This is a guest post by my friend Meghan from Savvy Spending
I like to think that I’m teaching my children how to be frugal. I want them to learn the value of a dollar, how to save their money, where our money comes from (God ultimately, and through Daddy’s hard work), and how to tithe and be generous with their money.
One thing that cracks me up is when the girls love to clip coupons with me- they’ll actually ask to help! They love to see coupons for their favorite foods and to be involved in the grocery shopping. Now that our oldest daughter can recognize numbers, she likes to see how much the coupons are worth. I don’t think most 2 and 4 year-old’s tell people, “We can’t buy that!! We don’t have a coupon for it!”
I remember my mom clipping coupons and sorting them in her shoe box at the kitchen table. I didn’t really understand what she was doing, but I knew it involved money and groceries. Perhaps that experience has something to do with my love of coupons today. If so, I hope that I am mimicking those experiences for my girls and will create another generation of coupon clippers!
Couponing can create many teachable moments with children- not only can you show them how to be smart with money, but it can help kids practice their math skills. If you are a coupon-clipper, involve your kids and teach them that it’s cool to be frugal!
Meghan blogs at Savvy Spending. She works to help people stretch their dollars, show people how to be frugally happy, and demonstrate the love and generosity that Christ has shown me.
I started couponing when I was 18 for my family and now I get my younger brother to help me clip coupons and find items I need.
I have gotten my two oldest girls involved..my 7 yr old helps clip coupons and organize them. BUT my 12 yr old is the true star lol..she just got into makeup this year and I told her, “you can have as much FREE makeup as you want” so she is VERY involved w her coupons. She finds her own coupons online, I give her the ones out of my newspapers since I am too lazy to wear makeup myself lol, and she scans blogs for deals. CVS is her favorite store since they have good clearance deals..you would be amazed at how much she has accumulated from there lol..all for FREE! We just bought two of those storage containers w drawers to hold it all!
I am a 2nd grade teacher and I use coupons in math lessons. It teaches numbers, money skills, and dates. In math we also talk about how some stores double coupons. Doubling numbers is another important math skill. You also reinforce subtraction skills (often with borrowing) when you discuss how coupons are used. You can also discuss proper nouns (product names). There are lots of skills to bring out in using coupons, and at almost every age. When I taught kindergarten I would even use coupons to let them practice cutting skills.
I have involved both of my sons in couponing. My oldest will cut the coupons out, trying to stay on the dotted lines and will organize them for me buy the dollar off value. They both know that most of the time if I don’t have a coupon or it is not on sale we probably won’t be getting it and they don’t complain at all. They just say once you have a coupon then get it for us.
I’d turned my 8yr old into a couponer. If she goes shopping with dh, she’ll yell at him if he buys something without a coupon. LOL. She says, “I bet mom has a coupon for that. You shouldn’t buy it now.”
I was watching a 5yr old last year. We went food shopping one day and she LOUDLY asked if I had my coupons with me. I mentioned it to her mom and the mom said she’s been doing that to her too and it’s embarrasing. LOL
My couponing is wearing off on not just MY kids!! :)
One more thought….
Anyone else bothered by the use of a curse word in the Nivea ad in the 6/5 Red Plum. I emailed the company to express my concern of involving my kids in couponing if I’m going to inadvertently expose them to language that I don’t allow them to use. I got a courtesy response, but not a satisfactory one. Maybe if several of us emailed them, we could make a difference? Just a thought….
We didn’t have much planned or budgeted for our next-to-last day of vacation, so we took the kiddos to Walgreens and gave each of them a $10 Wags gift card (from my regular budget), the Wags weekly ad, and the challenge to see how much savings they could rack up with $10 worth of spending. We ended up with over $130 worth of merchandise for under $50. The kids learned the value of frugal shopping and their couponing mama had a blast just watching them!
Our 4 year old asks, “do you have a coupon for that?” Now in stores if there’s a coupon somewhere on the aisle, she’ll tell me where it is, goes and gets two. One is hers; the other is for me. :)
Ummm…..guilty here too. My 3 1/2 year old cracks me up. She watches for blinkies to grab coupons and will yell if the machine will only give her 1 before it decides to stop. I had to make her own coupon organizer, which has outdated coupons and others that she has collected on her trips, just so she will leave mine alone.
Grandma recently came for a visit and we were at the grocery store. I heard her ask my daughter “what kind of grapes are your favorite?” referring of course to red vs green. Without missing a beat my daughter replied “I like whatever is on sale”.
My grandkids age 8 & 7 help me cut them.I took them to the store 1 day & made them do each their own transaction to pay for the body wash they waste {well wasted before it came out their allowance}. They really got into doing that & showed everybody that came here what their dollar paid for lol
They are pretty hyper so I do most of the shopping when they are in school or Paw Paw is home.Every time they see bags on the table they ask what kind of deal Maw Maw got today lol
I know a mom who started her daughter couponing (she’s 12 now)… Instead of the mom couponing now it’s all the daughter LOL! And from what I’ve heard she’s pretty good at it… Hey you’ve gotta start them young LOL!
Wow! 12 is young to do all the couponing! She will be a well prepared adult. :)
I started the whole couponing fever in my house when I was 13 and now when we go to the store my mom is like do you have a coupon for that?
I have my kids involved. They are 7, 5 and 3. They also, know if Mommy doesn’t have a coupon, 99% chance, she won’t buy it. LOL
My kids will see something in the store and say “Mom! Do you have a coupon for this?” If I don’t I will say, I will look for one.