Money Moms

[Milly]

What did you learn financially from your mother?
How are you teaching your kids (at what age?)?

[AJ444]

My mom spent my dad into horrendous credit card debt multiple times and doesn't understand or care to understand the concept of personal finance at all. I learned to not be like her.

No kids but I am very close to two nephews whose parents are not the best financial role models so at the ages of 15 we are trying to teach them basic personal finance concepts when they spend time with us.

[AnnieG]

From my mom:
How to live on very little money.
That learning is fun. (Yeah, I think that is a financial lesson.)
The importance of honesty.
That it is OK to accept help and that help is out there if you look.
That debt will own you (negative lesson).

To my son:
The above lessons (not the first so much because we have been lucky, and the last one as a positive lesson).
How to budget.
How to invest, and how to not fear bear markets.
To start saving early for retirement. (He opened a Roth at 18.)

[97guns]

Mom taught me the art of frugality and to save, it was a lifestyle. I don't have kids but I'm trying to reel my wife into that lifestyle, taking baby steps

[Milly]

My mom set good habits:
She would make us do the unit price math at the grocery store. She must have been so patient!
She would always pack food for trips. With 10 kids, eating on the run gets much too expensive.
We would go on lots of cheap family trips to state parks and hikes.

I'm trying to teach my toddlers what money is by letting then earn coins for their money jar. The can help put away dishes, stir pots, sort laundry, put away their laundry, use the vacuum hose under the table, etc. When they break stuff, they have to help pay for replacements.

[Milly]

I'm going to add tithing to my list from my mom. My sophomore year in college I received several grants and scholarships totaling to about $2,000 over my expected costs for the semester. I felt so over blessed, knowing how many people struggle to pay for college. I prayed in gratitude and for direction. The distinct reply I got was that it was a trust thing. I had proven that I am willing to give back to the Lord through tithing and that this was the next step: using the added blessings to do His work. Maybe this is too spiritual for this type of forum, but I have been blessed financially by tithing.


Jacob 2

17 Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.

18 But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.

19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

[TexasHusker]

I am interested in hearing more about your take on the tithe concept. While I give to my church, here is my understanding of the tithe, which is mandated in Deuteronomy 14:

- Is was essentially the income tax system for ancient Israel
- It was a commandment by God, not a suggestion.
- There were actually three tithes - one tithe of crops per year to support clergy(Levites) who had no crops, one tithe every year to fund all of the Hebrew holidays and celebrations, and one tithe every third year to support local clergy, orphans, widows, etc. So the total to be given was 23.3 percent per year.
- Each tithe was 10 percent of crops or livestock - what the land produced.
- If it was too burdensome for you to cart the tithes to Jerusalem, you could convert it to currency.

I am always interested to know how we took this system and shoehorned it into the Christian faith.

I could be way off from my study so feel free to help me out.

[rennigade]

Is milly now filling the shoes of goodsteward?

[AJ444]

Is milly now filling the shoes of goodsteward?

We are getting an LDS slant this time but I had the same thought as you, here we go again.

[TexasHusker]

Is milly now filling the shoes of goodsteward?

Where has Good Steward gone?

BTW I think trusting God and relying on him is wonderful, important, and scriptural, and it pleases Him. I'm just questioning the poster's concept of the tithe.

[disneysteve]

I can't exactly say that my mom taught me to cook, but she taught me to appreciate cooking if that makes sense. She always made everything at home from scratch and I just kind of picked that up from her.

She taught me about being frugal. I was raised shopping at thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales, auctions, and discount shops. When we traveled, we packed a picnic lunch and ate at roadside stops. We packed a cooler for in our hotel. We stayed in efficiency rooms when possible long before every hotel room had a fridge and microwave. She taught me to fix rather than replace when possible or to just make do with what we had rather than always buying something new.

My dad was totally a part of all of this too. It wasn't all her, but the question was only aimed at what mom did.

[TexasHusker]

My relationship with mom has been shaky since I was a kid. She left the family when I was 15 but my brother was only 10. That was a very damaging thing to him.

I thought she would appreciate a mulligan with grandkids, but she eventually blew those relationships up, too.

My kids kind of got the shaft on grandparents - my mother in law died years ago, my father in law hasn't ever given them the time of day, then my mom. My dad had a really good relationship with them but then he was stricken with Alzheimer's.

[kork13]

My dad was the one who was strictly (devastatingly?) frugal (to & beyond the point of cheap). My mom was the yin to his yang though, so she taught us to buy for quality, then take very good care of it. For example, I'm using the couch & dining room set that she bought in ... 2006? Also this desk I'm sitting at, my family has owned since I was a kid. Oh, and the baby dresser/changing table that I change my son's diapers on? My own butt got changed on that very same piece of furniture. She gave them to me when I graduated college, and they're all still in excellent shape. I could go on with many other examples, but you get the idea.

[msomnipotent]

I learned to use coupons and how to check the unit price of things. That was about it. She was actually against me contributing to the 403B (both of my parents were) because "that is for rich people". She was, and still is, pretty dumbfounded by money. We had to have about $5,000 for something to do with the cottage we all share, and my sister and I told her to just get the cash out of the joint account at the bank. She actually said, "Are you kidding??? Banks don't have that kind of money just sitting there!!!!". I'm not kidding, unfortunately.

[Fishindude77]

My mom wasn't very good with money, but darned good at spending. She came from a pretty well to do family and while married my dad took care of the money. When she was on her own in old age, the wheels fell off and I had to step in and clean things up. Glad I was around to help her out.