Teaching your toddlers to save money around the home

I have three and half year old twins and I think it is never to early to teach our children the value of money and how simple lessons at the toddler stage can be taken into adulthood It will hopefully help them use their own money wisely when they’re older.

1 .In today’s world water is expensive and we should try to save it so after your toddler has washed their hands encourage them to turn the tap off. I mean how many times have you gone into the bathroom and found that the tap is still running? If your household is anything like ours them I imagine you’ve probably faced this a lot!

2. The girls watch DVDs on the Xbox which they are more than capable of using, but it’s constantly left on after being used so I have started to explain to them that to save money and energy they need to turn itt off after they’ve finished watching their film. 

3. When I go to the shop with my girls I don’t always buy thems something because otherwise they will simply begin to expect something every time I take them. Instead I do it once in. It’ll save a fortune and will mean that they’ll see it as a treat

4. The girls this year have been old enough to be involved in gardening and my wife has been growing vegetables from seed. The girls have been involved from the beginning and it has taught them that growing vegetables is easy and cheaper than buying from the supermarket. What better way to save money and have lots of fun too!

5. After they have played with their toys whether they are battery operated or electric it’s important that they turn them off. I mean how times have you walked past a toy and it starts going off? Batteries can be very expensive.

6. How many times have you thrown away their tea because they said they don’t want it? I know I have, but on a lot of occasions I have sat down with them and encouraged them to eat and amazingly they start eating. Food is expensive so next time you throw food away just think to yourself you are putting pound coins in the bin.

7. Re-cycling is another important lesson that you can teach your children. We have two bins in our kitchen. One is for recycling. They need to know why we do this and quite simply the more we recycle the cheaper hopefully the product in the shop will be. 

All the above tips are just simple things that a toddler can understand, but I believe teaching them early will hopefully give them good grounding in money matters to take though their lives.