Come on mum and dad, grandma and grandpa, auntie and uncles’, we need to teach our children the value of money as soon as possible. Knowing how to manage a personal budget is one of life’s most valued skills so its important to teach children good savings and spending habits as early as possible.
Many parents believe that children should earn their pocket money and if the jobs are not satisfactorily done its probably best to still pay the pocket money but withhold other privileges.

In the first few months, it’s essential to review account statements regularly and see exactly how much was spent on various expenses. These figures should be compared to the amount set up in your budget and any adjustments should be made to reflect the reality of your life. This is the best and easiest way for your budget to remain relevant in your financial life.

Start by writing down all your debt amounts, loans, mortgages, rent and write the amount down as you pay them, do not try and average the payments to be all the same frequency at this stage. Check your statements or go on-line to your accounts and see what you were charged over the last several months and add that cost to your budget. Next list your bills like power, phone, gas – take an average amount for the power and phone and gas to get a close as you can figure. Add a figure for groceries on an average basis also. It may look daunting to see everything written down together but it will help you to have this list so you can see how much you need to put aside for each bill.