allowances posts

There are some things in life that take priority such as grocery shopping. Whether you like it or not for most people it's a basic weekly responsibility.

I for one don't mind grocery shopping by myself but when I've got my two sons under four with me it's usually a bit of a circus show. I end up losing my scribbled To-Buy list within about ten minutes of pushing the cart around, meaning multiple trips to the grocery store, time wasted and frustrations high. Enter the world of apps, where there are now tools available to help you organize your life and save money without the fuss and... paper. These free apps are quite basic, but really who needs something with a lot of bells and whistles when it comes to a to-do list or a financial summary?

Here are five free apps that will save you time and money when it comes to organizing your finances and your life.

My three year-old was recently given a piggy bank by his grandmother and has taken great interest in putting money into it, taking it out and looking at it. He's interested in organizing the money and when we recently went to the store and bought two freezies with his saved-up change, he was proud of making the exchange with the store owner. Until now, my son has accumulated money by finding change my husband and I leave lying around on the kitchen counter and on our dressers. (No more coffee change for me). But seeing his early interest in money made me wonder when is a good age to introduce your child to the value of a dollar and how. I approached Canadian parenting expert and author Kathy Lynn and asked her to share some tips on introducing your little ones to the big world of money.

The First Step
You can show a toddler dollars and coins but wait until the preschool age before giving him his own money, Lynn advises. The first step? Lynn says simply let him pay for something and then talk about the transaction.

Top 2010 Stock Picks

Frugal Trader over at Million Dollar Journey has posted his quarterly update on his Top 2010 Stock Picks and looks back on how his four top stocks have done.

Why Small Business Owners Should be Their Own Landlord

Landlord Rescue explains the benefits of small business owners becoming their own landlord, and explores options from commercial space in condominiums to mixed use commercial buildings.

Just how do you teach a kid to avoid overspending? Everything costs so much that it's hard not to overspend ourselves – usually it takes several, sometimes painful years to learn to live beneath our means in order to make it happen. And this is while we're earning a reasonable salary that should cover expenses!

If a child wants designer running shoes, just how is a paper route going to cover that cost? Well, hopefully by the time they want those shoes they will be coming to grips with the fact that we can't always have what we want without tradeoffs. Providing kids with an allowance seems to be part of that education effort.


See also:
Adult Children Living in the Basement.
Teaching Kids About Money.