Saving Money – Early Life Lessons

Recently, we heard of one family’s great way of teaching their children about money management and saving.

It begins with a familiar scenario, a Mother and young school-age boy at the checkout of a large department store. In an effort to keep the boy close to the checkout, the Mother plays a game with him. “If you can tell me how much loose change the cashier will be giving me – before the cashier tells me - you can keep the coins.” Having played this game before, the child knows that the loose change will be the difference between one dollar and the amount of cents that shows up in the total sale.

The boy watches closely as the numbers ring up on the till. When the final total of $38.47 shows up – the boy calculates that 1.00 - .47 = .53. “Fifty three cents,” he excitedly cries out, before the cashier says what the change will be.

“That’s right,” says his Mom, and gives the boy the 53 cents the cashier has handed over.

As they walk back to the car, the Mother asks her son what he wants to do with the money. “I want to buy some candy and a comic book,” he replies.

“Oh,” says his Mom, “but a comic book usually costs around $4.00 with tax.”

“Then I guess I will only get the candy,” the boy sighs.

“Well,” says his Mom, smiling “there is a way you can have both”...

At this point the boy’s Mother explains how if he spends a little of his money and saves the rest – the money he saves will accumulate to the point where he can buy the comic book on his own. The child listens closely, and decides to take the advice. He spends 25 cents on candy and puts the rest in a glass jar with a lid that his Mom has taped his name to.

As the weeks go by, he watches as his additions to his jar continue to mount. Occasionally, he takes all the coins out and counts them up to see how much he has saved. Eventually, he has enough to by his comic book.

His Mom takes him to the comic book store, where he chooses his comic book with great care – and proudly takes his purchase to the cashier, on his own. Watching the till closely, when the total is displayed, he carefully counts out the exact amount of the purchase. The clerk puts his purchase in a bag, hands it to him and thanks him. “Thank you” he says back to the clerk.

Teaching your children to save is one of the most empowering skills you will ever give them. But this family takes it a few steps further - they are also teaching their children to pay close attention at checkout time, to improve their math skills, and to handle money transactions.

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If you did not learn how to save as a child – it is never too late.

You can start with simple things. First – choose a realistic and doable goal that means you will need to save $20. At the end of every day, put all your loose change (except what you will need to have for the next day) in a big jar. Every week, empty it out, roll up the coins, and calculate how much you have. If it is not $20 – keep filling the jar every day until it is. Once you get into this habit, you will be amazed how much you will be able to save.

If you have a family, why not have a big jar that everyone contributes to for a family goal – such as your next ‘Family Movie and Pizza Night’. Work out how much you need to save and set up your big family jar with the words ‘Our Pizza Fund’ taped to the outside. Every few days – roll/count up the coins and post the increasing total on the jar. Get the whole family into the saving habit.

Eventually, you might want to increase the scale of your savings. The steps are always the same:

1. Pick a definite and realistic goal.


2. Consistently set aside money for that goal.


3. Monitor the amount of money you have saved.


4. Enjoy the sense of achievement you will get when you reach your savings goal.