Family budget and home management I

  I was at Shoprite yesterday to purchase some groceries for the home, for me I do my grocery shopping every two weeks. I had a long list of what to buy but I was sure I had enough money with

me to cover all I needed to buy, so you can imagine the shock I received when I was about to pay the cashier and I discovered what I had in my purse could not cover all I needed to buy. I was disappointed and embarrassed,

    I stood there confused and asking myself what had happened how did I run short, all these thoughts ran through my mind as I stepped  aside to  re-prioritize my list and remove what I didn't need from the grocery basket. Finally I made my payment and left but I had to do a mental calculation of my expenses to know how I ran short. Then it dawned on me how much I had spent the previous day and it had all gone to the house too. Gosh! It seems miscellaneous gulps more money than any other thing, today you have this amount of money and tomorrow it's all gone (mostly on miscellaneous).

  

  When you have children, spending money is an everyday occurrence; groceries, health etc,so after my experience I began thinking about budget caps, not just for groceries but for all other expenses like fuel,car maintenance,electricity bill etc. so how does one figure out how to allocate funds in a budget, at what point are am I  running myself ragged by trying to save more than what is reasonable and conversely at what point am I spending more than I should. 

 I just have to work it out to make long term financial goals possible as a wife and a mother. Besides considering what is going on presently in the country , it felt like the appropriate thing to do. Then again  I thought to myself what about the children? I have children with heavy appetite (and am sure it cut across many homes). So I discussed with my husband and we came to a conclusion that we need to take time to sit down and teach the kids about saving money and because it is very effective, I have decided to share it will you all.

   I felt better and elated after the discussion knowing I could use this method to check the house expenses and cut down where it is needed and am sure a lot of you relate with the fact that our children really don't know the value of money and savings, this is a chance for us to impart valuable lessons and experiences that could bring the family closer together "by making saving a family affair" so I became excited because having so much this minute and so little the next can be really depressing; Aha kilode?! ( am sure many of you understand what am talking about) the bills never stop coming in; it reminds me of a song that goes like:

                        "money slow to enter,money quick to go" by Ruggedman.                                   

                                      (abi no be Ruggedman?)

   Anyway so we called up a family meeting explaining to the kids how we need to save up for what they like to do and trust me when it comes to children you need to attract them with what they like, because to get a very effective saving method you need to enlist the entire family. You need to come up with things like we need to save for our holiday trip to so and so or save for the Christmas holiday/toys etc. it teaches them the important lesson that things don't come for free, you will see how excited they will be about the idea of saving so don't be nervous about their reaction, be open, frank and clear about how you are going to save up the money you need.

So here are the steps we are taking towards saving for a nice Christmas holiday and I would like to share it with other parents reading this.

 Use a shadow box: (Piggy bank) you either buy it or make it; putting their money in a bank account does not give them the full effect of meeting their financial goals so let's try a shadow box with a picture representing your goal on it, you can have one for the whole family  or give one each to a child, and as the kids put their money inside, they will be able to see their goals and their money concurrently which can help motivate them to do more.

Decide on percentage:  while you are asking your children to save, you need to bear in mind the percentage to be saved because telling the younger children to save a huge percentage  of their earnings could give them a negative feeling about savings. It might be a pretty nominal amount, but it can be the plan that tips the scales when it comes to getting your kids excited to save money. Plus your children will love to see you counting up the saving jar each day to see what your contribution will be which makes saving a positive experience.

To be continued...