Teaching your kids home repair skills can help them save money in the future.
Teaching your kids to save money can help them learn to be financially responsible. There are two different strategies you can use. One is to teach skills such as home and car repair and budget and shop for things on sale. The other is to teach the importance of saving money on a regular basis. These skills will help children manage their finances once they become adults.
Room Remodel
Most teenagers would like the opportunity to design and decorate their own room. Give your child the opportunity to plan and execute a design for her room. Begin by giving the child a budget for the entire room. Your child can determine how much to spend on furniture, paint and accessories for the room. Then let your child create a proposal, complete with budget and labor estimates, for you to look over. Together you can paint the walls of the room and install things like curtain rods, bookshelves and light fixtures. This is an opportunity to show your child redecorate and can give her skills she can use later in life.
Fix Up a Car
Basic car care and repair can save a lot of money. However, it does take time to learn the skills required to change the oil and air filters or to do a basic tune-up. Although many diagnostics are now done on the computer, you can still save money by changing the brakes yourself, changing your oil, rotating your tires and keeping all fluids topped off. Teach your child basic car repair skills as you work together to fix up an old car or as you do these things on the family cars.
Grocery Shopping and Meal Planning
A basic skill that is a part of any budget is meal planning and cooking. This skill should be taught to all children, since cooking at home can save money each month. Begin by putting your child in charge of cooking one night a week or a month. Once he has cooked a number of meals, have him plan a weekly menu and do the shopping for the week. The meal planning will give him the opportunity to find ways to save money. You may offer suggestions on ways to save based on what he has planned. Give him a budget he has to follow, and send him to the grocery store to complete the shopping.
Match the Savings
One way to teach your children to save is to offer a matching program. This works well if she is working toward a specific goal, such as purchasing a new bicycle, but it can work to just increase savings in general. The match may be a dollar-for-dollar match, where you pay one dollar for every dollar she saves. Or it may be a one-for-two-dollar match, where you pay one dollar for every two dollars saved. This can help establish a pattern of monthly saving.
Tags: save money, your child, dollar every, help them, home repair
