Friday, August 10, 2012

Money Management..for an {almost} 4 year old

So since it has been so long since I've posted, I figured I'd give everyone a {little} update on our life before I jumped into a new post! Me and Rueben are extremely happy in life right now. Me & Patrick have been together for almost a year, and Rue goes to an excellent daycare just a few doors down from where we live. I work at the 4-H/Extension Office with my mom, where I'm a Program Assistant. I LOVE my job, most of the time LOL. Working with my mom can get stressful, but overall we do great.

ANYWAYS.. yesterday we had a district meeting, where we learned about all kinds of stuff going on in the upcoming school year. One of our guest speakers talked about a curriculum we have called "Your Money, Your Future." Well some of his points really hit home with me. Since as of now, I only work part-time (usually 24 hrs a week), I don't make enough to really save anything. Whenever I do get to work extra hours, or get any extra money at all, it *usually* gets spent. I've wanted to start saving for a long time, especially to have a little cushion for Rue when he gets older, but never have enough extra.

One of the points that was made was that the old curriculum said that you should spend 80% of your income, save 10%, and share 10%. Well this confused a lot of kids. They asked why they have to spend all 80% of their "spend" fund. This is just a guideline! So the new curriculum (since it's designed for kids) says that it should be 40-50-10 (spend, save, share).
My idea is to mold this guideline into something that works for US. My weekly checks will still be spent on bills, until I get some extra income coming in, but Rueben will start to get an "allowance" for the chores that he helps me with. I will give him .10 per chore, and whenever he has a dollar (or more) saved up in a small change purse, we will count it out, leaving 40% of it where he can spend it, 50% in his piggy bank where I will put it in an account for him when he has enough, and 10% will be "shared". Although I'm not sure yet what I will do with his share account, whether it will be given to charity, or used to buy supplies to share with friends at school. That will be decided sometime soon.

Rueben will turn 4 in on Sept 15, and I just hope that I'm not starting this too early. (Or too late... hmm...) I want him to learn the value of a dollar early, and although he hasn't gotten to the stage YET where he wants a toy every time we go somewhere, I imagine it's coming soon.

Me on the other hand, will split any extra income I have pretty much  the same way, but put half for Rue in his savings account, and half for me in my savings account. I have GOT to have a cushion in case of emergency, which I don't have now.

What does everyone think? :)

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