I want to start this with DS but wondering what is the "Save" for??
A car?
College?
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@Mamaof2: a big toy you don't want to spend your money on but think he could save up for - delayed gratification?
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I think it depends on the age of the kid. I would say something they can achieve by a certain date (say 6 months from now).
I think college is too abstract for most kids.
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@mediagirl: see that's where I am confused - so he isn't saving it long term just briefly? I was thinking he could save up his "spend" money for a big ticket item and I would put his "save" money in the bank to save for ....???
I know I am making this way harder that it should be!
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more details
He is 6
I was going to give him $6 a week
3 for spend
1 for donate
2 for save -
@Mamaof2: I think it depends on age, right now I would "save" for something big (that he can achieve in a few months) as he gets older, the item he's saving for becomes bigger like a car/college. I think by having them actually "achieve" their goal in a younger age, it helps shows that hard work and saving DOES pay off and saving is worth it.
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@Mamaof2: after going through the Dave Ramsey thing a few times, here's how I see it:
Spend: Spend at any time on anything you want. This is fun money you can go out and blow on a candy bar, rides at the fair or a soda.
Save: Save it for a specific item. So, say he wants a certain Lego set. He can go to the store, look at it, find out how much it is and then know he has to save that much to get it.
Donate: Every xx months or every quarter, the money from this pot goes to charity of some sort.
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@LuLu Mom: good points!
@mediagirl: ah that makes sense!! Thanks!
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A kid won't save his spend money. That's what saving is for. I agree with the big ticket. D is saving for a Lego Death Star that's $400.
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@Dandelion: DS would die to have the Death Star!!!!!
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@Mamaof2: save for that, then
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@Dandelion: bahahaha. We saw a couple walk out of the Lego store a few weekends ago with the Lego Batmobile and heard the guy say, "How the heck did we get suckered into this??"
Don't let your son grow up to be that man.
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@Dandelion: I think kids should still learn how to do some budgeting though with the "spend" category. For example, I may not give you enough money to go see a movie, but in 2 weeks you might have enough for a ticket if you don't blow it on $3 worth of candy.
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I personally think you shouldn't dictate what percentage of the money goes in each category, I would personally give less money and let him see the effects of doing what he wants. This is the approach I am going to take with my son when he's older.
I'd let him save for something that's attainable for the amount of money he's getting. I'd encourage something smaller so that he can see the benefits of saving.
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@T.H.O.U.: I guess I can't say much, cause D likes to save his money. But, we don't have this budget system. He's 7 going on 40 lol.
@mediagirl: I'm hoping that by the time he saves enough money for it, he'll decide on something else or something that requires further saving, lol.
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When I was a kid, our save portion was long-term savings. Not necessarily for college but definitely multi-year saving. I used some of mine to pay for part of a school trip to Costa Rica in high school. This is money I'd been saving since my first allowances as a little kid.
If we wanted to get a bigger ticket item, we had to save our spend money until we have enough to buy what we wanted.
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