Piggy Bank Shop

In a bleak economy one bright side to the dire news we hear is to show our children how easy it is to save and how not only all the small saving pile up over time, it provides us freedom from worries about how we do get by if Mom or Dad loses a job.

One easy tactic I like a lot is to get a big glass (or clear plastic) jar that it’s easy to unscrew the top of and place more change in the jar.  In fact, it would be very cool to make it a daily routine and with the clear glass, your children see their savings grow over time.

Another fun way to show how saving is fun is to use the contents of a ‘family fun jar’ to pay for something special.  It might be a movie or just enough cash to pay the icecream man when he shows up later this Spring.  That attaches pleasure to saving and sets a great habit for your children for the rest of their lives.

I was talking on the phone this evening with my sister who I was trying to sweet talk into driving the 150 miles that separate us for a Spring break visit.  Anyway she said she would come with her family but was not telling her kids just yet.

You see she had put a challenge before them.  Clean up their rooms and get a visit with me and my family.  Now my neices and nephew love to come visit us.  Mostly because they just love their older cousin (my son) and partly because they like their Aunt and Uncle and partly just because it’s something different.

Well the challenge worked.  My neices and nephews have been hard at work cleaning their rooms even on a nice day (the weather here is remarkable for March).  And so they will get a reward.  Perhaps the bigger reward is becoming more self disaplined which will help them greatly in the years to come.