Unless your kids have a job or summer school, chances are they’ll be looking for ways to fill their time until school resumes in the fall. Instead of leaving them to their own devices, why not teach them a valuable life skill? Couponing isn’t an adult-only activity; just because they don’t have bills to pay yet shouldn’t exempt kids from learning how to stretch a dollar using frugal habits like clipping coupons. In fact, teaching financial responsibility from an early age can be one of the most valuable lessons you ever teach your kids, and here are four more reasons why you should teach them the joys of couponing during their summer break:
Personal Finance 101
The earlier you teach kids how to properly handle money, the better. Couponing is the epitome of frugality because it helps you save money off the regular price of an item, but it requires more work than simply shopping at cheaper stores. Depending on your children’s ages, they may not fully understand the concept that money is a finite resource yet and the idea of saving money for a kid with infinite wants can seem like a drag to them. Couponing teaches your kids a positive approach to money by acknowledging that you only have __ amount to spend on things such as groceries, toiletries, clothes, etc. each month and couponing can help your family buy more without going over budget.
Learning the Ropes
Once you’ve instilled the value of money into your kids, the next step is teaching them how couponing works (another skill they’ll need later on when they’re paying for their own things). You can show them where to find coupons in local publications or show them how to navigate coupon websites such as SumoCoupon. They can also learn how to distinguish between wants and needs; just because there’s a great coupon for a package of soaps doesn’t necessarily mean you should buy those soaps, especially if you already have an ample supply at home.
Save You Time & Money
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits to you is that teaching your kids the art of couponing can save you quite a bit of time scouring publications and couponing websites for coupons you need for your next shopping trip. It’s a win-win, really: the kids are kept busy with an educational activity and you don’t have to spend as much time finding coupons while still saving a pretty penny at checkout.
Family Bonding
The kids will probably want to hang with their friends for most of the summer, but couponing sessions can also serve as family bonding time during the busy summer months. One person can surf the web for coupons while the others sit around a table with a stack of publications to go through and clip coupons from. Make lemonade and/or cookies and turn it into a couponing party; this will show your kids that couponing can be a fun, social activity (which happens to save money), rather than the dull, dry process they might perceive it to be initially.
