How do you encourage your children to save money?

[overdraft]

I am asking this because I was never taught and am rubbish at it , but want them to be different.I might even pick up some tips myself.Do you get taught to save or is it just a natural thing some people seem to be able to do?

As part of our maths work (Home Ed) we are doing stuff with money. We made rubbings of coins (up to 10p as my kids are aged 2, 4 and 6) and cut them out, drew pictures of a variety of Waitrose continental biscuits and cut them out too. Next we decided on which ones were worth 10p, 5p, 2p or 1p and put up a prices chart with the cut out money and biscuit pictures - now displayed on the cupboard door.

Each day the children get to buy themselves a biscuit by choosing one from the chart and checking they have enough money in their piggy banks. Felix (4) went mad the first day and bought several biscuits only to become disappointed on day 3 when he was down to his last 2p coin. He is doing 'job' this weekend to earn more biscuit money for next week but has already decided that one biscuit a day is enough!

The 'value of miney' aspect was secondary for us but has been very effective - at least in Felix's case.

DS1 is too young to have any concept of saving, but he does have an elephant-shaped money box and sometimes we give him pennies to put in it. We started doing this because we didn't want him swallowing coins he found - instead he knows that he can post them - so now any money he sees, he says "money...oifant!". Will be interesting to see if he's better at saving than DH and me...

I'm inclined to think that the more parents discourage spending, the less restraint their children will have as adults.

I was a natural saver but my Dad also used to go on and on about the value of money and was very miserly himself. Neither parent has credit cards galore, just one which never has anything owing from one month to the next. They rarely treated themselves to things, although they didn't live as if in poverty. I never had the chance to make mistakes with money as a kid or to go mad and treat myself. I wish I had because I am very badly disciplined now in a lot of ways.

I am not a shopaholic as we don't have a lot of money spare but if I need something I need and I get it I don't deliberate over it for weeks lie my parents and have therefore made some rather rash decisions financially over the years...

dds don't get pocket money direct, each week we write down in a book what they get so the cash is never burning a whole! They get bits of money during the week for odd jobs etc (20p here and there) so they can get sweeties or something.

This means they get to watch it mounting up which they love, they each choose a target item to save for and work out how long it will take them, then, if they ask to spend on something else along the way they have to first recalculate how long it will take to get their target item. If they are happy with it then they can go ahead, however it usually stops them from spending!

Dd2 is currently saving for a nintendo DS as I have said she cant have one except as a birthday prezzie and tehn she will get nothing much else (she will get it about two weeks bfore her birthday but insists taht it is important to get it as soon as possible )

I like the idea that you save 10% of whatever you are given longterm. Save another 10% for holiday money, and give 10% to charity and to buy presents for other people.

The other 70% is yours to spend, when you are a child it will be toys and lollies, as you grow up more boring things like mortgages etc.

But to always be able to go on holiday and plan ahead for Christmas is an important skill.