Getting Your Kids Involved in Being Frugal

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

28 Dec 2006 08:08 AM

Are your kids part of your frugal lifestyle?

I love involving my children in our family's frugal practices and ideals. By having them involved, they learn some good lessons, such as managing money in a sensible way and reusing items in a disposable world. Another positive aspect of teaching them about frugal practices early on is the fact that they get to spend more time with us, as parents, following along and helping as we do what we can to save.

I have young children. The eldest of my three is five-and-a-half, so there are limits to what they can do. I do have to tell you, though, that they are constantly surprising me with their insight and creativity.

When we are doing something we consider frugal, we will talk about how much money the practice is saving (or earning) for our family. An unexpected benefit of this is that my kindergartner is a junior whiz at math.

Here are some of the ways we get our children involved with living frugally.

Hanging Laundry: When hanging laundry, everyone gets involved. From the awesome responsibility of handing up clothespins, to opening and shaking out clothes, there are many important jobs.

Cooking from Scratch: My kids love cooking. Even the baby seems to enjoy being in the kitchen, watching from the bouncy seat and taking in the yummy smells. Measuring, stirring, kneading and adding ingredients can all be done by little hands. We talk about how we can make four to six large pizzas for the price we would pay for one at the pizza place.

Cutting Coupons and Watching Sales: My kids are completely trained...um, I mean smart enough...to look for the bright yellow stickers at the grocery store when we go shopping. If it isn't on sale, they know there has to be a really good reason to buy it, such as some one's arm has fallen off and we don't have a bandage in our stockpile. We watch sales and have even started a family price book. One day when we were in the baking aisle, my very outgoing and talkative eldest went up to a woman buying flour and said, "Excuse me, but the other one costs less."

What are some of the ways your kids are involved with living frugally?

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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