Skip to main content

The Family Mint (TOS Crew Review)


When I was growing up, I remember my parents telling me, "debt is a way of life... you'll always have a car payment."  When I married, we discovered the Dave Ramsey way of doing things, and life was so much better!  However, it is hard to completely shut out the training of one's youth, and my husband and I have both struggled at points with a case of the Wants.

When we received the information for Family Mint, I thought, "okay, this is going to help us teach our kids what we want them to learn about managing money - so they will not have to overcome a self-destructive foundation."

I signed our family up for an account right away.

Then, honestly, I forgot about it for the most part.

The kids each have savings accounts at the local bank, and the oldest (10yo) helps fill out deposit slips and do balancing.  They know how much they have in there and they know how much they are putting in (we haven't taken any out yet) each time, so we keep a running total of how much they have saved.  Money comes in for birthdays and Christmas, and those months are long past by this point in our year, so we haven't had money to deposit lately.

The oldest takes 10% to church (if the younger one went to church, he would, too, but that's a different tangent) and spends less than half of everything she gets.  She's my saver.  The younger one (7yo) is a spender - money is like underwear - temporary and revolving.  I definitely need to work on that.

Okay, so with Family Mint online, you can get a free basic account, and the parents act as the bankers.  The kids can each have an account, and "money" is deposited and tracked.  Interest accrues in the manner you set it up to do, and allowances can even be automatically set to accrue.  Additionally, your children (and you!) can set goals: short-term and/or long-term.  That's pretty helpful for the spender!

In actuality, we used this very little, but I have had a strange couple of months and am not altogether organized right now. (currently working on that)  I see real potential with Family Mint, however, and I think it is a valuable resource for parents.  For our family, however, it was a bad time of the year to try it with real money and it didn't occur to me how to use it any other way until this week.

In fact, my daughter is currently reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and apparently the mother uses play money to help the kids save toward goals, rewards, or real money.  We have been talking about implementing just such a policy, and Family Mint would make a wonderful resource for that!  'Course, many are using it to track their real money.  Just check out my fellow Crew Mates' reviews here.

* Disclaimer: Family Mint provided a free account to me as a member of the 2009-2010 TOS Homeschool Crew for the purposes of reviewing it.  This review is my own honest opinion, and no compensation has been provided.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Weary of Winter

Last summer, we began a tedious journey through a difficult season in our lives: family trials coupled with unprecedented numbers of illnesses in our home have just about driven me batty.  So, after a frayed rotator cuff in my right arm (why i don't blog as often anymore), the discovery of a couple of possible learning disabilities in my kiddos (not covered by our insurance, naturally, so we're on our own), two stomach viruses (TWO!!), possible RSV that led to pneumonia (myself and the Littlest Princess), bronchitis (hubby), and an ear infection (the Man-Child)... i was deeply touched to be sent the " Stylish Blogger Award " by a friend from my reviewing days on The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Homeschool Crew !  Wow! I needed that reminder that there is life out there and i used to be a part of it!! Thank you, Heather!! :^) Check out her awesome site at http://faithfamilyandfun.com/ I don't know how she does it, but there is always something new and inspirin

Missing My blog...

Okay, it seems like forever since I wrote on here, and I really have nothing to say and too much to say all at once! There is so much that God is showing me lately, and there is so little time to do more than just soak it up and take one step at a time. The kids are great! We survived a few days of babysitting while my sister-in-law was in Hawaii. Yeah, that's a rub, right? :-) We enjoyed a teaser of Spring, which prompted us to begin some seedlings... (can you say "germination?" what a wonderful teaching opportunity it was!) we planted 2 different kinds of tomatoes, basil, early peas, and some flowers. Most of our seedling pots are on the kitchen table, but in a month or so, we will have some work to do to transplant it all outside! Yay! We learned today that Quin is actually halfway through first grade on his reading and math. That is a really nice surprise to a laid-back homeschooling mom! Calysta is trucking along in all her subjects beautifully. And Dania is

Perimenopause: What to Expect that You are NOT Expecting

Perimenopause: What to expect that you're NOT expecting. Chapter 1: The Hot (Fire) Flash (Surge) The fan must be on. In every room. And you are now Mr. Rogers. You have a sweater for every outfit. However, you live in tanks and short-sleeved shirts underneath because nakedness is frowned upon in public places and you must disrobe in haste, frequently. The socially-encouraged bondage device, a.k.a. the bra, is more despised than ever. Fuzzy socks are your friend, because your circulation is poor and your skin is dry. You will end up with a pair in every room because you inevitably needed them off for extended periods and wandered away from them, only to need them again in another room. Winter weather is both bone-chillingly cold and a delight to overheated skin. Sometimes simultaneously. Summer is intolerable. Do not get me started on having a fever while experiencing a hot flash. 😳 And while we're mentioning it.... "Hot Flash" is not an adequate phrase for the rush o