Money Matters... But Not Too Much

Welcome to the October Carnival of Natural Parenting: Money Matters
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared how finances affect their parenting choices. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
***

Ah Money... another one of those topics that can bring many a parent to a cringe. Because how do you approach the subject with your child? How do you ensure they don’t become spoiled or wasteful?

For our family, something we really want to avoid in our parenting is to overvalue money. Money is such a big thing in Western Society, and tends to become overvalued. Instead of happiness or joy, people seek monetary success. So much general speech is already value or money laden, think only about sayings like : “if the price is right”, “money makes the world go round”... To counter all that artificial value placed on money, we deliberately avoid phrases like: “that was expensive” when our child is being wasteful. Instead, we talk about emotional value of objects or the impact of being wasteful on the environment and the scarcity of things, maybe even the difficulty we had to acquire it (and believe me, here in DRC, everything is difficult to acquire.
But the way your child learns to think about money isn’t only about what you say about it, it’s also how you act about it.

Our living situation largely helps in our vision on monetary issues, as we live really really remotely, money isn’t a big part of our daily lives. We don’t go on buy nothing days, we can go for weeks without spending any cash. We use insurance comparison shopping to save money. We get some supplies once a month and harvest the rest from our garden. Sometimes we get lucky and we can buy a banana alongside the road.

Our daughter also gets the benefit of seeing that there lies labor behind monetary transactions - in a very direct way. Most often, we have our clothes made, so she is aware that clothes don’t just grow in stores, but that it takes our tailor a couple of days to finish, and we first have to pick a fabric etc.

Now that she’s three, she gets to ‘purchase’ and pay for certain things when we happen to be in a store (mostly when we’re away on holiday). She’ll be able to pick out something she likes and then we’ll give her the money to give to the store clerk.

All things put together, I think as a family we try to put little value on money. We don’t live frugally, but we can’t be called wasteful either. I think it’s more important to instill economical values on my child for environmental reasons than for budgetary reasons.




***
Visit
Code Name: Mama and Hobo
Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural
Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Money Matter$ — Jenny at I'm a full-time
  mummy shares her experiences on several ways to save money as a parent.
• A different kind of life... — Mrs Green from Little Green
  Blog shares her utopian life and how it differs from her current one!
• Show Me The Money! — Arpita of Up, Down &
  Natural shares her experience of planning for parenting costs while also balancing the
  financial aspect of infertility treatments.
• Material v Spiritual
  Wealth - Living a Very Frugal Life with Kids — Amy at Peace 4
  Parents shares her family's realizations about the differences between material and
  spiritual wealth.
• If I Had a Money Tree — Sheila at A Gift
  Universe lists the things she would buy for her children if money were no object.
• Financial Sacrifices, Budgets, and the Single Income
  Family — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama looks at the
  importance of living within your means, the basics of crafting a budget, and the "real cost" of
  working outside of the home.
• Overcoming My Fear of All Things Financial — Christine at
  African Babies Don't Cry shares how she is currently overcoming her fear of
  money and trying to rectify her ignorance of all things financial.
• Confessions of a Cheapskate — Adrienne at
  Mommying My Way admits that her cheapskate tendencies that were present
  pre-motherhood only compounded post-baby.
• Money Matters — Witch
  Mom hates money; here's why.
• Money? What Money?! — Alicia C. at McCrenshaw's Newest Thoughts describes how decisions she's made have resulted in little income, yet a green lifestyle for her and her family.
• What matters. — Laura at Our Messy Messy
  Life might worry about spending too much money on the grocery budget, but she will
  not sacrifice quality to save a dollar.
• Making Ends
  Meet — Abbie at Farmer's Daughter shares about being a
  working mom and natural parent.
• Poor People, Wealthy Ways — Sylvia at
  MaMammalia discusses how existing on very little money allows her to set an
  example of how to live conscientiously and with love.
• The Green Stuff — Amyables at Toddler In
  Tow shares how natural parenting has bettered her budget - and her perspective on
  creating and mothering.
• Jemma's Money — Take a sneak peek at That Mama
  Gretchen's monthly budget and how Jemma fits into it.
• 5 Tips for How to Save Time and Money by Eating Healthier —
  Family meal prep can be expensive and time-consuming without a plan! Dionna at
  Code Name: Mama shares five easy tips for how to make your cooking life
  (and budget) easier.
• Belonging in the Countryside — Lack of money led Phoebe at
  Little Tinker Tales towards natural parenting, but it also hinders her from
  realizing her dream.
• Total Disclosure and Total
  Reform — Claire at The Adventures of Lactating Girl gets
  down to the nitty gritty of her money problems with hopes that you all can help her get her budget
  under control.
• Save Money by Using What You Have — Gaby at
  Tmuffin is only good with money because she's lazy, has trouble throwing
  things away, and is indecisive. Here are some money-saving tips that helped her manage to quit
  her job and save enough money to become a WAHM.
• Two Hippos & Ten Euros: A Lesson in Budgeting —
  MudpieMama shares all about how her boys managed a tight budget at a
  recent zoo outing.
• ABBA said it — Laura from A Pug in the
  Kitchen ponders where her family has come from, where they are now and her hopes
  for her children's financial future.

• Money vs. Time — Momma Jorje writes about
  cutting back on junk, bills, and then ultimately on income as well ~ to gain something of greater
  value: Time.
• An Unexpected Cost of Parenting — Moorea at
  MamaLady shares how medical crises changed how she feels about
  planning for parenthood.
• 5 Ways This Stay at Home Mom Saves Money — Charise at
  I Thought I Knew Mama shares 5 self-imposed guidelines that help her spend
  as little money as possible.
• Frugal Parenting — Lisa at My World
  Edenwild shares 8 ways she saves money and enriches her family's lives at the same
  time.
• Conscious Cash Conscious — Zoie at
  TouchstoneZ shares her 5 money-conscious considerations that balance her
  family’s joy with their eco-friendly ideals.
• Money, Sex and Having it All — Patti at Jazzy
  Mama explains how she's willing to give up one thing to get another. (And just for fun,
  she pretends to give advice on how to build capital in the bedroom.)
• Money could buy me ... a clone? — With no local family to help
  out, Jessica Claire at Crunchy-Chewy Mama wants childcare so she can
  take care of her health.
• Spending Intentionally — CatholicMommy
  loves to budget! Join her to learn what to buy, what not to buy, and, most importantly, where to
  buy.
• New lessons from an allowance — Lauren at Hobo
  Mama welcomes a follow-up guest post from Sam about the latest lessons their
  four-year-old's learned from having his own spending money.
• How to Homeschool without Spending a Fortune — Deb
  Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares tips and links to many resources
  for saving money while homeschooling from preschool through high school.
• It's Not a Baby Crisis. It's Not Even a Professional Crisis. —
  Why paid maternity leave, you may ask? Rachael at The Variegated Life has
  some answers.
• "Making" Money — Do you like to do-it-yourself? Amy at
  Anktangle uses her crafty skills to save her family money and live a little
  greener.
• Money On My Mind — Luschka at Diary of a First
  Child has been thinking about money and her relationship with it, specifically how it
  impacts on her parenting, her parenting choices, and ultimately her lifestyle.
• Spending, Saving, and Finding a Balance — Melissa at
  The New Mommy Files discusses the various choices she and her family
  have made that affect their finances, and finds it all to be worth it in the end.
• Accounting for Taste — Cassie at There's a Pickle in
  My Life shares their budget and talks about how they decided food is the most
  important item to budget for.
• Money Matters... But Not Too Much — Mamapoekie at
  Authentic Parenting shares how her family approaches money without putting
  too much of a focus onto it.
• Parenting While Owning a Home Business — In a guest post at
  Natural Parents Network, Lauren at Hobo Mama lays out
  the pros and cons of balancing parenting with working from home.
• Crunchy Living is SO Expensive...Or Is It? — Kelly at
  Becoming Crunchy talks about her biggest objection to natural living - and her
  surprise at what she learned.
• Mo' Money, Mo' Problems — Sarah at Parenting God's
  Children shares how a financial accountability partner changed her family's
  finances.
• The Importance of Food Planning — Amanda at Let's
  Take the Metro discusses how food budgeting and planning has helped her, even if
  she doesn't always do it.
• Kids & Money: Starting an Allowance for Preschoolers —
  Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings discusses her family's approach and
  experiences with starting an allowance for preschoolers.

Money Matters... But Not Too Much