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Having kids has been a fairly expensive endeavor for my family. We have two kids - a 2 year old and an 8 month old. Our biggest 'expense' has been a loss of income (of the mother). Although I am not a stay at home mother, time taken off for maternity leave, taking care of a newborn, etc. adds up. Between the two kids, we "lost" about 16 months of income. ...

This, unfortunately, appears to be completely normal. Every generation seems to do just the same. I think it is incredibly valuable to teach kids the value of saving money and not squandering it on worthless purchases, but it is very difficult. One technique we use to encourage saving is to agree to top up a percentage of the amount saved when our kids ...

I agree that it's typical of many young girls. The approach in our house is that the kids must put 20% of the money they receive in a bank account, and they're allowed to use the rest however they want. One option would be to suggest to your mother that she gives your sister an allowance each week (which could be increased with chores), and to request that ...

Is the money you are giving them a monthly allowance, or explicitly for food and other school materials? The reason why I ask is that the terminology can be important. Where I grew up, "allowance" meant "your parents give you money that you can spend as you want". If that is what you intend, then you can't say "no, you can't buy this with your ...

You don't need to teach them how not to waste money. Implicit in your statement is what these kids like, that, that's a total waste of time. Wrong attitude. They like the Gundam cards, they're toys. They're fun to play with. What you really need to teach them is accounting. If I have $10, and I spend all of it on Gundam toys, then I have nothing left ...

First, you should recognize that since you are older, you have learned lessons that your sister has not. She is on her own learning path. However, you should also realize that many lessons are learned through personal experience rather than taking someone else's advice. If your sister has earned this money, it is hers to spend as she wishes. (It is rare ...

Perhaps it might help if you label the money. I don't mean literally putting stickers on it, but when you talk about allowance it's not clear what it can and can't be used on. When you talk about money with your children, be very specific. You may give them: Lunch money. Determine how much they actually need, and give them exactly that. School money. ...

All my daughters' shoes are hand-me-downs except for her athletic shoes. I figure she isn't spending enough time in her other shoes to cause any serious damage. Let me elaborate. I had an aunt that bought my sister and I special shoes designed to help children walk correctly and healthfully and gave those shoes to my parents. She continued to "keep us in ...

I can think of several reasons why an adult would be living with their parents. Financial dependence (they can't get a good job). Physical dependence (such as a disability). Emotional dependence (they can't get their act together). To help out (for example, with an aged or infirm parent). With situation 1, provided the adult is making positive steps ...

When I was living with my parents, I made the decision on my own to help them with the household expenses particularly with the utility bills and other expenses. My parents have done so much things for me, and I believe it is a way of lending them a hand, so they can also enjoy the fruits of their labor. I believe that adult children need not be told ...

I believe as early as 5. But i feel you’ll know that they’re old enough the first time that they ask you for money to buy something. This is a certain indicator that they’re beginning to understand this concept. You’ll give them money, and they’ll spend it all on something that they want... This shows they need money to buy things. It is important to give ...

I actually used cloth diapers for my son because I find it cheaper compared with using diapers. Even if you have to wash the cloth diapers and spend for water, detergent and so on, you can still use cloth diapers in a longer run which will make it cheaper, compared with diapers. Newborn babies also tend to pee a lot, so a diaper can only lasts for four ...

This is not an item for the baby per se, but something absolutely essential for when baby comes home. Food. Make sure somebody is available to buy groceries and cook some meals for you, at least for a couple of days and in any emergency, such as when you don't manage to sleep and are totally trashed. Also, establish: A sleeping agreement. There will be ...

This will vary wildly, depending on the family. For those who do not breastfeed, formula will likely be at the top of the list. It's been a while, so I don't remember exactly, but I believe we were, at our peak, going through a tub of generic formula a week, putting us at roughly $80-100 in formula each month. This is way more expensive than even ...

Give your kids opportunities to learn that money is a privilege that must be earned, and that money is a finite resource -- when it's gone, there isn't any more. Trent has several blog posts about children and money: In short, we don’t believe in compensating our children for regular household tasks. We aren’t compensated for those tasks, so neither ...

My parents had a very strict regimen for money: You get no base allowance. All money is earned through chores. Lunch money is different (see below). Doing a chore will get you a daily payment. Clearing the table was $1 per time (the exact chore and monetary amount will change from house to house, of course). All payments are noted on a calendar, so ...

On fungi: Wikipedia links to a South Australia Public Health fact sheet (PDF) about second-hand goods. The fact sheet discusses athlete's foot and other fungi. Parasites (including fungi) ... may survive for extended periods of time. While transmission of these organisms is also unlikely, some second-hand goods may result in a risk to health if they are ...

If you want, this can start very early. You can "employ" them yourself for chores that are outside of the scope that you expect. These first jobs will help them understand that they can earn extra if they are prepared to work for it. When they're old enough that you can teach them how to -- rake leaves, shovel the snow away from the entrance, operate the ...

Child care is by far the largest expense for us. We live in a major metropolitan area and it costs ~1350 per month for full time child care in a montessori center. We use cloth diapers exclusively, breastfeed, shop craigslist for items that are safe to buy used, and cook all of our meals at home in order to afford to be able to send him to what we feel is ...

Some first ideas: Insurance / Health Care for a baby. This can be expensive, especially for complications early on. Even if everything is fine, and you are insured, you need to add a dependent on your health plan. Diapers. They get expensive. Some sites say $30-$80/month for disposables. Clothes. They grow out of everything, and if you didn't get hand-me ...

I would like to share how our parents raise us. When it comes to money matters, my mom is very transparent or vocal about our financial condition. Like she tell us that this is what we have, and we will have to spend it on this and that. In this way, I learned the value of money. Based from experience, my parent's honesty about our financial status, had ...

I also think it depends on your living situation. For our family, our unit doesn't have laundry so at $2 a load to wash and then $2 to try it is not even close. I even used a cloth vs disposable diaper calculator to test out my theory and I am correct http://www.groceryalerts.ca/cloth-vs-disposable-diaper-calculator/. Assuming cost of 20 cents per ...