Saving Money for Kids on a Tight Budget

A great many of us would love to be saving money for kids and their future needs, but our current budgets are so tight we are still having a difficult time pulling together their everyday current needs. It can get pretty rough when the end of the month comes and there just doesn't seem to be anything left over for fun activities let alone a savings plan for Junior. As difficult as it might seem, there are ways to save money for kids and their needs of tomorrow without hurting the family's tight budget right now.

Spare change and partial distribution of unexpected bonuses can make a big difference when placed in a high yield savings account. Even if you are only putting aside two or three hundred dollars in the course of a year, with interest that money will grow and over time the baseline you are working from will grow. It might take a few years before you start to see some more significant numbers creeping in there, but every huge project starts with tiny steps toward getting to the summit.

While it can be difficult to justify when things are tight, try finding a new and improved method of saving money and dump the balance into a savings account or a guaranteed CD for the kids. Can you walk to work during good weather and take what you would normally spend in gas for their savings? Are there just two or three treats that you could shave off the grocery budget and dump the money you saved into an account? Do you smoke? You could either quit and save them over $2,000 per year or you could cut your smoking in half and still give them over $1000 per year.

Kids know when money is tight. The simple fact that you were able to amass even a few hundred dollars to help get them started in life will mean a lot to them. The hardest part about saving for kids on a tight budget is making sure that the money that goes into an account for them stays there even when things get really tight. Some parents choose to buy CDs in $50 increments for their kids so that they really can't touch the money without a penalty while other parents try to set up two savings accounts, one for emergencies and one for their kids. Saving money isn't easy for anyone, but it can be especially hard when the well has run dry and there is some money sitting in the bank. Developing the attitude that the money is already spent and is not able to be touched because it no longer "belongs" to you can help keep the money in that account. Saving money for kids on a tight budget can be really difficult but with every bank statement you will start to see the value in what you are managing to pull off.

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