 

[savvy_sniper]

My niece understands the concept of frugality and practices it once in a while. BUT she is a brand name snob and thinks she has to pay full price for everything; ESPECIALLY when it comes to her kids. Her mother is a BIG thrift store shopper. Her mom bought my great niece some nice designer brand name clothing at Goodwill recently. When my great niece was asked if her grandmother had bought her anything she said, YES some pretty dresses. My niece sneered and said, yeah from Goodwill.

My niece is a stay at home of three kids. She and her husband are struggling to make ends meet. She mentions that she is impressed with my frugality and how I can stretch a dollar in one breathe and turns around and pays full price for stuff in the next breath.

 

[sunshine]

I agree with the teaching it by living it every day. We did a lot of explaining to our kids while they were growing up. Concepts like we choose to spend our money vacations making memories/experiences rather than drive new cars. . . . we choose to buy our clothes at Goodwill and sponsor an orphan in Haiti, instead of wearing costly new clothes from the mall, etc.

We'd have discussions in the grocery store going like this . . . " baby food bananas are .60 for 2 ounces. How much time and effort does it take to mash a banana with a fork? and saves how much money? and no artificial ingredients?"

 

[khaski]

We work hard to model and discuss how money is an important tool and there are 'trade offs' for everything. It is all about the choices you make. Hubby and I frequently discuss our savings progress and goals in front of the kids (4+6) so fingers crossed, they're learning savings is important. My kids often grocery shop with me so they see me checking prices, making a shopping list beforehand, matching coupons with sales. We are trying to teach them to respect their money when they're older by visibly modeling good habits for them now.

 

[Sophiasmama]

Sophie loves rummage sales...and she wears second hand clothing...we cook...talk about money...she uses her allowance to buy little things...we talk about saving money to build a cabin or make large donations to charity...if we spent every cent we made...there would be no giving back to others.

 

[judembc]

Hmcart - when I was little I remember my mom taking crew neck sweatshirts that were my older siblings and cutting down the front like you did and she put "ricrac or lace" on the edges and made nice little sweat cardis for me. Your post brought back great memories I loved those things!

 

[craftypam]

There is a book that is really good about giving your kids an allowance and letting them decide how to spend it and they find out very quickly when its gone they have to wait until next pay. I loved this book, but when it came out my dc were grown up. The book is called Capitate your kids or the other title is The Sink or Swim Money program. Whitcomb is the author.

I have been frugal my whole life and I have 3 adult sons. Some of your dc will follow your ways and others will have to choose and learn things on their own as 2 of mine had to learn the hard way and are still learning

The "program" that book talks about is giving them the money that you spend on school supplies and clothes and let them make the decisions. If they spend alot of one item they will findd they don't have enough money for all they want teaching them they wil have to wait until the next "pay" to get the next items.

 

[zakity]

We used a chip for chore program. Actually, we are still using it. The chips are worth a set amount and each chore is a chip. They have to pay for their activities, toys/video games/certain books, and ice cream or candy out of that money. Some of them manage really well, some not so much. Actually, one of the guys is even frugal in his video games.