How To Track an Xbox Loan To Your Kid With Payments Every Fortnite

John recently wrote in:

I told my kids I would float their repayment of a Xbox Live subscription since it came due before any of us realized they should have been saving for it. At any rate, they owe us $21 each, and I want them to pay $7 every other week. What’s the best way to track this, preferably in a way that they can see it — I guess it’s basically a loan.

Here’s my suggestion:

Our Card Has Gone Minimalist

“Hey, did your mommy give you that card?”

Ouch. Not what a self conscious teen wants to hear.

OK, so I thought our original card design was clever at the time.

But with a big, blaring “FamZoo” and the quaint “Good Money Habits. Together.” beneath it, the razzing was inevitable.

And that, parents told us, is exactly what happened. Face palm.

So, we just ditched the original design.

30 Top Money Parenting Tips For 30 Days Of Financial Literacy Month

“A fool and his money are soon partying.” ~Steven Wright

That always cracks me up.

But, financial literacy is no joke. Even if National Financial Literacy Month does kick off on April Fool’s day every year.

We don’t want our kids to be money dunces. And we probably don’t want them partying with their money either.

To help you steer your kids clear of those money pratfalls, I’ve scanned the analytics over at my family finance tips blog and picked out the top 30 by all-time traffic.

Here they are grouped by 5 categories: earning, spending, saving, giving, and investing.

How To Make Kiddie Microloans With Automatic Parent Payback - Plus Interest!

So your kid wants to buy something special in a moderate price range, but doesn’t have the funds to cover it yet.

The preferred parental response? Wait until you’ve saved enough! You know, delayed gratification and all that.

But occasionally, you’re OK with floating a small short term loan. That is, as long as it’s formally tracked and repaid.

In fact, you’ll even charge a little “Bank of Mom/Dad” loan interest on top. That drives the point home that borrowing money isn’t free. It also discourages a cavalier attitude toward loans in the future.

Good learning opportunity. Good plan.

Maybe.

How To Set Up A Digital Envelope Budgeting System With Prepaid Cards

The envelope system is a tried and true budgeting approach for families who use cash. Here it is in a nutshell:

1. Label a physical envelope for each household budget category.
2. Allocate cash each pay cycle between the envelopes according to your budgeted amounts.
3. Make payments for a spending category using only the cash remaining in the corresponding envelope.

Nice and simple.

Unfortunately, the cash envelope system is also tedious and impractical in today’s digital world.

Why?