It is of the utmost importance that you instil in your children a sound appreciation of money and how to manage it as soon as they’re old enough to understand such a thing. You have to make your kids understand that money doesn’t grow on trees, and while appreciating this they should also understand how to assess the value of things, as opposed to just the cost.

Getting your kids to understand the ins and outs of cash, spending and saving is vital, but it is just one part of managing money in a family. Things can get pretty complicated, so it’s always best to manage your family’s money with some general rules and practices in place.

Get the household involved

Cutting back on spending and things like energy saving are pretty much impossible unless your entire family is involved. You need to make your kids feel involved and make them feel like they make a genuine difference. With prices rising and energy consumption falling in households across the UK, it’s clear that it takes the whole family to make a change of any real impact.

The next time you need to go through the bills, call your kids over and get them involved in the discussion. You don’t have to lecture them, just have them around when you’re breaking the bills down, so they can eventually become involved in discussing how the entire family can save on energy bills.

Teach your kids about debt

Teaching your kids about debt early on is a good idea, too. You should always instruct them to try and avoid borrowing money if at all possible. However, you need to be transparent when it comes to this and explain to them your current debt situation and what they should do to avoid it themselves!

You should also start telling them about loans and how they differ from each other. If you’re getting a loan out, you should try to explain to your kids why you’re doing it and how it all works. Ask yourself, in front of them, what a fast loan is and why it would help you.

Teach your kids sustain themselves

By getting your kids to save up their pocket money and pay for their own ‘luxury’ items (e.g. toys and other indulgences) from an early age, they’ll learn how to be more self-sustainable. It’s a good practice to keep in mind.

Of course, you can occasionally buy them things if you want to, but you’ll find that they’ll value their belongings a lot more if they’ve paid for them out of their own pockets.