Practice Using Your Money

by Peggy Billiard

Do you get an allowance for jobs at home? Do you make money by doing small jobs for
others?

Where is your money? Does it seem like you have holes in your pockets?

Your mom and dad had to learn how to use money wisely. Make a plan for how to use your money!

Step 1: Get three envelopes. Label one: FUN MONEY. Label the second: SAVE. Label the third: GIVE.

Step 2: Divide your money into the three envelopes. How much from every dollar should
go in each envelope? (Or see the chart below.) Hmmmmm. Start with 80 cents of
your dollar in FUN MONEY, 10 cents in SAVE, and 10 cents in GIVE.

Step 3: How will you use the money? Write some ideas on the outside of each envelope. Do you want to save your FUN MONEY for something special? Will you buy a gift for someone special? Will you deposit the SAVE money in the bank to open a savings account? If you go to church, you can keep your GIVE envelope in your Bible and tithe (See the ‘Bank on It’ section to the right.) Maybe you would like to give your money to help children in another part of the world!

Step 4: Show your plan to your parents. They will be impressed! They might think you are acting older!

Step 5: With your parents, make a chart of jobs around your house. Talk to your parents about how much you could earn for each job.

Practice using your money! In a few weeks, you can go shopping with your mom or dad, you can buy the things you need or want. Maybe your parents could help you figureout a plan for buying a few of your clothes.

Amount of Money	FUN (80%)	SAVE (10%)	GIVE (10%)
$1.00	$0.80	$0.10	$0.10
$5.00	$4.00	$0.50	$0.50
$10.00	$8.00	$1.00	$1.00
$20.00	$16.00	$2.00	$2.00

Use your math brain to add on to the chart!