Faye’s Magical Experiment in Preschooler Budgeting

Let’s see how well it goes. What magical idea did I come up with? Well, let me say first, that it’s been three days now, and I haven’t heard any begging or whining for toy-this or toy-that. SCORE!!!!!!!!!!

So, what did I do? I sat down with Jackson, and explained saving money and budgeting… which comes off the heels of previous conversations we’ve had about the household budget and paying bills first, etc….

Each month he is to get $20. From that, $10 must go directly into savings (long-term savings), and the other $10 he may take and choose what he does with it. If it’s a toy, then he can “choose any toy he wants” for $10. (those are powerful words for a 4 year old.) If he should “want” something that is more than $10, then he has the option of saving that $10 to add to the next month’s $10-spending money and thus will be able to purchase the more expensive item… all the while, no matter what, $10 of the $20 goes to savings.

piggy bank for long-term / immediate use

We came up with ideas of things he can do to help out around the house in order to “earn” his money. I explained to him very sweetly (and we’ve had “i’m a single mom” conversations in the past, so this was no new concept), that Mommy is the only adult in this house, and I have three children to take care of…. I praised him for things he already does to help out, many of which are simple “instructions” that I’ve been practicing with him since he started walking… i.e. putting shoes in basket… (See, I used a different word from “chores”, “earn” is much easier to swallow… oh, and the credit for that idea goes to John).

and yes, "things I can do", this way it is "open"... he can't hold ME to the list if I ask him to help out with something else, know what I mean? And like one of my commenters said, these are things that "we all" do to help contribute to the smooth running of the house...

After making the list, we hung it in a spot that he chose, and then we headed to Toys R Us. Wow! Let me tell you, I was just incredibly impressed with how smoothly the trip to Toys R Us went! When we parked the car, prior to getting out, I once again went over the “guidelines” of $10… We went in, and he spent his time checking things out, getting excited about showing me things… “See! that’s the BumbleBee Mask I was telling you about!!!” (anything too expensive, I sweetly told him the dollar amount and suggested that they be added to Santa Claus list). We went up and down the aisles, so peacefully. If he saw something in the $20 range I explained the price and that he could choose to wait, and then showed him the items (which were always in the same level position in each aisle) that were approximately $10 or less. Well, finally he chose a Bakugon ball/card for $8…

We went to the checkout line, and a woman was standing in front of us with her two daughters, and a stack of games on the checkout counter. She rolled her eyes and made a cynical comment to me about her daughters really not needing so many more of what they already have… then she pointed at Jackson with his simple Bakugon, and said to her daughters, “look see, he only has one thing”…. I smiled, Jackson standing up against me with my hand stroking his hair, “yes, well we’re trying an experiment….”

Filled with joy and glee that my son had behaved so well in the store, after we checked out we went to the door, I stooped down and handed him the other $10 slid it into his pocket while praising him, and said “wow! here you go buddy, here’s the $10 that you can put in your piggy bank when we get home!” He obliged.

So simple. so easy. Give him an opportunity to have some independence and power to make a choice for himself!!! and heh heh, the side benefit is that I don’t have to hear any begging for toys, cause he got what he CHOSE… and sees first hand the fact that “THINGS COST MONEY”….. and all the while, we are stashing away for long term savings.

Someone asked about the what/why for savings money. Simple savings, that’s all. For twenty years from now… gotta start somewhere, right? And in my family, growing up we all had savings accounts, and were directed to put everything there… of course, that was also when balances actually accrued decent interest… LOL.

diagram we made together, depicting "mommy" as a little girl with her piggy bank, and "grandma" would take "mommy" to the bank to deposit and save...