There’s nothing quite as frightening as knowing you might not have enough money saved to pay for a matric dance, numerous school trips, or that new pair of sneakers your teen has been eyeing for the past few weeks.
And that’s okay – we all want nice things. Buying those things though is a whole other story.
But if you and your teen are struggling to budget for all the special occasions, we’ve got a fun and creative way to save. Use our printable savings chart below and watch this video showing you how to make your own DIY shadow money box.
Tools
- Old box/gift box
- Cutting mat
- Ruler
- Craft knife (Parents, if you’re letting your younger kids make their own DIY shadow box, be sure to do the cutting for them)
- Parent24 printables printed on transparency paper and white paper (see below)
- Glue/sticky tack
Tips and tricks
- We used a box we just had lying around at home, but you could also get a cheap gift box from the store. Either way, make sure the box is sturdy enough to carry the weight of the fund, particularly if you’re going to be putting coins into the box, but not too thick that you’re unable to cut through it. If you’re using an old box that isn’t too pretty all on its own, you can paint or decorate it with stickers.
- You’ll need to print your images (see below) on transparency and paper respectively, or you can write on the transparency with a white-board marker pen and decorate the white sheet yourself.
- You can use glue to stick down your printables, but if you’d like to reuse the box for a future fund, use sticky tack instead.
- If you feel you might be tempted to dip into your savings, glue the lid of the box down and only open it once you’ve reached your target.
Printables
To make reaching your target a little easier, whether it’s R500, R1000 or more, we’ve put together a savings plan. This is a 3-month plan, but you can save however much you want on any given day or week, as long as you tick off what you save each week.
Below is an example of saving R1000 over 3 months for a stunning pair of high heels for the matric dance, and an empty 3-month and 6-month chart for you to fill in your own values.