Coming into marriage, my husband and I were both pretty conservative with our finances. I would consider both of us to be natural savers, despite our different stories on how we got there. Growing up, my parents used to say a phrase so frequently that it was forever ingrained into my thoughts. “Live below your means. Just because you have the money doesn't mean you should spend it.” I can remember earning my allowance every week as a child and saving my money up for a specific toy or purchase. Yet, when finally reaching the amount I needed, I would change my mind and just keep the money! That famous phrase would come to mind and thinking about how long it took me to save up that money just made the purchase painful! Even though I had the money to buy whatever it was I was saving for, all of a sudden, I just didn't seem to want it as bad. It was the teaching from my parents that naturally led me to become a saver. I learned to ask myself at a young age if I really “needed” that purchase. More than not, I didn't so I would just keep my money. Just because I had the money didn't mean I should spend it. I was learning to live below my means.
Now, my husband on the
other hand, became a saver for different reasons. He began working
at his grandfather's fence company when he was just 13 years old. He
started off by doing odd and end jobs and mowing his grandpa's lawn.
By the time he was 15 years old, he started installing fence for the
company. It didn't mater if it was 10 degrees outside or 110
degrees...as long as it wasn't raining or snowing, he was out there
working! There were days that he would end his work days numb
because he was so cold. Then there were those hot Oklahoma summer days where it was nothing short of a miracle that he was able to make it through the day
without passing out or puking! He quickly learned the value of a
dollar because he had to work hard for his money. Spending
money was just hard for him..really hard! He would rather save his money than throw it away on frivolous things that made him feel like he worked hard for nothing!
We thought we were
doing pretty good as newlyweds considering we had saved up enough
money to put a down payment on a new home. We were living the dream!
Here we were, newlyweds...young and in love...living in a new 3
bedroom home, driving nice vehicles, putting money in savings each
month...we thought we were doing things right. We believed we were
being smart with our money...until we came across a guy named
Dave Ramsey! The more we started listening to this guy on the radio,
the more we realized that maybe we didn't have all of this finance
stuff figured out after all! So, we did what every newly married
couple should do...we signed up for Financial Peace University!
It was during this 13
week class that we learned what God's Word said about debt and
financial responsibility. Proverbs 22:7 says, “Just as the rich
rule the poor, so the borrower is slave to the lender.” Ouch! Romans
13:8 says, “Owe nothing to anyone.” We also learned that God's Word
says good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren, yet the
Bible explains that those who spend whatever money they get, they are fools! I have to
say hearing God's perspective on the matter probably had a bigger
impact on my husband than it did on myself. We were in that newlywed
phase where my husband was trying to establish his role as the
spiritual leader of our home and here I was, still trying to learn
how to be a submissive wife. This was really the first moment that I can remember where we were both on the same playing field, the same level spiritually, learning something new together
and I had a front row seat as I watched God pour out wisdom and
leadership into my husband like never before. He desired to be the
spiritual leader that God designed him to be and he was eager to lead
his family down the financial path that God laid out for us in His
Word. Seeing his desire to lead his family in a manner that was
pleasing to the Lord was HOT! Let's just get that out there! A man
who pursues God and seeks to please Him all of a sudden becomes even
more attractive to his wife! I loved seeing him taking on this new
found role in our little family!
As if that wasn't
enough to get us on the right track financially, we also learned that
if we were to start investing what we currently paid in car payments
every month (we had two car payments at the time), we could be
millionaires by the time we retire! Say what!? Talk about some
motivation for two young adults who were naturally savers! Ha! We
wasted no time at all tackling our debt snowball and one year later,
we were officially debt free, other than our mortgage. During this
Financial Peace University course, they briefly mentioned that there was also a
program designed for kids! This was several years before we became
parents, so I filed that information away since it didn't apply to us
at the time.
Fast forward to where
we are now. We now have four kids...ages 8, 6, almost 4, and 2 years
old! My husband and I have tossed around the idea of starting to
give our oldest children a commission for a couple of years now, but
because of their age, they are only performing simple household
chores that if we are honest here...we felt like the responsibilities
they had were things we expected them to do whether they get paid or
not! Both of our older girls (6 and 8) are expected to unload the
dishwasher, clear the tables after meals, put away clean laundry,
make their bed, pick up their room and playroom, and keep the rest of
the house picked up and clutter free. As a member of our home, we
just expect our kids to do these things to help our home function
more effectively. We were afraid that if we started giving them a
commission for these chores, our children may expect to get paid for
these tasks all of their life or possibly choose not to do them if
there ever comes a time they didn't need the money. Therefore, we
kept putting the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Junior approach on hold.
However, when our
church recently announced that they were going to be offering a 6
week class on Dave Ramsey's book “Smart Money, Smart Kids”, we
were excited to take the class! We were ready to learn some new
ideas to help us begin implementing those important financial
principles into our parenting techniques so that our kids will be
smart with their money too! We just finished up the class a few weeks
ago and the information was invaluable! We learned so many great
ideas and approaches to teaching our children about money! I would
love to share with you the system we just implemented in our home
with our children after completing this class!
The first lesson in
this 6 week class was all about teaching your children that money is
connected with work! This is a lesson that will hopefully lead your
child to develop a good work ethic as he or she gets older!
Unfortunately, our government has completely missed the mark on this
valuable lesson! We live in a culture that defies this concept. We
are raising up a generation that believes that they don't have to
work to earn money. Why should they work when they can receive
government stipends and handouts with little to no effort on their
part? I could go on and on about how our government is missing it, but I'll save that post for another day! Truthfully though, unless we want to think about a future without teachers,
leaders, doctors, nurses, etc., we better do our part as parents to
teach our child that money is indeed connected to WORK! Dave Ramsey
encourages giving children household chores and responsibilities as
young as 3 years old! Teach them young that when they work, they get
paid!
The lessons following
are all on teaching your children how to manage the money they earn!
Being natural savers, we have always encouraged our children to save
their money! One of our very first purchases for each of our
children was their first little piggy bank! They love filling them up with
Dad's spare change and with the money they receive for birthdays and
holidays. When the piggy banks get full, we load the kids up and
take them to the bank so that they can deposit their money into their
savings account! It's always a big deal to them to actually get to
go inside and give the tellers their own bag of money. They love it!
We felt like we were doing great teaching our kids financial
responsibility by teaching them to save their money!
However, after taking
the Smart Money, Smart Kids class, we realized that we needed to be
just as intentional about teaching our kids how to spend their money
and give their money wisely! It really is important for them to
learn all three...GIVE, SAVE, and SPEND! We don't want to raise our
kids to be so tight with their money that they fail to be givers or refuse to have fun!
And we don't want to raise our kids to thinking all spending is bad!
There has to be a balance! This class gave some practical ways to
teach your kids how to give, spend, and save smart and they gave you
several ideas for different ages! It was great information!
Here is what my husband
and I decided to put into practice! First of all, we realized the
importance of teaching our kids that money is connected to work! So,
we decided to implement a chore chart right away. Now, Dave Ramsey has
a cute chart that you can purcahse and place on your refrigerator.
However, with four kids, my fridge is often the place we display
artwork and the idea of more stuff being plasteerd for all to see,
makes this mom who despises clutter just cringe. So, thanks to
Pinterest and some chore chart ideas I found online, I came up with a
system that works for our family...and the best part, it's cute and
part of our home décor! Yay!
I went to Walmart and
purchased some of the plain, inexpensive clipboards. Then I picked
out some scrapbook paper that carried on the same color scheme that
we have throughout the living areas of our home. I followed a step
by step tutorial that I found on Pinterest and created the cutest
clipboards for each kid in our family!
I then printed out a
chore chart that I found online that again went along with our color
scheme and clipped them to each clipboard.
Sometime ago, I had
found some hanging baskets at Hobby Lobby that was numbered with four
baskets! Um, let me just fill you in on one of my personal
obsessions...organizational containers! This obsession began when I
was a teacher and since becoming a parent, it has only gotten worse!
I'm constantly looking for cute storage ideas to keep our home
clutter free and organized! So having four kids, when I saw these
cute hanging baskets that were numbered 1-4, I just bought it and knew
I'd eventually find a purpose for it! Well, when I found the cute chore chart
and clipboard idea, I wanted to combine the ideas and store them
in this piece that I had bought months before! I have it hanging in
the hallway that leads to the children's bedrooms. Plus, it's right next
to the kitchen wall and mudroom wall, which is where we pass
anytime we come and go...all this to say, it is very visible to
everyone! This will serve as a constant reminder to our kids to
complete their daily chores every time they walk past these
clipboards! They each picked out a sheet of stickers that they will
use to fill in their charts after they have completed all of their
chores for the day. I chose a monthly chore chart simply because I
have four kids and the idea of having to remember to print off new
charts every week just overwhelms me! If I can make my life easier by
just having to remember to do something once a month, I am all about
it! Can I get an amen!? Okay, so here it is!
Next, I knew we needed
to start implementing the money jars that Dave Ramsey's program
teaches...GIVE, SAVE, and SPEND jars. Now, the kids already had cute
piggy banks that match their bedroom decorations, so I hated to just get
rid of those! However, I am a little OCD about things matching and looking cute,
so I wanted two jars that would look nice next to their piggy banks.
I decided to go with a simple jar from Hobby Lobby that was
comparable in size. I found some cute chalkboard name tags at Hobby
Lobby that I used to label the jars! I love the way it turned out
and they look adorable sitting on the shelf next to their piggy
banks! Their piggy banks are the “SAVE” jars and we explained
that to our kids. Make sure they understand that since they aren't
labeled! Here is a picture of Myka and Kipton's jars just to give you an idea of what it looks like in their room. I
just love that it's cute and serves the purpose! So, now that we
have our system in place, we are ready to start teaching our kids how
to be smart with their money!
What goals do you have?
What is it you are hoping to teach your children? Do you have a
plan in place to help you achieve your goal? For those of you that
are needing a plan to get to that point where you can experience
financial peace, I highly recommend Dave Ramsey's program! His
program is set up with baby steps, making it attainable and easy to
follow. The same goes for his Smart Money, Smart Kids program. He
gives you practical ideas to get you on the road of teaching your
children how to be smart with their money! These are life skills
that literally will affect the course of your child's life! His
program has changed the course of our lives and we want to pass that
along to not only our children, but to everyone in our sphere of
influence! If you have any questions about the steps, I'd be happy
to help in anyway!
We are still working on
the latter steps in the program ourselves...saving money to
apply towards college funds, retirement, and knocking down our
mortgage every month! It takes discipline and requires a monthly
budget, but it will pay off! As Dave Ramsey says, “You must have a
game plan. If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” It's so true! Whether you follow Dave Ramsey's steps or choose a different path, the key is having a plan and sticking with it! I am excited to begin the journey of teaching my children how to manage their money God's way! In case you haven't figured it out...God's Word works...every time! I'd like to end our time together with one of my favorite Dave Ramsey
quotes.
Be blessed friends and be weird!
Mary
1 comment:
Great post and I love your creativeness!
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