Why You Should Switch to a Credit Union. Now.

This is how I feel about banks.
Image by David Castillo Dominici

I’m going to start with the bottom line.  We all make mistakes when tracking finances.  Yes, even you.  The thing is, when someone who has a healthy buffer in their checking account forgets to note last Tuesday’s mocha purchase, it’s not that big a deal.  You’ll catch it in a couple weeks when you get your statement, update your account, and life goes on.  Yay.

But when you are living paycheck to paycheck and your account flirts with zero on a weekly basis, these mistakes are devastating.  Let me paint you a picture of a typical payday for someone living this way:

Friday – Payday!  Money in the account!  Hurray!

• Check your budget and add up the bills you have to pay.  Not bad.  Looks like you’ll even have about a $20 buffer this week.  Sweet.
• Write the rent check.  Drop it off.
• Hit the grocery store.  Since you came in under budget, you decide to treat yourself to a fancy coffee.
• Transfer funds into savings.
• Pay the light bill.

Saturday –

• You’re at work.  You still have that buffer, and you’re exhausted, so you grab a coffee during the day.

Sunday –

• You grab a pack of gum.

Monday –

• You check your account.  Nothing has cleared from over the weekend.  Typical.

Tuesday –

• Still nothing.  Account hasn’t budged.  You snort in annoyance that the office still hasn’t deposited the rent check.  If you had waited until today to paid it, you would have gotten a notice on the door (and had to pay more fines, but they have no problem taking their own sweet time.)  Seems odd that the little payments from the weekend haven’t gone through, though.

Wednesday –

• You log in to check your account… and you’re $200 in the hole.  What the hell?

You go through your account to see what went wrong.  For starters, the damn sewer company that you have set up for automatic payment pushed through two days early.  But… wait a minute.  A closer look reveals that the payments you made went through in the following order:

• Rent
• Groceries
• Sewer bill
• Power bill
• Deposit to savings
• Coffee from Friday
• Coffee from Saturday
• Pack of gum from Sunday

And of course everything after the sewer bill got smacked with an overdraft fee of 30 bucks.  You check with the landlord.  Yup, they deposited the check on Tuesday.  But why did the coffee from Friday come through AFTER the rent check?  Looking again, you can’t help but notice that the transactions all went through in a clump… from largest amount to smallest.  If the stupid rent check had been the last to go through, everything else would have cleared just fine, and you would have only been nailed for $30 instead of $150.  Hmmmmm.

The worst part?  You’ll be starting the next payday cycle $200 short.  When you live paycheck to paycheck, that HURTS.  It means a bill isn’t going to get paid.  So you’ll have late fees.  If you have automatic withdrawal, the bouncing cycle is going to begin again. 

For the longest time, I swore that the banks were doing this on purpose.  I was assured over and over again that they were not.  Was I paranoid?

Nope.  Turns out I was absolutely right.  In fact, even though banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo are being punished in class action lawsuits for the practice, they’re still doing it.  Just this past week, a friend was taken to the tune of about $1200 by her bank. 

Now let me tell you about our experience we had this week with BECU, a local credit union (that anyone can join, by the way).  A situation very similar to one described above occured.  When we realized it, we cringed and then watched the account miserably, waiting for the overdraft charges to come through.  When they hadn’t come through by Wednesday, I asked Gavin to call BECU to find out what they were going to be so we could account for them.  

Guess what?  There weren’t going to be any additional overdraft charges, except for the one charge on the sewer bill that went through early.  The rep explained that since the other, smaller debit transactions had been approved when there was money in the account, we were not charged overdraft fees on them. 

$25 vs. $100 in overdraft fees for this particular mistake.  Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Facing Two New Year’s Challenges Head On

What does weight loss have to do with money management?
Photo by vorakorn kanopipat

Last night a lot of people made a lot of resolutions to change themselves in the coming year.  Many of those resolutions have likely been broken already.  In years past, I’ve made resolution after resolution, and it’s always the same ones over and over.  I seem to be stuck in a cycle.

This year, they aren’t resolutions.  For one thing, I didn’t make them last night, and I didn’t start them today.  They’ve been ongoing projects, with clear lines and clear plans of attack.  Two of them are, of course, the perennial favorites:  get my money situation in order and get rid of all this extra weight.  I know – fix finances and lose the weight.  Practically a new year cliché, isn’t it?

Well, maybe so, and with good reason.   For me, these two are intricately tied to each other.  I strongly suspect that by fixing one, I will fix the other.  There’s something in my head that just doesn’t quite work right when it comes to these two subjects.  Both appear to come from a fear of denying myself anything.

Why is this?  What is it that I’m trying to make up for?  Granted, I was never taught the best habits.  I find that I am jealous of those for whom these two things come so easily.  I envy those people who claim to love vegetables and exercise.  I’m flabbergasted by those for whom money management is practically second nature.  I feel angry that I’m not one of them, that I have to struggle.  I’m angry that I never learned these skills from my parents (sorry Mom and Dad, I know you read here and I’m not trying to throw you under the bus, but you have to agree that these skills weren’t exactly well-modeled).  I’m angry at myself that for some reason I continue to struggle. 

I’m not a stupid person.  I know perfectly well that eat less + exercise more = lose weight, and spend less + save more = good money management.  But putting those things in practice… it’s a constant struggle.  I can complain until I’m blue in the face about how hard it is to buy healthy food on a budget, and it’s true that it’s a challenge, but I also must make the choice to take that challenge on.  I’m educated, I have no excuse.  I know how to fix healthy meals – I just prefer the taste of salt and fat.

I can complain about how I can’t afford Weight Watchers or a personal trainer – but I do have access to many free programs that can help me and provide practically the same tools.  I can complain about not making enough money, or I can learn to properly manage what I already have.  And when I choose to waste money on meals out or junk food, that is a choice that impacts both areas and affects my progress on both fronts.

So.  I have a plan. I’m dealing with both.  I’m aware of the problem and I’m actively working on a solution.  My mantra for 2012?  No excuses.  No bitching about the problem unless I can find a solution for it.  There’s plenty of things in life that are completely out of my control.  Those things are the ones I should be complaining about. These are the things I can fix.  

Being on a Tight Budget vs. Being a Tightwad

If you can afford to eat out, you can afford to tip.
Photo by worradmu

Remember this post?  It sparked several discussions, and I enjoyed following them.  One of the questions raised was:  “If you can afford special services, shouldn’t you be tipping those people?”

Of course you should.  My post was primarily aimed at people who can’t afford special services and who worry about trying to find extra money in the budget to tip people who are normally a part of life, like teachers and mail carriers and trash collectors.  If you’ve got enough extra money to consider hiring a house cleaner, you should think of the tip as part of the wages you can expect to pay, and budget for it accordingly.

I can’t afford a house cleaner.  I can, occasionally, afford to eat dinner out, on special occasions.  Actually, it’s probably arguable if I can afford to eat dinner out, but sometimes we do, so let’s not quibble about it, okay?  On those rare occasions when I eat out at a place where I am expected to tip, I do so, and I consider it part of the bill.  I would never not tip with the intention of saving money.  That is where you cross the line into tightwad. 

I’m on the mailing list of several “get your money under control” type people.  One of those people is Mary Hunt.  I don’t know if you are familiar with her or not.  She has a pretty decent method for getting out of debt and usually gives fairly good advice about handling your finances.  However, earlier this year, she posted a piece about tipping in restaurants.  I can’t link to it, because you have to pay a fee to get access to her blog (paying a fee to read a blog about saving money?  Sheesh) and I refuse to pay money, when so much advice is available for free.  She posts the blogs on Facebook, and they are accessible for about a week for free. 

Anyway… in this post, she was griping because the restaurant where she liked to eat lunch had raised its prices.  She wasn’t griping about the price increase, though; she was griping because she didn’t like that, based on the 15 – 20 percent tipping rule, the servers “got a raise” because of the price increase. She didn’t think that was fair.  She decided that she was going to tip based on the previous prices.

You should have seen the feedback she got on that one.  If people had had access, she probably would have been run out of town on a rail.  Talk about a tightwad.  I was one of the ones who gave her a good reaming.  Here were my primary arguments:

1. Prices are going up everywhere.  Those servers probably have to pay more for their own groceries, health care, rent, gasoline, etc. etc.  Prices increase at restaurants because the business has to pay more for the ingredients.  They can’t afford to eat the difference.  You can bet the extra isn’t going into your server’s pockets. 
2. In many parts of the country, servers quite literally live off their tips.  They are exempted from minimum wage laws because it’s expected that they will make up the difference in tips.  Trust me when I say that no server is getting rich because tipping 15 percent requires you to leave an extra quarter. 
3. If you can’t afford to tip the proper amount, you can’t afford to eat out.  Period.  

Her attitude throughout this post was appalling.  She sounded so smug and seemed quite convinced that she was above these lowly servers.  I was glad so many people called her out.  

At one point in her life, she was like us.  Struggling and trying to get by.  Through her book sales, speaking engagements and website subscriptions, she’s become quite a wealthy woman.  I think she’s forgotten how it is to depend on others’ generosity. No matter how much or how little money you have, don’t be like that.  Tight budget is okay.  Tightwad is not.

Expenses Expand to Fill the Income Allotted

Her relatives are cheetahs.  Never forget that.

While feeding Minerva (our cat) the other day, I had one of those brain-lapse moments and opened the freezer instead of the cupboard.  As luck would have it, Elias noticed and started laughing at me.  Then he started asking why anyone would keep cat food in the freezer.  I recalled seeing a type of specialty raw cat food that you do, in fact, keep in the freezer.  I told this to Elias, mostly to demonstrate that looking in the freezer for cat food really isn’t as nuts as it might have looked initially. 

“How come we don’t buy Minerva that kind of food?”  Elias asked. 

“Because it’s really expensive and it’s not exactly within our budget,” I answered. 

“If we had a lot of money, we could buy Minerva that kind of food,”  Elias said.

Well, yes, I suppose we could.  At that point the little wheels in my head started turning.  What other little “improvements” would we make if we could improve them?  Although our income was essentially double at this time last year, we really weren’t any better off then.  With the cut in income, we cut down and cut back on every little item that wasn’t essential.  When we had more money coming in, we simply frittered away the extras on those things that were “upgrades” from the bare minimum. 

I think these sort of little expenses are part of the reason that so many people feel like they are constantly broke and can’t figure out why.  People don’t think about these kinds of expenditures.  After all, when we purchase the “upgrade,” it’s usually only a little bit more expensive.   We deserve these little luxuries, we tell ourselves.  Even when it’s just the more expensive cat food. 

I’m not saying deprive yourself of every little luxury in your life.  But the next time you start thinking of making an upgrade to something, ask yourself if a) you can really afford it, and b) you really need it.  After all, if your cat is like mine and spends most of her time laying around purring, I don’t think she really needs an evolutionary raw-food based diet.  She’s doing just great on the Whiskas.  

Do You Believe in Magic?

I do.

Look around you.  The stories are everywhere.  People doing wonderful things for strangers, spreading kindness, love and joy all around.  The stories about people paying off other people’s layaways at Kmart are particularly striking.  Can you imagine being one of those people who received such a generous gift from someone you didn’t even know?  The idea brings tears to my eyes.  I would love to be on the other end as well, knowing that I’m making someone so happy and making a Christmas happen that might not otherwise.

Just this past month, our family has been on the receiving end of several gifts and kindnesses from loved ones.  Friends and family have reached out in ways I never would have imagined.  You’ve heard about the Shop with a Cop program the kids got to participate in.  Just two days ago, two of my friends turned up on my doorstep with about two weeks’ worth of groceries, gifts for the kids, and much more.  Gavin’s mom received a special bonus at her work and decided to share her good fortune with her kids.  All of these things couldn’t have happened at a better time. 

While grocery shopping the other night, we made our own effort to pay it forward.  We purchased a gift for the toy drive at Fred Meyer.  I hope our small gift will make a child happy.  It's not a lot, but it's something.

On a forum I belong to, a discussion has been ensuing about whether or not to tell a 10-year-old “the truth” about Santa.  Here was my response:

Santa is analogous with magic. If he (Elias) believes in Santa, he believes in magic. I love that. I think we SHOULD believe in magic. I believe that magic happens. How many times have I been saved from the brink of disaster? Magic happens. It doesn't always happen, and it doesn't happen in the manner you might expect, but it does happen. And it doesn't matter what name you choose to call it: magic, karma, answered prayers... whatever. It HAPPENS. I want him to believe that good things happen when you least expect them. And that includes Santa. Take away that belief and all you have left is sad cynicism, which is no way to live.

It's been a rough year. But somehow, Christmas has managed to come together. We have some gifts for the kids, the family really came through, and the kids even got to participate in a special event "Shop with a Cop." It came together like magic. 

I don't know whether he believes in a literal man who is going to climb down the chimney on Christmas Eve (we are 2nd floor in an apt building, I can't imagine the logistics on that one), but he is more than happy to play along with it and he encourages his 3-year-old sister, and that makes me happy. 

I see no reason to tell him otherwise. Because I believe in Santa too.

Do you believe?
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

The Problem of Tipping at Christmas

Are you really obligated to gift everyone who has provided
you with a service this year?
image by digitalart

There’s a certain expectation around Christmas-time that pretty much every single person you had contact with throughout the year needs some sort of tip or acknowledgement.  As lovely as that sounds, for those of us who can barely afford to get gifts for our own families, it can put us in a real bind.

Blog posts and tipping guides abound this time of year, with advice on how to tip everyone from teachers to the person who delivers your mail (who I don’t think I’ve ever met, by the way).  One site that claims to be about frugal living offered tipping advice for nannies, personal trainers and house cleaners.  Clearly their idea of “frugality” is a tad bit different than mine. 

So what am I supposed to do?  When the latest tipping advice suggests $15 to $20 gift cards for teachers, child care workers, and so many others, where does that leave me?  My son is in middle school – he has six teachers every day, and that doesn’t even include the therapists and other professionals who I think deserve tips more than the teachers.  At 20 bucks a pop, that’s $120 right there, over half of this year’s Christmas budget.  I can’t afford to get gifts for my friends this year – it seems unfair to be obligated to gift these other people.

What are the consequences if I don’t tip?  Is each teacher keeping a list and checking it twice, marking off the kids who brought in a gift card and pledging as a New Year’s Resolution to be much kinder to those kids for the second half of the school year?  Will my mail carrier start spitting on my mail if I don’t leave a Starbucks gift card for him in my mailbox next week? 

If you have the means to tip and you really feel like saying “Thank you” to someone who has done an exceptional service for you this year, by all means, knock yourself out.  But if your budget is already strained to the limit and you are only tipping because of a feeling of societal pressure, maybe you should rethink the reasons behind your tipping. 

There’s plenty of ways  to say thank you and acknowledge gratitude without buying gift cards or giving cash.  A nice homemade treat, especially one that your child helped make, is a great way to say thank you.  Better yet – call up the person on the phone and say the words “thank you.”  I bet they’ll actually appreciate that even more than the gift card.  

Shop with a Cop

Officer Todd and the kids.

Thanks to the kindness of friends, the kids got a really special treat yesterday.  Shop with a Cop is a nationwide program to help lower income families get through the holidays.  The kids get to take a trip through a local Walmart with a local police officer and choose toys for themselves, up to $50. 

I had never heard of this program, then I received word from a friend that they had nominated me and my family had been chosen to participate. Since one of my friends is married to a cop who was participating in the event, we thought it would be pretty neat if the kids got to shop with him.  It didn’t work out that way, but it was still a special experience for everyone. 

We arrived at 8:45 a.m., per my friend’s suggestion.  My sister came with us (and all the photos are courtesy of her) and when we pulled in to the parking lot, we started laughing.  “Can you imagine being a shoplifter?” my sister asked.  The parking lot was wall-to-wall cop cars.  It was pretty impressive.  Cops from every nearby city and district were represented.  We saw Burien cops, Seatac cops, King County Sheriffs… 

When we approached the door, we were guided to the line.  Which wrapped along one side and the back of the store.  While the line was somewhat intimidating, I couldn’t help but think how many donations and how much kindness of others this represented.  What a wonderful thing, that so many families would be helped! 

The line moved quickly, and soon we were matched up with our cop, Officer Todd.  In the line, I had decided that Elias could ask for a video game, since that’s what he really wanted, but I told him that if they asked, mention that it had been a gift from his aunt.  As soon as we met Officer Todd, Elias walked right up to him and said “My mom said I could get a video game, but to let you know my aunt gave me my DS.”  If there’d been a hole in the floor, I would have gladly jumped right in.  Officer Todd grinned.  “He speaks his mind, doesn’t he?” he said.

Elias gets the game he's been dying for.

 Elias promptly picked out DragonQuest Monsters, a game for his DS that he has been begging for since August.  Maddie was a little more challenging.  She eventually found a little rabbit that comes with a dressing trailer (huh?), a pony that came in a purse, and a Magnadoodle.  The pony in the purse was the clear winner, and she pretty much refused to let go of it for the rest of the day (and she slept with it last night). 

Maddie shows off her pony in a purse.

 Officer Todd was friendly and patient with the kids, even when Elias tried to go into one-up mode, and the kids had a wonderful time.  I do hope they understand that this trip is going to help make up for the rather meager amount of presents that will be under the tree this year.    I’m deeply grateful to my friends for making this happen. 

Our Priorities

Spending money should reflect our priorities.  But first we need to know what those are.
Image by Naypong

So, moving along in the Planner.

After we dreamt about having a million dollars, our next job was to think about our top five priorities.  Gavin, Elias and I all worked on this, with fairly different results. 

I think Elias was probably the most honest in his priorities.  I know what my priorities should be, but sometimes I forget, especially when something tantalizing is in sight.  Gavin didn’t even list “fun” as one of his priorities, but I know that isn’t true.  I also noticed that each of us interpreted the question slightly differently.

Without further ado, here are our lists:

Amee

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Having Fun
4. Responsibility
5. Health

Gavin

1. Being a good husband/father
2. Being a good friend
3. My job
4. Money
5. Myself

Elias

1. Having fun
2. Reading
3. Learning science
4. Colors (his fish)
5. Maddie

I should probably be worried that he considers Colors to be higher priority than his sister, but he is, after all, only 11.  I also don’t think it’s necessarily true.  This morning, he made breakfast for Maddie, but I had to remind him to feed the fish.

So, on to the next question.  How did spending our million reflect our priorities?  Elias’s spending decisions clearly reflect his desire to have fun above everything else.  Because he has Asperger’s, he is also limited in his ability to look past himself and his own desires. 

Gavin felt that using the million to take care of the bills and other responsibilities freed him from stress, which would in turn allow him to be a better father.

I felt like my desire to have a house represents my need to put my family first. 

Our assignment for the next week is to track our money that we spend.  This is where things always tend to fall apart, but we’ve done alright for the first couple of days.  I don’t think it will be a fair representation of our spending habits, though, since Gavin is in between paychecks and we’re trying to cope with Christmas being right around the corner.  We’ll report the results when they are in, though.  The goal is to see if our spending habits reflect our priorities. 

What are your top priorities?  Do your spending habits reflect them?

My Favorite Charities

No matter where we stand, we should continue to help others.
Image by David Castillo Dominici

I’ve read my share of “manage your money” books.  And one of the major tenants of any program involves giving to those in need.  I believe in this completely.  Even when I am not in a position to donate money, I still make the effort to donate time. 

For example, I am currently donating my time and editing talent to DailySource.org.  This nonprofit provides an unbiased collection of news from different sources, providing a brief summary and a link to the source.  The site strives to stay free of left/right politics, and I respect that.  Additionally, it has been a fantastic place to hone my skills, and I have learned a lot about website editing and AP style. 

With the holiday season here, many people are in a very giving mood.  Before spending money on more stuff that you don’t need, consider making a donation to a charity that is actively working to make lives better.

Gavin and I support several charities.  Some of our favorites include:

• American Cancer Society – Not just about finding a cure, ACS works to help patients affected by cancer and their families.
•  Autism Speaks – I have participated in the walking event, raising money for this organization.  Autism has deeply touched our family, and this charity is working to find solutions.
• Boy Scouts of America – Elias is a Scout and it has done wonders for him. 
• Child’s Play – This charity was founded by gamers.  The goal is to make gaming systems available to kids I hospitals so they have something fun to do to take their minds off treatment.
• Humane Society – We got our Minerva from the Humane Society.  Before buying a pet from a pet store, check here to see if you can give one of these wonderful animals a home.
• Make-A-Wish – I think everyone knows this charity and its goal.  Make-A-Wish does phenomenal work.
• Northwest Harvest – A local charity that helps put food on the tables of people who need some extra help.  We have been fortunate enough to not have to use this service ourselves, so we will continue to donate food to this program.
• Northwest Hope and Healing – I did a 5K for this charity.  They work to provide help to women undergoing treatment for breast cancer, from providing financial support during the times they can’t work and even helping with child care during chemotherapy.
• World Vision – I am hoping to participate in child sponsorship one day, although I have supported this program financially.  I know people who have sponsored through this charity and they were very happy with it. I think this would be good for teaching Elias more about the world, as well.

Catching up on the Financial Peace Planner: Stuffitis

The problem with wanting the best
Image by Danilo Rizzuti

Have I been procrastinating on keeping up with the Planner program?  You bet I have.  One of the goals of this blog is to make myself accountable and practice building good habits.  But it’s so darn easy to fall back into the old habits.  Procrastinating, pretending my bills don’t exist, putting off the hard work.  It’s a lot easier to write fun blog posts about chicken recipes and try out new and cheaper ways of doing things than it is to face up to the major problems. 

Major Problem Number One:  According to the Planner, I have “stuffitis.”  I try not to.  But I do.  Apparently if you check more than one statement in the little quiz, you have it.  I checked two, so it’s only a slight case and, most likely, curable.  Gavin has this condition far worse than I do.  That’s not me placing blame; he’s totally upfront about it. 

Here’s the statements I checked:

1.  “It’s not unusual for me to say ‘It’s only a few dollars extra’ when I’m shopping for something I want.”
2.  “So I spent $100 on a pair of running shoes.  The top of the line lasts longer.”

I can sit here and try to justify those responses (and believe me, I can justify damn near anything), but I’m not going to.  I’m going to accept that this is a problem.  It does no good to catch a great deal on chicken if I go out and blow $40 on a dinner out because I didn’t feel like cooking.  I have several bills piled up on my desk that I could be putting that $40 towards, and there’s really no excuse. 

I do like to have nice things.  When I can get nice things at a lower price, it can sometimes be seen as a justification to purchase something I don’t really need.  This time of year is especially difficult.  I don’t just like to have nice things, I like to give nice things.  It’s fun to have someone unwrap something you got them and see a big smile on their face because it’s just what they wanted. 

If you look around our place, you might say “How can these people be in financial trouble?”  We have two desktop PCs, our son has a laptop, we have a flat-screen TV, an Xbox, a Wii… and that’s just the living room.  Well, the PCs have been mostly cobbled together (it’s nice to have a hubby who knows his way around a computer), the laptop was purchased several years ago and is no longer of much use other than as a word processor, the Wii was purchased as a family Christmas gift quite some time ago, and the Xbox and the flat-screen were both donations from people who had more than one. 

So why don’t we just sell these items and pay off the darn bills?  Well, I work online, and Gavin sometimes has to communicate online with his job, and we both really like our games.  So, come to think of it, I actually meet one more of the criteria for “stuffitis”:  “I can’t get rid of my boat/truck/Andy Warhol print.  That would leave a huge hole in my life.”  Just substitute TV/computer/Xbox for the other items.

I’ll keep working through Chapter 2.  This is usually the point where most debt plans make you actually pull out all your bills and figure out your debt.  I have to confess:  I’m pretty scared of that part.

How to Teach the Value of the Dollar to Kids

Money management is the key to being successful.  It doesn’t matter if you make $25K or $250K a year.  But how do you instill these skills into your kids?  How do you make them realize just how much work goes into each dollar that goes away, and that the new video game they want with a price tag of $50 is actually a “big purchase”?  Here is one possible way to handle it...

With our oldest, we are trying a lot of tactics to get this through to him.  He has very expensive tastes, but they aren’t far from the average “tween.”  Video games, movies, and other expensive interests seem to rule his world.  When he gets a gift card for a store as a present (or any money), it burns a hole in his pocket.  Now, being who I am, I love gadgets and other stuff as well, so I know this feeling. I have had to learn the hard way in the past, and I am trying to get him to learn without the “growing pains” I had.  Here are a couple of possible ideas….

• Have him sit in and see just how much goes to help the family get day-to-day expenses paid. Show your child the power bill, cable bill, how much groceries are, etc. 
• Price out a trip to the movies for the family, right down to the popcorn.  Show them just how much of the family’s budget goes poof for a 2-hour trip to the cinema. 
• Take your child shopping at the grocery store, and show them what the food portion of the budget goes to. See if maybe they can help plan meals that are within a specific budget, to get them thinking of concepts like the price per serving.
• Have them make a wish list.  Then have them prioritize it, and use the web or go to a store to get the pricing for these items.  Assuming your kids have an allowance, it will make them aware that once money is gone, it is gone. 
• Have them take over the costs of some of their interests.  If they want that amazing new video game, maybe have them pay some or all of the cost.   The goal there is not for you to save money, but to have your child start to take responsibility for their own money. 

These are just some ideas to help make your child aware of what things cost.  Once that gets through to them, they can start making choices and saving money as well.  Not just for items they want, but for the future.