Do you feel like the only Frugal member of your household?

[bigdaddybus]

Over the weekend I took my teen son to Wendy's.
He ordered a Baconator combo (upsized) with a premium upgraded drink. His meal, around $11. I ordered 2 JR Cheeseburger deluxe, a chili, and a water. My meal about $5.

I debated on giving him some grief about being a spender, but he helped me with a project around the house so I was glad to treat him to whatever he wanted. But deep, deep down I cant wait till he makes these decisions with his own money!

Do any of you feel like the only saver/frugal one in the family?

[Fishindude77]

Typical kid. He's not buying lunch, so doesn't give much thought to the cost of it. I probably wouldn't have given him any grief about it either.

Have always been a fan of paying kids cash for work and letting them spend it as they see fit. Most tend to be a little more conscious with their own hard earned money.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

maybe kiddo eats a lot? I hear those teen years even budgeting will break the bank. If it were something other than food I might say budget, but sometimes they just eat and eat and eat.

[rennigade]

What was the project he helped you with? You took him to wendys...sounds like slave labor to me. Next time pay him a fair wage then see how he blows his money...may surprise you.

[MonkeyMama]

No. The frugal genes are pretty intense in both of our families.

I have to tell you a funny story though. My husband and I were both business majors and I am well aware how marketing works and that there are different price points for very similar products. For example, senior or student discounts at the movies. Or virtually identical cars that are marketed as different brands or quality. Anyway, I work right by a Wendy's, and we mostly never eat there. My husband meets me for lunch one day and I tell him I just want to spend the $7 in my wallet. Feeling broke, for whatever reason (this is several years ago, but I documented it in my blog). He ordered the Baconator. I never eat at Wendy's and I have no idea what to get. He suggests just ordering off the value menu, so I do. I get a Jr. Bacon cheeseburger? They look virtually identical. I just start laughing, when we both opened our burgers, but my husband is PISSED. He even complained about it to the manager. He has a marketing degree. He knows perfectly well why they look almost identical. I told him he got played. Anyway, that could be a really good lesson for your kid. Next time...

(The truth is that the Baconator was slightly more substantial, but it was definitely not "cost 4 times as much" substantial. It was pretty pathetic for a premium burger).

[bigdaddybus]

What was the project he helped you with? You took him to wendys...sounds like slave labor to me. Next time pay him a fair wage then see how he blows his money...may surprise you.

Raking the yard

OMG we make our teens cook dinner once a week for the entire family too! I bet he is scared for life, or he will grow up and be a useful spouse. I am rolling the dice, but I think I know the outcome lol

[bigdaddybus]

maybe kiddo eats a lot? I hear those teen years even budgeting will break the bank. If it were something other than food I might say budget, but sometimes they just eat and eat and eat.

He has grown 1.5" in the 7 months since we moved into our new place. (We measure the kids in the pantry doorway like my grandma did). And he does eat a bunch

[bigdaddybus]

Typical kid. He's not buying lunch, so doesn't give much thought to the cost of it. I probably wouldn't have given him any grief about it either.

Have always been a fan of paying kids cash for work and letting them spend it as they see fit. Most tend to be a little more conscious with their own hard earned money.

We make my son put half of everything he makes in savings, if he finds a qtr the kid wants a gumball machine. He wouldnt save a thing unless forced too. Hopefully he matures a bit more soon.

[disneysteve]

We make my son put half of everything he makes in savings, if he finds a qtr the kid wants a gumball machine. He wouldnt save a thing unless forced too. Hopefully he matures a bit more soon.

You need to make sure kids understand the value of saving. It's really a somewhat abstract concept. Depending on the age and maturity of the kid, there are various ways to approach those lessons. The simplest is to have them identify something that they want that costs more than what they have and sit down and figure out how long it will take them to save up for it. So if they get $10/week allowance and they want a video game that costs $50, they need to save up for at least 5 weeks in order to buy it. If they go out and spend half of their allowance each week, than it will take them 10 weeks before they can get that game.

As the kids get a bit older, you can start talking about long term savings. My daughter opened her Roth IRA when she was 17. We sat down and used an online calculator to show her how much $1,000 invested at age 17 would be worth at age 65.

As college approaches, that should be part of the conversation too. Do they realize how much college costs? What do the parents plan to contribute and what will the kid be responsible for?

There are dozens of teaching moments all through life. You just have to pounce on them and make the most of them to teach them little by little.

[~bs]

my household consists of me, so the answer is yes.

if you expand it to my immediate family, my brother never was frugal or a great money manager. He never went too crazy though. My parents used to be very frugal (I never had an allowance), but are a lot less so now in their retirement.
------------------'

teach kids about delayed gratification. You can either have 5 dollars now, or 10 if you wait until next week. Stuff like that.

if your kids likes to upsize orders or get premium add-ons, tell them they can, but in return they need to do extra chores, or it will come out of their allowance, etc. The way you make people understand and change behavior is to associate a cost with it. If they consider it to be "free", they will not consider the cost. If upsizing the order now means they'll need to pull weeds for an hour once they get home, they may realize that they don't really want the upsized order after all.

[disneysteve]

To answer your question, my wife is frugal although she and I sometimes disagree on certain frugal actions or behaviors. Overall, though, we're on the same page.

My daughter is pretty good. I think we've done a good job of teaching her the right way to do things. As she starts doing more things independently (she's 21 now), she often asks questions or asks for my help to make sure she's getting a good deal, like last week when I helped her buy plane tickets for a trip she's taking this summer.

[Fishindude77]

For kids living at home 18 years old and under, I think it's much more important to just get them working, shut off the hand outs, and get them earning their own money and buying their own "stuff". If you can accomplish this, they will learn a lot about the value of a dollar on their own.

Realize that this is a saving forum, but saving for the future, setting up retirement accounts, etc. has a hard time getting much buy in or interest till they move out on their own and begin starting families.

[AJ444]

Just DW and I and we are both frugal.

We get a lot of nephew time and are trying to be good financial role models for them since their parents aren't.

One asked for a video game last week and I made him write a 50 word text without using the letter "E" on why I should buy it for him, I was impressed with the result. He actually noted the discount and what a value it was.

[moneybags]

We make my son put half of everything he makes in savings, if he finds a qtr the kid wants a gumball machine. He wouldnt save a thing unless forced too. Hopefully he matures a bit more soon.

I never made my kids save any of their money. I let them manage their own saving vs. spending. I made sure to point out the good and the bad of their choices (along with other frugal tips). As young adults, they both lean toward the frugal side and are good savers. My son started out being a "spend whatever is in my pocket" kid.

[Thrif-t]

YES!! But I hope my kids are learning from me. I know my DD21 is, she's good with her money. DD18, well she's like her dad, its not really worth her time to go about finding something a few bucks cheaper than what she can buy right now. And DS16 tends to be the same way. I constantly try to get him to WAIT 2 days for a video game he wants from Amazon prime and save 5 bucks, but nope he's gotta go to WalMart right now and get it to play. Waiting 2 days isn't worth 5 bucks to him either.

Now before all you think I buy stuff for my kids I don't. They've all worked odd jobs since they were 10, paper routes, reffing youth games, mowing grass for my son, so they all have bank accounts with at least $500 in them. The older two have part time jobs. I do try to explain to them why a different purchase or waiting for something to be on sale would be beneficial, but at the end of the day its their money, and as hard as it is for me I gotta let them spend it as they please.

Although I did refuse to drive DS to WalMart to get his game, so he got his older sister to take him