OUR FAMILY BANK {Kids’ Money Management}

I have been on a blogging hiatus for quite some time. I just came to the realization than when I am blogging heavily I am not able to be the wife and mother I want to be.  I have still be living a creative life and thinking of things I’d like to share with you all.  I hope to blog occasionally without the stress of having perfect pictures or promoting my blog on social media.  I hope you will still enjoy reading from time to time and will share my posts with your friends and family.  today I am blogging because I made 175 gourmet caramel apples last week and the week before and now I have some sort of soft tissue problem with my thumb! so I am trying not to use it as much as possible.  I figured typing was my best bet!

My kids have a problem with keeping track of their money.  For years we had money laying around, getting lost, and money getting stolen by other brothers!  I had finally had enough, so I devised a system to help my kids keep track of their money and keep it safer.

Here is our Nelson Family Bank Binder:

I originally did this with a binder and page protectors.  It worked fine, except when the kids would get out the binder (which they weren’t supposed to do) they would end up dumping half the money out!  So the other day at Walmart I came across these zippered binder pouches for $0.47 each.  I knew they would be perfect! So, I upgraded our page protectors to binder pouches.

How does it work?  I have a big three ring binder.  In the binder there are 4 pouches for each child (my son in college obviously isn’t included).  Each pouch is labeled with the fund it is for.  In our family the kids have a fund for Retirement, Church Missions, Tithing, and then just their Savings.  They can take money from their Savings to spend on things now at their own discretion, but I encourage them to save most of their money so they can buy Christmas gifts for each other as well as other things they may want to buy down the road.   

I made up a ledger to go in each pocket for them to keep track of their money.  When money goes in or out of the pouch, they will record the date, where the money came from or where it is going, the amount of the transaction, and the new total for the pouch.  The last column has divided cells to allow them to work the math problem right there.  I made the ledgers half sheets but in the future I will make full sheets and fold them in half to fit in the pouch to make it a little easier to fill in the cells.

We sat down with the kids and talked to them about the importance of saving money.  We talked to them about saving for retirement, as well as their missions/college.  We talked to them about the commandment to pay 10% of their money in tithes.  Our kids earn money through doing jobs such as cutting the grass, babysitting, and other chores we hire them to do.  They also make some money doing jobs for neighbors.  They also have generous grandparents who give them money at birthdays and Christmas.  At this time we are not paying them a set allowance, but sometimes we do.

I think it is important for kids to learn to manage money as early as possible.  Some of my kids are better savers than others.  But I think this system allows them to see clearly and tangibly how saving that small percentage of the money they earn adds up in their different fund pouches.

If you would like to download my ledger for your personal use, you can do so HERE.