It’s easier to get your kids on board with a frugal lifestyle if it’s been this way all their life, but even if thrifty living has always been the name of the game, you can still encounter push back when your children want to know why they don’t have as many clothes or gadgets as their peers. If you’re trying to downshift into a frugal lifestyle after years of living it up as big spenders, you can virtually guarantee the kids aren’t going to like it, at least not at first. Either way, the tips below can help you involve them and know when to pick your battles.
Accept the Inevitable
An important part of child development is differentiating from the parents. Inevitably, there are going to be times when it feels like they are rejecting everything about your lifestyle wholesale. A good strategy is not to become too emotional when this seems to be the case. They are, in part, testing boundaries that you simply need to reassert. They may also ultimately decide that they don’t want to follow a frugal lifestyle themselves when they are adults, but that’s for the future. For now, focus on the concrete while accepting that some conflict is normal.
Plan for College Together
A great way to give your child a sense of what things cost, and the importance of savings is by looking at the price of college. You can start planning ways to pay for school years before your child is ready to attend. You could open a savings account that they and other family members can contribute to. As the time gets closer for them to attend, you can look at more specific options, including scholarships and loans. To prevent them being burdened with student loan repayments, you may want to consider Earnest parent loans for college. These are low-rate private loans that you take out to cover their educational costs. You are responsible for paying them back instead of your children.
Talk About Values
Frugal living can just feel like punishment when your child doesn’t understand why you are doing it. It’s important to instill in them a sense of the values you associate with this lifestyle. This might include learning to take pleasure in simpler things that are low-cost or free, leading a debt-free life or reducing consumption for the sake of the environment. Maybe you value your time more than making money, or perhaps you are saving up for something that is important to you, such as purchasing a small farm. Whatever the underlying reasons and values are, talk about them frequently with your kid and demonstrate your adherence to them in your actions and behavior.
Teach Financial Literacy
One of the most valuable gifts you can give your children is the gift of financial literacy. A good understanding of money will put them well ahead of many adults. You can start when they are young, discussing prices, clipping coupons, and giving them a small allowance that they can use to buy toys or other treats for themselves. As they get older, you can help them open a bank account and discuss more complicated concepts, such as compound interest. Regularly talking about money at home as a normal topic can also ensure that they do not grow up with some of the anxiety and stigma around the topic that some people do.
Another great strategy is to make the household budget something that the whole family participates in. This gives them the opportunity to choose among two or three options: for a vacation, would they rather take a less expensive trip for a week or a more expensive one for just three days? You can also encourage discussions around various frugality-related topics, such as whether it’s better to spend more buying products that will last longer or purchase cheaper products that you’ll have to replace more often.
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