When was the last time you heard that saying? Chances are it was from your grandparents. Turns out our parents’ generation did a lousy job at saving, and our generation’s not doing any better. That’s one of the reasons that the economy’s in such a mess. (You don’t need to know me well to figure out that I dropped grade twelve Economics and that my idea of saving is subscribing to loyalty programs that help to justify my healthy retail habits, but even I understand the basic problems with the sub-prime crisis and ensuing stock-market crash, job losses and economic misery).
One thing we’re hearing from those who do know about money is that this downturn in the economy proves to be the perfect time to teach fundamental lessons about budgeting, saving and charity to our children.
Talk about the economy, job loss, tighter budgets and household expenses is something we often try to shield our kids from, but more and more, experts are encouraging us to include our children in these conversations. The idea is that teaching them the lessons that we’re learning the hard way may make them better consumers and better citizens down the road.
When an e-mail arrived in my in-box recently from Brent Dobson letting me know about Moonjars, the timing was perfect to share the product with you. About 18 months ago Dobson came across Moonjar moneyboxes. An American mother created them as a tool for children and families to incorporate financial values and practices into their daily lives. Essentially, they’re piggy banks that allow children to save, spend and give to charity, and encourage parents to pass these values on. Moonjar Canada is the sole Canadian distributor of these products.
I told Brent that the timing was right as my son is learning about monetary values in grade two right now, and his teacher is encouraging parents to talk about money at home. Brent wrote back about his daughter who is the same age, and who is using the Moonjar. He said,
“It’s been interesting, as a parent, to watch her use her own Moonjar. She was definitely a “spender” a year ago (ie. “can we go to the dollar store, Michaels, book store?”). She’s had her Moonjar for about 6 months and now basically gets it, with respect to spending vs saving vs sharing. And I’m sure you can appreciate as a parent… I certainly didn’t tell her what to do with her money! It really has opened up our money conversation.”
Any tool that opens conversation with our children is a winner in my book, and now you can be a winner, too. Moonjar Canada is giving away a Classic Moonjar and Conversations to Go game. Just leave a comment below letting me know how you’re teaching financial responsiblity at home.
my niece and nephews have piggy banks and are learning about saving, i would love to win this prize for them
We started contributing to a RESP for our daughter when she was 5 months old. At around the same time, I found a piggy bank with her name on it while shopping. Ever since, we’ve been putting toonies in it every time we found it in our wallets/pockets so hopefully there will be some more saved for later. The moonjar is a great idea for when she is a little bit older, that way she knows the concept of money, savings and spending. We’ll probably get her one of these later.
My 8 year old gets $10 a week and $4 got into the bank for long term savings $4 gets put into a jar for short term savings (he has his eye on some Lego)
and $2 for instant gratification he can spend it ho he wants he was taking it to school on hot lunch day to buy a treat. He has now even started putting that money into his short term savings account
I give my daughter a week allowance of $5.00. She can blow it on candy or save it for something bigger and better. She keeps choosing to save it.
This is such a wonderful idea! I’ve been doing something similar with my preschool aged son. We have 3 different piggy banks: one is for saving for something big and important, one is for spending on fun stuff and one is for charity and helping others. The moonjars would simplify things and I’d love to get one for my god daughter. I think financial skills should be a mandatory aspect of our schooling of young people as they’re so critical to our lives.
Hi
This is definitely something I could use to help my daughter. Although she has an allowance she doesn’t understand the concept of charity or saving very well. I would encourage my daughter to think of others more and encourage her more to save up for those big purchases. Right now she wants to save up for a guitar.
We’ll see how we do with this.
I’m proud that she does volunteer her time eg. Fast for Famine(World Vision) for various groups but she needs to do more.
We would put this giveaway to good use. Thanks for the opportunity.
Cheers
Our family is very careful with our money, probably because my hubby & I grew up in homes where there was none. We all have a fun money budget that gets divided by the three of us. Right now we are saving for a trip to Disney when my daugher turns 7 (she is 5 now). Although we don’t have a money jar, we do talk to her about about only spending what you “need”, and saving to buy what you “want.” She has a calender for the year 2011 with the tentative date circled. We do a tally of what we have saved every month to know how closer we are to our goal. She really thinks twice now before asking to buy just anything.
This is an ideal item to teach kids the importance of money. Not only for them but for us as well. How often do we forget to set aside a little here and there for the things that really matter. Excellent, my 6 year old is just learning about charity and really, I don’t think that I started early enough!
Cheers!
Well my son’s not quite 2 yet so he doesn’t know very much about money yet, except that mommy and daddy give him the change out of the wallets to put into his piggy bank. We have also started a college fund in his name. Ryan probably has more money put away than mommy sadly enough LOL!!
how neat! we’ve been working on this lately with my kids. they love learning on how to figure out what to do with it and would be a great learning tool!
This month we’ve started chore charts, and helping them learn that they have to “work” for money.. that it doesn’t grow on trees per say.. nothing big, but enough to help them learn how important doing a job is and that work pays off!
My kids (3 and 5) are being taught to wait for things they want to decide if they really want it. Sometimes they get money from relatives that they can choose to spend how they wish. They’ve learned the value of waiting for a sale and getting more for their money. They get money from recycling our family’s juice containers and they choose to donate it to charity.
My oldest is 6 and this is something we are just starting to talk about home in more detail. He’s been asking for an allowance because some of his other friends are getting one but he doesn’t truly know why he wants one or what to do to earn one. He did get $5 recently and was told to buy a little toy with it so that was interesting to teach him that he couldn’t get one great big truck with that money but he could get 4 little hot wheels.
Our son is only 11 weeks old but we are already trying to set good financial examples for him. We have set up an RESP for him and since I am on maternity leave and my income does not count toward my RRSP contribution, my tax refund has gone into his RESP account. When I got my first job, my parents had me set aside 10% of each cheque in a separate bank account from my regular spending. I like the idea of starting this much earlier with children, even with small amounts from allowances, that way it becomes regular practice and habit so that by the time our son has his first job it won’t be hard for him to set money aside.
I am trying to teach my girls financial responsibility and they do well when it comes to mommy and daddy’s money but not so much of their own. They know if work is slow then they won’t ask to go to the movies, out to dinner or for that really cool shirt that everyone has. But once they get their allowance it seems burns a hole in their pockets.
I love these jars. Our 2.5 year old has had a piggy bank from birth, a savings account since she got her SIN and an RESP since she was a month old. I like the idea of this kind of jar, it makes it very easy.
We teach her about saving for things and also about getting occasional treats, if there is money left over. She loves putting her money in her piggy bank but likes to have some in her purse too. It’s cute.
We teach her about saving for things we want, using coupons when shopping, and giving to people with less than us (using outgrown toys and clothes boxes at home). She’s only 2.5 so I think we are doing ok.
I have always told my daughter that you must if you use a credit card to purchase an item make sure that you have the money to pay it off whey you get your statement. You should never carry a balance on a credit card. If you can’t afford to pay it off, you can’t afford to buy it!
We have recently implemented a 25% rule on all money earned by our boys. Whenever they get paid for chores, 25% has to go into a savings piggy bank and they CANNOT spend it, the rest they can spend immediately or save in a separate piggy bank for something bigger, whichever they choose. They almost always choose to save up for something!
My grandson is only two (he lives with me) but we’ve already started teaching him the value of a $. We pay him a $2 ($1 for each year of age) allowance each week for doing his chores – potty training, putting his toys back, helping to make his bed, setting the table and drying his sippy cups and other assorted plastics at dish time. He has 10 chores in all and each chore is worth $0.20. Half of the money he earns goes to his piggy bank for saving and the other half he is allowed to take “toy” shopping at our local thrift store. He usually buys himself books but has bought some really cool building blocks and some craft items too! I hope what he learns will stick with him! I think the Moon jar is an awesome idea and would love to have him start saving for charity – maybe the Childrens hospital or maybe he can help his Nana sponsor a child in another country – as soon as he’s old enough to understand!
I was an economics major and disagreed completely with most of the theories taught in our schools. Fortunately, their is another school of thought called Austrian economics that sticks to the fundamentals. That’s the core of my financial practice and what I pass on to my kids. The oldest is just eleven and although she doesn’t like it, she understands why I make her save 50% of every dollar that comes into her possession. And those are permanent savings that are just beginning to earn a little bit of interest. By the time she has her first job in a couple of years she should be well on her way to a life that isn’t focused on spending and she’ll have a nest egg to help keep her out of debt during her post-secondary years.
Each week the kids get $5 that goes directly into their bank accounts. Any other money they get they can keep. We’ve talked about mortgages, bank loans, and down to how to read grocery store product price tags to figure out if the bigger product is actually a better deal (not always).
The “moon jar” is a great idea. I also love the idea for the automatic deposit into the kids accounts, right now they get it when I remember or have cash. Unfortunately they do not give much away, but are very good at saving.
Teaching the value of the $ is extremely important. My 16 yr old worked and saved enough to buy a car, and now he knows if he doesn’t have the money for gas, it sits. He has a part time job just to keep up with maintenance and gas.
I think this concept is amazing because it encourages the saving elements for small children. I’d love one of these things for my kids. Given the shift in our society to spending outside your means versus saving, I think it is important to start kids off early in learning how to save as well as spend and to understand how much items cost.
When I was a kid, it was “save your money and never spend it”. But I’d rather teach my kids to spend wisely and save too. My kids get their allowance and if they want to blow it all on candy they can. However they quickly learned where to get the cheapest candy, and why they would rather have less candy so they could save for something special
I have to admit that I have been struggling with teaching my son about financial responsibility. We need to work harder in that area. The moon jar sounds like a great tool!
I love the idea of the moon jar. Both of my daughters have piggy banks and save all of their money, but the idea of having a jar for saving, spending and giving all in one is fantastic! It will teach them good lessons and the value of money
I think teaching financial common sense is very important for children as they get older. This can be done by reinforcing saving their money and also by letting them make small mistakes early to prevent larger ones later on!
At my house everyone had a money jar for savings. My daughter has a jar for savings, and any money she gets for Christmas, Birthdays ect goes into it (she’s only 1, but she’s already got a nice savings started) My niece has a jar for her ‘car fund’ (she’s only 9, so she’s got a while lol) and my nephew has a jar for saving up to pay for his own video games. It’s good that they are learning to save up for things they want at such a young age. It’s teaching them about responsiblility and that ‘buy now pay later’ isn’t going to happen in this house.
I think this is a great idea! My son is still very young but we want to let him know that he has to earn things that he wants. In this day and age this is an important message.
Our older child is about to turn 5 and we will probably start her on an allowance when she starts Kindergarten next year. For now we just talk about how we can’t have everything we want; we recently went to Disneyland and she knew it was a big expense that we can’t do very often (she told us she wishes it would be free and come to Canada so we could go more often!). We also talk about commercials on TV and in magazines, and how they are designed to make you want “stuff” and spend your money. I’d love one of those moonjars…have been eyeing them for awhile!
I love the idea of the Moon Jar. I need something like this to teach my daughter, who is almost 8, about saving for herself, and for others.
I’ve told both my girls that when they ask, “can we buy this or that” i say, do you want to buy this now or just save your money for disney? it works everytime and i’m hoping they realize that saving for something big is worth it.
however, i have no idea what i’m going to do when we get back from disney!
I am so appreciative of all the suggestions everyone gave for teaching their kids to save money. My four year-old twins have never wanted for anything, but now they are getting to the age where we want to start teaching the values of saving and spending money and the differences between needs and wants. I have been inspired by the moneyboxes and all the other ideas to start now!
The Moonjar is a great tool to start teaching my 5 year old daughter about money. Right now she keeps her spending money in her wallet and her savings in a piggybank, but this would be a great way to get her more educated about money.
What a great idea for a piggybank! My son’s school had a guest speaker – Sleeping Children Around the World. The school is holding a fundraiser for bed kits. My son decided to bring in his allowance for the week, so I said I would match what he decided to give. I guess I must be doing something right! lol
I’ve tried many different ways of teaching my daughter the value of saving vs spending and creating goals for both. There’s always been the challenge in explaining the different formats of “spending” as in need-to-haves and would-like-to-haves. I think that these moneyboxes are a fantastic way to highlight and help drive the message!!
i have my son do chores and if they are not complete then he doesn”t get his allowance for the week. Also, with the money he saves I have him go to the counter to pay for his own purchases.
I am teaching financial responsibility to my daughter by taking her grocery shopping with me and showing her that we can only buy her specific treats when they are on sale. I also show her coupons that we can use to save even more!
My daughter picks up pennies whenever she sees one on the ground, and save them for later. For her favorite toys, we convert the price from $ to pennies so that she knows how many pennies she needs to be able to buy it.
With a 5 year old I’m having a hard time deciding how to teach her about money. Right now everything she gets is saved, but its time to start to show her if she wants something out of the ordinary, how to go about saving up for it.
I think this is great. It’s an important life skill. Being responsible with your money is something a lot of adults struggle with. I have two sons. One is two and one is 3 months old. We are already slowly introducing money to our 2 year old. He and I look at the weekly grocery flyers for specials and he helps me organize coupons. Not only does this teach him about saving money – but we have a lot of fun doing it!
Since my teen was younger i’ve taught him how to split his allowances into 2 groups which are “Spending” & “Saving” where half of his weekly allowance goes into his savings account in which he make shis own deposits (with me right beside him) at the bank and the other half is either for spending or more saving.
My daughter is not two yet but when she grows up, we will definitely teach her on how to save money. My mom taught me how. I had a piggy bank and each time, I completed a chore, she would give me some cents she had from her purse or would give me a treat. So by the end of the week, I would take out all my money, count it and deposit it into the bank. I had a junior account where I could deposit only so this worked out well.
Even if I did not become “rich”, she taught me how to save and how to use them in case of emergencies. I thank my mom for this and now, I will pass it on to my daughter.
What a great idea. We just started giving our five year old an allowance. From her 75 cebts, 25 is for saving, 25 is for spending and 25 is for charity. Right now she has three piggy banks going, and can’t keep track of which is which. This would make things so much easier!
Think this is a fabulous way to teach kids about saving and donating! What we do is reward our children for doing their chores — they can do what ever they want with their earned money, but we are teaching them importance of balance. The moonjar concept would help our children even further as it encourages us as a family to talk about finance.
our grandaughter picks an item she would like ( clothing, toy, book, etc, then we save our pennies and or change usually reward mony for chores and only buy the item when we have saved enough..the money is used only for those items previously selected not for anything whimical!
We are teaching our children to ask themselves (teenagers) “do you need this? or do you want this ?” Make the responsible choices.
This is a great learning tool to teach children how to save their money and the responsibilities that are to come as they grow up!
We have our kids do chores and we reward them with allowance. We allow them to spend their money however they would like but we encourage them to make smart choices. When they ask for things they we feel are a waste of money we remind them that they have money they can use if they’d like. They often decide that things aren’t worth wasting their money.
The moonjar looks like an awesome idea! My almost 8 year old loves to save her change up. She puts half of the silver in the baby jar for her brother (cus she says he can’t earn/find money yet so she wants to help him out 🙂 ) and half in the charity boxes. The larger change she puts in her savings box for a rainy day. I am also teaching her how to be frugal by using coupons and flyers to shop for the best value. We save half of the cash value of the coupons in our savings account.
We are trying to teach our children that not everything comes easily. When our daughter wanted to take horseback riding lessons ($$$) we told her she had to contribute to the cost. Not having a source of income beyond occasional babysitting, we agreed she would do laundry in exchange. Win-win for me!! Lessons ended, and now I support her shopping/Starbucks habits and rarely enter the laundry room myself. When my son wanted a gecko, we told him he would have to pay for it himself. He waited months for a reptile show to come to town, and bought his gecko for 1/3 of the pet store cost. My youngest just turned 9, and agreed that she has too much ‘stuff’ and asked her friends to make a donation to charity instead of bringing a gift to her party. Financial responsibility, I think we are doing okay with – eating habits, room cleaning, video game addiction – not so much 🙂
My daughter is not yet two, but we set up an RESP for her when she was born and I contribute to it each month. Darn Kid has more money than I do right now.
LOL I just had an idea for myself – set up an automatic deposit of $4 and $2 to their bank accounts each week. Then it’s like a paycheque from an employer. But then I’ll have to get them debit cards, I guess. 🙂 I crack myself up.
What a great idea!
And LoriD – you’re more generous with your kids than we are! Our 8yo gets $4 and the 5yo gets $2 … when we remember to give it to them! Gotta step up, I guess eh?
I really like that Moonjar. My older two get a weekly allowance equal to their age ($5 for the 5-year-old; $8 for the 8-year-old). They have 3 different jars labelled “Now”, “Later” and “Charity” and apportion their allowance between the three pots. They usually use the charity proceeds to sponsor themselves for school events like the Terry Fox Run or Jump Rope for Heart.