How To Teach Your Teen To Be Frugal

Parents Dec 21, 2020

Frugality gets a bad reputation because most people conflate it with being stingy or miserly. The truth is, this couldn't be further from the truth. The term only means being economical. Or to put our own spin on it, being efficient with money.

Here’s an analogy:
You go to the gym, prep your core and lift some weights. In a rush of adrenalin, you successfully burn some major calories. Stoked by your achievement, you immediately go to the cafe and eat two deluxe hamburgers. When asked, you simply say, “Hey I’ve earned this!”.

Being frugal doesn’t work if you spend most of your savings in a splurge, how much ever you feel you deserve it.

Making money is hard, losing it is deceptively easy.

If you've been reading the other posts in this section, you've likely got a good grip on how to help your teens maximise savings, time, and even value purchases. This means you're likely already raising financially responsible kids. That said, even if you've managed to teach them to insulate themselves from big financial shocks, all it takes are small leaks to sink a ship.

In this post, we'll discuss tips to teach your teen to be efficient with money on day-to-day things.

1. Encourage them to take public transport (assuming you're not in the middle of a pandemic, that is)

Sure, Uber and its ilk have made transport seamless. Tap a button and a cab magically appears, no directions needed, no haggling necessary. The convenience has us hooked, but have you checked your trip reports to see how big a blow it makes on the wallet?

Teach your teen to use public transport. This can be challenging in low context Asian cities, where directions and route numbers are rarely clear. However, this exercise helps them become comfortable with ambiguity, plan trips better, and save a ton of money in the process.

2. Eat out less

Food is the other major drain on any teen's wallet. While going out and having a great meal is absolutely fine, it should not become a daily norm. A meal with friends or family, a coffee catchup, or even a beverage at the movies are social events, but if you're dependent on ordering in an average lunch to eat alone, that balance will disappear pretty fast.

Encourage your teen to learn basic cooking, pack a lunch for them for school, and do the same when you go out for a picnic. Help them embrace equally healthy, tasty, and nutritious alternatives from an early age.

3. Buy second hand items

Most big cities now have thriving second hand markets where everything from electronics to home decor is constantly available second hand. It's not too hard to steal deals on sparingly used items and save in the process. There are even websites that sell pre-owned. So instead of spending money on expensive AAA video game titles as soon as they come out, teach them to wait a month or two and buy certified used from online sellers who specialise in pre-owned games.

Books are another category where it's often easy to find people on local groups giving them away free or at rock bottom prices during moving out or decluttering sales. And if all else fails, visit your nearest bookshop and browse through their pre-owned collection.

Your kid is probably worrying a lot about their social circles and how they can do their best there. This is completely natural, but social circles often come with obligations. Someone would want to pay, and someone would want to be paid for. Peer pressure is powerful enough to make even stubborn people yield.

To ward off such risks, teach your teen the following:
1. The power of going dutch (The Yodaa Card is your hero!)
2. The power of putting your foot down and standing your ground.

Make sure to tell them that uncomfortable conversations are worth the value saved in the wallet!

Individually, these are small and simple steps, but if you begin tracking these activities over a year, the amount of money you can help your teen save can be put to excellent use elsewhere, without compromising on overall standard of living.

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