Budgeting – A Family Affair!

Recently, I read an interesting article in the Sunday Gleaner dated December 9, 2012, entitled ‘Train your children to Manage Money’. It made a lot of vital points because if you are to save money all members of the family would have to be involved.

It got me thinking about how we make up our budgets with no concern about how our children are affected by our choices.

True we can’t pander to the wishes of our children but what would we lose if we simply included them in the discussion?

On that note, I sat down with my two children and explained to them that in order to meet our expenses for the coming year we would need to make some changes. Of course, it depends on the age of your children, but my kids are old enough to grasp the concept of trying to formulate a budget. They willingly made note of which snacks they could substitute for cheaper alternatives as well as other constraints and soon it was a competition to see who could save the most!

Planning a budget for a family can be a challenge if only one member is willing to take the measures necessary to save money. Each member of the family must be encouraged to feel a sense of responsibility to save money.

It can even be viewed as a ‘game’ as younger members of the family volunteer to sacrifice something that will enable the family to save.

Here are some suggestions on how you can save money as a family:

• Display a chart listing the cheaper options of snacks/treats so that the children can choose which ones they prefer.
• No TV/Internet nights. Choose one or two nights that the family will spend time together without the use of electronic gadgets.
• Collect and shop with coupons. Don’t forget to swipe your Magna cards and use the coupons found in The Gleaner.
• Be on the lookout for flyers advertising discounts at stores and supermarkets.
• Write and use shopping lists.

Click here to read the article I enjoyed.  http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121209/business/business5.html
How do you help your family to save?

Tags: budget, consumer, save