Building Banks

Money is a hot topic around our house. Especially after Christmas with gift money to spend (immediately!!!). I now understand the concept of money 'burning a hole in your pocket' in a new way as I watch my kids wanting to buy stuff.

We've decided to begin allowance for the first time, mainly to give the kids a chance to learn to make wise decisions with money. Eric has been doing a number of family 'seminars' on how to think about money. Some of the topics have been whose money is this? what are lies money tells? how do you know when you love money more than God? It's been good and they've come up with lots of good questions (when can I get a loan, Dad?).

I saw some cute banks with three compartments for save/spend/give and thought using them would be a good way to help them steward their money. Unfortunately they were $25 each so buying four of them didn't sound like a good way to steward my money!

Instead we used some of the plastic icing containers I've been saving for... okay I've saved them for years (that's why we had 10 of them... we didn't binge on frosting this week). We cut holes in the lids and each kid decorated one in red (for save), blue (for give) and green (for spend). Not so beautiful, but we'll see if they do the job.