10 Steps That Will Eventually Save You Time and Money as a Parent
Preview: Find tips and steps that will help you develop long term approach for how to save money for kids
Recently my almost 3 year old got some pocket money from grandparents and I found myself in situation thinking should I start educating her about money.
Is it to early to start educating 3 year old about money?
Normally, I would put that money into her education saving plan but knowing that she now has wishes and desire for certain things I was trying to think of the ways how introduce concept of saving money.
10 Steps That Will Eventually Save You Time and Money as a Parent
As a parent, it’s only right for you to be worried about your children’s future, but you should also think about your own future in relation to how you spend your time and money as a parent. No one can afford to throw endless amounts of money around, so it’s time to start taking a long-term approach to parenting and purchasing because it will pay off in the end for you and your family.
Knowing what to spend money on can be difficult but put an emphasis on spending money on things that you think will help you save time and money later on. Look at these expenditures as ways of investing in the future and making life easier for yourself and your entire family further down the line because that’s essentially what you’re doing.
So read on now if you want to learn more about the investments you should be making in order to eventually save yourself time and money as a parent.
1. Regular Pocket Money
Even if you feel like your children are too young to handle the responsibility of being given regular pocket money, you should think again. There are so many benefits associated with handing them that money and allowing them to do with it what they wish.
For a start, they will understand more about money and what it’s for.
On top of that, they will begin to learn about the importance of money management and how to save up for things. They will learn that themselves via experience and actually doing it with their own money. This will save you time as a parent later on because it will mean you don’t have to teach them yourself; they’ll already understand it all.
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2. Learning Experiences Rather Than Possessions
It’s so easy to shower your children with more and more gifts, but is that really the best way for you to spend money on them? The answer to that question is probably not. Possessions are useful for a limited amount of time before your child becomes bored of them and throws them into a drawer and forgets about them. Instead, you should try to spend on experiences for your child.
Experiences are valuable because they help your child to grow, develop and learn outside of the classroom, and that’s really important for them. You will find they become more independent and less in need of your time and support if you make an effort to broaden their horizons while they’re still young, so keep this in mind.
Related: Try out Waldorf inspired winter crafts with your child.
3. Cycling Safety Equipment
Every child needs to learn how to ride a bike at some point because it’s one of the keys to their eventual road to independence. Once they know how to safely ride a bike, they can get to and from school by themselves and even do things like visit nearby friends without needing you to get them there and back.
You will only set back their development and waste time for everyone if you allow them to get hurt as they’re learning so that’s why you should invest in the very best cycling safety equipment you can find. By doing so, you will give them the best possible start and help them to learn a valuable and useful lesson at the same time, which has to be positive.
4. Tuition for Subjects They Struggle In
Tuition for your children can be costly, but the truth is it only becomes even more costly the longer you leave it. For example, if you took action to get them back on track as soon as they started struggling, the problem could be nipped in the bud early. But if you wait until a month before a major exam, more tuition sessions will be required.
This is as much to do with playing an active role in your child’s education as it is about anything else. When you’re aware of how and why they’re struggling with certain subjects at school, you can take fast action to help them get back on track before it’s too late.
5. A Phone Plus Clear Boundaries and Rules
Giving your child a smartphone of their own can be a huge step, and you don’t want to rush into it. However, by giving them the phone and trusting them with it now, you can teach them about the value of good communication and looking after their possessions. It could stop them from acting carelessly and breaking things later on.
If you do decide to do this, you should make sure that you set clear boundaries and ground rules regarding the use of the phone. You don’t want them to be exposed to things online that they’re too young for, and that’s why parental controls and filters should definitely be made use of.
6. Healthy Rather Than Easy Food
The food you provide for your child is obviously one of the most important things of all; it’s your main task as a parent to put food on the table for your family. It’s why you go to work each day and earn a living. But you should think carefully about which foods you end up giving to your children each day.
If they’re unhealthy, you will cause long-term problems.
Health problems will arise eventually if you give your children bad foods that make them overweight and unhealthy. You should get this right early to avoid spending money and energy on those things at a later date. Rather than easy foods that are quick to prepare or don’t even need to be prepared at all, choose the healthy options.
7. Tools for Repairing Old Clothes
Children get through clothes at a breakneck speed, and that’s usually down to the obvious fact that they’re always growing and in need of larger clothes. However, you don’t want to compound the amount you need to spend on clothes by allowing them to get ruined and torn before they’ve even been outgrown.
We all know that children can be boisterous and they’ll eventually wear holes in their clothes. This is only a major issue if you don’t have a way of fixing them though.
If you were to invest in tools such as a computerized sewing machine, you would be able to fix any problems that arise. It requires a little extra work but it can save you money in the long-term.
Related: Tutorial for DIY Beeswax polish for wooden toys and furniture.
8. Saving Early for College
Starting up an account that you can use to deposit money for your child’s future college education is one of the very smartest things you can do right about now. College is expensive and you probably don’t want your children to be burdened with obscene amounts of debt that they’ll carry with them into their adult lives.
You don’t need to spend huge amounts of money on their college funds because if you start early, the sum will grow to the point at which it’s enough to cover a large part of their college fees even if you just deposit a small sum each month.
That’s what you should be aiming for so get to work on it as soon as possible.
9. Investing on Behalf of Your Children
Investing in stocks and shares might be unfamiliar territory for you right now, but it could be something that’s worth looking into for you. By doing so, you will be able to make sure that you have some money for your child to use later on when the time comes for them to fly the nest and begin their own lives independently.
You could put some money into secure stocks and then let their value grow over time. You could even let an investment manager take care of all this for you if you don’t feel confident enough to monitor and track the investments by yourself. By doing it now, you will feel less need to reach into your own pockets to fund your child’s start in adult life later on.
10. Durable School Items
It can seem like your children come home from school every week with a new list of things that you need to buy for them. The expenditure never ends, and in many ways it can grow as your children get older. But there are some ways in which you can cut down on the amount of money you will eventually end up spending on those school supplies.
First of all, you should make sure that every school item you buy for your children to use is as durable and resilient as it possibly can be. There is nothing to be gained by purchasing cheap, weak and generally sub-par supplies for your child to take to school with them. In the end, it will simply result in you having to replace them and spend more.
Related: Make your own story time characters from your child’s favourite books with felt board template.
There are so many great ways to spend money on your children in ways that will benefit them in the long-term and also save you hassle, money and time as a parent. It’s all about thinking about tomorrow rather than the here and now.
And the most important of all, it is crucial to educate your child about concept of money and develop good saving habits early. That is the value they will carry throught their whole life. It is never to early to start. We started with handcrafting simple DIY piggy bank and saving for a new bike.
I would love to hear from you in comments below how early you introduced saving money to your child and when you started with pocket money.
Lily Zunic
Copyright © 2023 Lily Zunic
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