It's Friday...Do You have Allowance Money for your Kids?

From NoHoDamon's photos on Flickr.com

Yippee...it's Friday!  There's no homework for the kids.  Maybe it's pizza night at your house or the Friday night football game at the local high school.  Many of us parents will also hear, "Mom, it's Friday.  Can I have my allowance?"  Or, "I need some money for the game.  I babysat last weekend and you forgot to pay me."  If you are like me, you make a mad dash for your purse to see what change is lurking at the bottom among the gum wrappers and lip balm.  If that doesn't solve the problem, then you hunt down Dad's wallet to see if maybe, just maybe, there's a five dollar bill in there.  Sound familiar?

Read More

Using Budgets to Teach Kids about Money

The following is an excerpt of a guest article that I wrote for Our Mom Spot. Our Mom Spot's Mission "is to provide a safe & free place for moms to connect for friendship, discussion, and advice; to provide encouragement, support, information, and networking options for moms with their own businesses or blogs; and to support moms in all that they do." I highly recommend popping over to their website to read the entire article and to get involved in their wonderful discussions.

Parents: You can use a budget to teach your kids how to handle money

We all want our kids to grow into financially responsible adults. No parent wants their adult child to have $50,000 in debt from credit cards or poor decision making. Quite simply, our kids need to learn to budget. The sooner we start teaching them, the more time they will have to practice this important financial skill.

Why should I teach my child to budget?
A budget is simply a plan for our money. It covers income, expenses, savings and spending. It allows us to live within our means and keeps us goal-oriented. This can also apply to our kids, just on a smaller scale. A child’s income can be from allowance or extra jobs. Their expenses can range from bubble gum to lunch money. The critical thing is that they learn that once the money is gone, they can’t continue buying things.

Read the entire article...

Read More