In today’s realities, saving a buck can be worth your time. With unemployment high, raises/bonuses non-existent, your 401k looking like a financial war zone, it is critical that we figure out how to save money and ensure our expenses are in-line.
As I thought about how to do this and tried numerous things, I came to a very fun reality. My oldest son (5 years old) loves to play board games, it is his “thing”. We decided to play Monopoly one night. I went through the basic rules of the game, we played, had a good time and I thought that was the end of it. Well, the next day, my son started asking me what things cost around the house. As I explained the different costs of numerous items, he stated, “Dad, if we save some money on these things, it will give us an opportunity to buy more important things”.
Since than, we have played Monopoly many more times, he has been far more interested in helping Dad & Mom “account” for what we buy and the importance of having money set aside for an “opportunity”.
I am excited about this little nugget of fun and learning I have found. Monopoly is a great game to interact, socialize and provide a basic budget understanding to your children which can help them become more involved in helping out with the budget.
