My 3 year old is saving loose to change in her piggy bank to buy herself a toy at WDW

[DisneyFansInLINY]

I just thought this is adorable and am amazed that a 3 year old can be so dedicated to saving. It started a few weeks ago when I had a couple of coins on my night table. I gave them to her and told her to put them in her piggy bank to save to buy a toy at Disney World. We are going at the end of January. Anyway, she has proven to be an incredible saver! Every time she spots some change, she immediately takes it and puts it in her piggy bank. The other day she went a little too far though lol. My husband put his money for the week on his night table and she took it. She said she wanted the cash for Disney and said it's mine, please can I have it and hid in the corner refusing to give it back. Well we laughed and gave her $2 for her bank and took the rest back. She hasn't taken any more cash but just knows to ask every day if anyone has any change. My plan is to surprise her on Christmas with a Disney gift card in her stocking and a note from Santa telling her that since she did such a good job at saving, Santa cashed in all of her change and doubled it! So her gift card will be double the amount that she saved. I am amazed that my 3 year old is better at saving than I am! However, I was never taught to save so I hope teaching her how to do it now will help her to continue to save for now on.

 

[MonkersMama]

My DS (now almost 7) was the same way....when he was about 3 he even went so far as to spot money at my best friend's house and put the money in his pocket. Later in the day he pulls out the money and says "see what I have for my Disney bucket!" We marched his little hiney back to BF's house and made him apologize for stealing. OMG, it's a good thing it was her and not someone else he decided to swipe from...and he has never done it since.

 

[JoanneMouse]

Wow that is great!!! They can never be too young to learn to save!! That is a great thing!

 

[PrincessMom98]

My almost 5yo DS started saving any change he found when he was about 3. He would never spend any of his own money. He said he was saving it until he was grown up to buy a house! Lately though he has been considering cashing it in for a Nintendo DS like his big brother!

 

[elle bell]

My 4 year old DD is saving money to take to Disney in her piggy bank as well. She has to earn the money by doing little chores like putting her folded, clean clothes in her dresser and taking out the recycling.

 

[rlduvall]

My DS (now almost 7) was the same way....when he was about 3 he even went so far as to spot money at my best friend's house and put the money in his pocket. Later in the day he pulls out the money and says "see what I have for my Disney bucket!" We marched his little hiney back to BF's house and made him apologize for stealing. OMG, it's a good thing it was her and not someone else he decided to swipe from...and he has never done it since.

I know that was exactly what needed to be done . . . but that was so precious. He didn't think of it as stealing.

 

[mickaholic4077]

All these stories are so sweet!!

 

[erinmomof2]

My kids did that this year for our upcoming trip. My girls are 6 and 3. They get allowance for doing chores around the house, but the majority of their money comes from change. We leave in a few days for our trip and my oldest has $130 and my youngest $100. They are so excited to be able to buy their own presents. It was great to see them so interested in savings, and to see them so excited every time we'd cash in coins at the bank. They have the majority of their money in gift cards now and they had the best time choosing their gift cards on the disney website.

 

[Soarin_04]

You've started her off right. Congratulations!

 

[At World's End]

My kids (ages 4 and 7) are doing this, too. We decided as a family that we would forego all gifts this year and instead contribute to a family fund to pay for our next trip. So far they have saved up over $500 between gifts and found money! They have also become much more aware of the value of a dollar. When I told DS(7) that Mickey bars cost about $4, he said "No way! We can get a whole box of ice cream bars for that at the store! Everybody just has to wait until we get back to the house to eat ice cream!" This weekend we went looking at Halloween costumes and he was shocked to see that the ones he and his brother want cost $40 each. He said, "Forget it! I'll wear my costume from last year and that's $80 more for disney!"

I think it's been really great to have the kids involved in the saving. They will each have money to spend on whatever they want, but I'm sure they will think twice about some of their choices.

My kids think it will take another two years to save up enough for our next trip. I can't wait to surprise them with this trip in January!

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

my kids always prefered coins (money) to paper money. They would rather have had a quarter than a dollar bill. So unless your 3 year old knows what a gift card is, maybe she'd rather have a roll of dimes, etc.

 

[QVCshopper]

Too cute! My 4 year old is the next Alex P Keeton. He has at least five piggy banks that he adds to daily (mostly money we find). Then, he takes it out and puts it back in... especially since we got him a big belly bank. Those things are cool!

 

[Fantasmic23]

My kids have been saving loose change for our upcoming trip since March! They love it. We also have been recycling. Well, instead of putting out the bottles and cans every other week to be collected by our town, we cart everything to our grocery store and use the bottle/can redemption machines. The kids love bringing their vouchers up to the service desk.

 

[Ava]

Too cute! My 4 year old is the next Alex P Keeton. He has at least five piggy banks that he adds to daily (mostly money we find). Then, he takes it out and puts it back in... especially since we got him a big belly bank. Those things are cool!

My 18-month-old likes to "feed da pig" - aka put coins in her piggy bank. Obviously she doesn't understand the concept of money yet, but she likes putting the coins in the slot & then shaking the bank to make noise.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

My 3 1/2 year old saves up all of her money for Disney World. She is saving so we can go again in May. She thinks she is saving to pay for her tickets. She isn't really (we put all of the money she saves into her bank account and we actually pay for her ticket), but she is much more motivated to save to go to Disney World than to go to college

She did choose to spend some of her money on a stuffed Jasmine doll she wanted. She helped sort and count all of her change to see if she had enough. Her piggy grows quickly since when we sell her toys on Craigslist or at a garge sale, she gets to put that money in her bank to save. Grandpa also gives her his spare change when her toys are all picked up.

 

[crl]

my kids always prefered coins (money) to paper money. They would rather have had a quarter than a dollar bill. So unless your 3 year old knows what a gift card is, maybe she'd rather have a roll of dimes, etc.

My 4 yr old is the same way. I tried to get him to trade his quarters for some dollars and he wanted to keep all the quarters since it was more money. Though I might be able to persuade him to trade for Disney dollars.

 

[In Love with Grumpy]

Oh what a cutie she is! Too adorable. I think shes going to love the gift card idea.

 

[Plumeria9]

Oh I love it. Good job teaching her the value of money!