Category Archives: Kids & Money

Allowance for Chores? How the 5/50/500 Rule Applies to Your Kids

Should I pay my kids for chores?

Should you give your kids an allowance for chores?

“NOOOOO!” … that was our first response.

But years later we reconsidered this decision because we discovered the 5 / 50 / 500 money rule.

There are rules that govern our lives, our world, and the universe. There are also rules that govern the earning, saving, and spending of money. Knowing how to operate within the rules usually means success and a more peaceful existence. Violating the rules has the opposite effect.

Preparing your child to live a financially independent life may not be on the top of your to-do list. But if … Read more »

14 Cheap, Easy & Quick Snacks for Kids—Homemade & Store Bought

12 inexpensive and healthy snacks for kids.

Are you looking for some more affordable or cheap snacks for kids? This list of 14 different easy-to-serve snack foods should do the trick. Some are homemade and others are store-bought, but all are inexpensive.

These snack options have been time-tested with our five kids and should do well for your family.

Do you ever feel like you’re feeding a bottomless pit?We’re talking about those kids or teens with “hollow legs.”

Remember when they were babies and we fed them every two hours?  Well, the two-hour feedings start all over again in the pre-teen and teen years.

You want to provide nutritious and healthy snacking … Read more »

34 of the Best Free Educational Websites for Kids

29 Free Educational Websites for Kids including science, history, reading, math, news, coding and more!

If you’re looking for great websites to enhance your child’s learning you’re going to love this list of the best free educational websites for kids.

It can sometimes be hard to find the ideal balance of fun and learning. The challenge might seem daunting, but have no fear the perfect learning website is out there.

Just check out this list of fun and information-filled sites to find the right website for you and your kids!

We’ve put this list into 7 different categories to make your search easier. See the table of contents for details.

A Directory of Free Educational Websites

Preschool – Watch, … Read more »

Family Teamwork: How to Accomplish More, Faster, Working Together

Family Teamwork - working together - sisters baking

Does your family work together as a team? We raised five kids and found that family teamwork helped us accomplish things faster. It also helped build our kids’ work-ethic and confidence.

Teaching kids the value of Family Teamwork has far-reaching effects. It translates into club activities, sports, jobs, church and eventually into their own families. 

In this article, we’ll share some tools and strategies that we used for more than 25 years as we raised and released our kids.

By the way, we didn’t do it perfectly. We had some stumbles, we had some failures, but overall, our kids learned that when we work … Read more »

Money Gifts for Kids: Should You Give Cash Presents to Your Adult Children?

Do Money Gifts to Adult Kids really help them?

Will money gifts to Adult Kids really help them? Do financial bailouts enable our children and make them dependent on us as parents? Here are 8 ways to help without enabling them.

Money Gifts for Adult Kids — What Should We Do?

A website visitor asked:

We have three grown kids. Two are doing fine, but the youngest one is married with two kids and is struggling financially. They are behind on their mortgage and credit card bills and they are constantly coming to us asking for help . . . and we’ve been giving it.

What should we do to help them? … Read more »

Entitled Kids: 7 Things to Stop Spoiling & Raise Self-Sufficient Kids

Entitled Kids - how to build self reliance and sufficiency

Is it possible that our good intentions and generosity could end up entitling our kids? No parent intentionally sets out to create dependent children who expect to be given everything they desire.

If you want to raise kids who aren’t entitled but are empowered – keep reading. We have 7 ways we helped our kids to become Financially strong, fit and independent.

Kids are kind of funny. If we offer to pay for something, they’ll gladly let us do it . . . forever and ever. If we don’t pay, they’ll carry on about how “mean” and out of touch with reality … Read more »

8 Fantastic Ways for Grandparents to Influence their Grandchildren

How grandparents Influence Grandchildren. So many Great ideas shared here!

We’re all about being realistic and frugal. In this article we’re looking for practical ways that grandparents can positively Influence their grandchildren – some of these ideas are amazing!

We asked our Facebook friends how they’ve seen Grandparents influence Grandchildren in a positive way. Our goal was to build a brainstormed list of ideas to encourage grandparents to be active participants in their grandchild’s life.

If your child’s grandparents (your in-laws or parents) could help your family with their financial and relational resources, what would you wish for?

This list is full … Read more »

Should We Have Kids or Not? It’s Incredibly Expensive to Raise a Child.

Are Kids Too Expenisve? Two baby hands counting fingers.

If you think that Kids are Expensive …. You’re right. Have you heard the government statistics about the cost of raising a child?

We raised 5 kids and spent less than 60% of what the government experts estimated. Learn how.

Kerri’s story: How one reader grew up and was taught to manage money.

Question About the Cost of Having Kids: When I graduated from high school, I paid for my own auto insurance, graduation gown, and class ring.

My grandmother paid for my class picture. My graduation gift from my parents was a cell phone with a very limited plan because it was … Read more »

22 Community Youth Organizations That Build Integrity and Character

Top Club Activities for Teens and Youth

Can community youth organizations and programs help develop character in a child? There are many different types of youth activities that could contribute to your child’s physical, emotional, and vocational development. We’ve been involved in a number of these organizations and have compiled a list of the 20 most popular youth organizations in the US.

If you’re looking for the names of groups where your kids can learn and grow in character and leadership keep reading …

Discovering the Hidden Potential in a Child

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Discovering the Hidden Potential in a Child2 Selecting an Organization with Good LeadersRead more »

Summer Jobs for Teens: Finding Work & Earning Money

Summer jobs for teens - be a barista.

Is your teen looking for a summer job? There are companies hiring AND lots of out of the box earning opportunities. 

We’ll give you tons of practical ideas to help your teenager find work this summer, and into the rest of the year. 

1. Paying Summer Jobs for Teens

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 1. Paying Summer Jobs for Teens2 2. Side Hustles/Self-Employed Opportunities3 3. Summer Jobs That Start with Volunteer/Community Service4 Final Words About Summer Jobs for Teens

There are lots of jobs for teens in the restaurant industry and others. Here’s a short list of the types of jobs … Read more »

Should You Buy Your Teenager a Car? This Dad Gave a 1965 Mustang!

Have you wondered if you should give your teen a car?

Are other parents in your area doing it and you’re getting pressure from your child?

Should Parents Give A Car to a Teen?

Is it MoneySmart to give your kids a car and a computer?

One dad thinks so.

We didn’t give any of our kids a car. But we did help them save and shop and buy their first cars for cash.

When we heard about this dad who gave his teenager a 1965 Mustang, we thought he’d lost his mind.

Why We Think This Dad is MoneySmart

The dad of the family wrote the … Read more »

11 ways to Save Energy for Kids and Your Electric Bill

Hand holding a light bulb trying to save electricity.

We taught our kids to save money on electricity … and everything else. When we received this question from a website visitor from Australia, we thought we’d put our ideas in writing so you could learn to save energy for kids too.

Question about how to get my kids on board with saving money

Do your kids save electricity? How do you get your kids to appreciate ever-increasing electricity costs and to turn off lights and appliances? Mine just seem to walk away and have no care that Australian electricity costs are rising and rising and we now pay a carbon tax … Read more »

Teens & Credit: How to Establish A Good Credit Score as a Teenager

Girl in a pink sparkly prom dress with a wrist corsage of flowers and credit cards.

Are you wanting to help your teenager establish a good credit score? Teenagers & Credit Scores is a great topic to be concerned about. Raising money-smart teens is more than just teaching our kids to work and earn and save and spend carefully. We need to teach teens the ins and outs of borrowing money and being smart about credit.

Question about Teenagers & Credit Scores

I was wondering if you don’t use any credit cards, how did you establish your credit history?  My son is 17 years old and I would like to tell him to only get an American Express … Read more »

How to Save Money Raising A Baby | 5 Clever Tips

A stack of wooden blocks that spell Baby.

If you’re having a baby and want to save money we’ll show you how to raise a baby on a budget.

To us they’re cuddly, snuggly and sometimes slobbery — and to marketers, they’re a gold mine. We’re talking about babies and what it costs to diaper, feed, clothe and entertain them in their first years.

Some experts predict — and hope — that you’ll spend somewhere between $8,000 and $10,000 before Junior’s first birthday.

Believe it or not, in these situations, when marketers push a multitude of expensive products, you may find the greatest savings.

Yes, you can beautifully outfit your baby … Read more »

Entrepreneurship For Kids – Easy Tips to Foster Business Success

young boy sitting at a large business desk with a book opened in front of him

Some kids just want to be grown up and have a knack for making money. Entrepreneurship for kids is a hot topic – how can a parent help channel that energy in the right direction?

What’s on the mind of your average 15-year-old?

Most likely it’s a combination of prom dates, SATs and driver’s education classes. Well, that’s not the case for Maddie Bradshaw (watch her on Shark Tank).

At the age of 15, Maddie pitched her first business idea on Shark Tank, convincing Mark Cuban, Robert Herjavec, and Lori Greiner to invest $300k for 30 percent of her … Read more »