MOONJAR BLOG

Free Shipping!

2011-12-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!!

To kick it off we are offering FREE SHIPPING through

Dec 7th use the code "moneybox" at check out!

We have been having some great days here at Moonjar! This is the time of year when we get to hear so many wonderful stories about how children are using the money in the Moonajrs. We specially love it when we hear the SHARE stories!

Yesterday I had a call from an organization called A NEW COURSE where they help women in impoverished areas discover ways to solve the problems at hand and fuel the economy in Eco friendly ways. They called because they want to feature Moonjar in their newsletter. They found out about Moonjar when a child came in to make a donation. The child told them that she had been saving money in her Share box for the organization. She said she knows her piece can help to make a difference. That is the Moonjar hope and promise!!

We can make a difference for somebody else, as well as for ourselves, when we take the time to plot and plan just where and how we will focus our energy!

Currently my 15 year old is fund raising for a trip with his biology class to Hawaii. His efforts are amazingly focused because it is something he wants to participate in and he knows that through his efforts it will happen or not. I am excited to see him with such focus. My younger son is also focused this holiday season as he is running a drive for coats with his class and providing gifts for a family in need. My daughter is 17 and well.....my daughter is 17.

This Holiday Season I wish intentionality to all! It is with intention that Financial literacy can make a change in our educational landscape and it is with intention that we can each make our piece of the whole flow a bit more smoothly.

Don't forget to take advantage of our offer! Good through Dec 7th!

Cheers!

The Moonjar Team

Moonjar Wins, Thank You!!

2011-11-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

We Won! Thank You!!

Moonjar was named the winner for the Red Tricycle "Totally Awesome Awards" we were voted the #1 Must Have for Preschool aged kids.

Having just come back form a convention in DC sponsored by Jump$tart for teachers and all about Early Financial Literacy, this is a particularly timely and wonderful award.

At the conference Lalie and Mary had a chance to talk with teachers from around the country. They shared ideas about what works and what the challenges are for bringing financial literacy into the classroom. We were very excited to hear that so many teachers use and love the Moonjar Classroom Kit. They find it to be fun for the class while offering a great lesson that the kids can take home and integrate into everyday.

One of the strong messages of the weekend in DC was "top down, bottom up". There is a universal feeling among teachers, parents and people in the field of youth financial literacy that we need to be teaching our children from every angel we can. We can't expect that the schools will "cover it" for us as parents. But just as important, we can't expect that all parents will break open the money conversation with their children so we need to look to schools to give our children something they can take back to the dinner table. I always find that when a conversation is started by one of my children, rather than one of us, it is something that will really stick!

We all need to work together to bring financial literacy to all of our children in order to help create a solid future for them. And so again, thank you for voting for for us and thank you always for supporting Moonjar and youth financial literacy!

Here is the link to the winners page: http://www.redtri.com/awards/stuff/preschooler-age-essential

The Moonjar Classroom Kit WON the EIFLE Award!

2011-04-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

April 20th was an exciting day for Moonjar as its innovation and dedication was acknowledged at the Excellence in Financial Literacy Education (EIFLE) Awards. Moonjar was recognized for its efforts in the propagation of financial literacy education via its Classroom Kit. For more information about this innovative product please follow this link. Please read the press release below for more information about the award.

The Institute for Financial Literacy Announces: Moonjar LLC Winner of a 2011 Excellence In Financial Literacy Education (“EIFLE”) Award

Chicago, IL – April 21, 2011 – The Institute for Financial Literacy (www.financiallit.org), a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization whose mission is to make effective financial literacy education available for everyone, is pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 Excellence In Financial Literacy Education (“EIFLE”) Awards, which were presented in Chicago, Illinois on April 20 at the 2011 Annual Conference on Financial Education. Celebrating its 5th Anniversary, the EIFLE Awards were created to acknowledge innovation, dedication, and the commitment of those supporting financial literacy education efforts nationwide.

In the most competitive nomination process to date, an EIFLE Awards was presented to Moonjar LLC, a Seattle WA based company in the following category:

* Education Program of the Year in the Children’s Financial Responsibility and Decision Making Category: Moonjar Classroom Kit

“In these uncertain economic times, financial literacy has never been more important,” said Leslie E. Linfield, Executive Director and Founder of the Institute for Financial Literacy. “The EIFLE Awards are one of the most sought after and prestigious awards in the industry and serve as a testament to their recipients’ hard work and accomplishments. These individuals and organizations are assuring financial literacy education is accessible for Americans of all walks of life.”

At Wednesday’s EIFLE Awards ceremony, Mary Karges accepted Moonjar's Award for the innovative Classroom Kit which incorporates role play, games, and creative problem solving for grades K-3 as they explore money management and the core concepts of Save Spend and Share. Institute for Financial Literacy also announced the unveiling of the EIFLE Hall of Fame, a dedicated online portal honoring the historical accomplishments of previous EIFLE winning organizations, authors, educators and researchers.

For more information about the Institute for Financial Literacy, please click here.

Or if you would like to know more about the Annual Conference on Financial Education, please click here.

Moonjar In the News! Time.com article.

2011-04-21T13:30:00.001-07:00

Ditch the Piggybank. Teach Kids Financial Literacy Instead

By Bonnie Rochman Thursday, April 21, 2011

« Go back to article

"Is money important?" my 3-year-old asked this week. I answered truthfully with a hearty "Yes." I explained it to her simply, telling her that we need money to pay for our house and our food and her ballet class. Maybe it's because we're trying to claw our way out of a recession, but financial entrepreneurs seem to have jumped on the fact that, historically, parents haven't done a very good job of teaching their kids to manage money.

And so, piggybanks, around for ages, now have a new twist: you don't just collect pennies anymore; you manage them — divvying them up between saving, spending and charity. (More on Time.com: When Parents Favor One Kid Over the Other, Is It Okay to Admit It?)

The issue of money and why we need it has come up a lot in our household lately. My 6-year-old is smitten with the idea of selling anything she doesn't like anymore, from cast-off pebbles in her rock collection to formerly beloved dolls. Recently, she channeled her commercial spirit into doing good — creating artwork and selling it on the street to raise money for Japan.

Where should the money she raises go? First stop: her Moonjar. A three-piece tin box, the Moonjar does the heavy lifting of creating a money-savvy citizen of the world for you. Each container is labeled "spend," "save" or "share." My husband found out about Moonjars when the company became his client; he told me about them because we'd been struggling to figure out how to instill smart financial habits in our kids.

Mary Ryan Karges, Moonjar's CEO, says 13 states have financial literacy educational requirements — but not until high school. "That's too late," she says. "Our notion is that if you start teaching save, spend, share when kids are young, they'll grow with that. If we teach save, spend, share with the same vigor that we teach stop, look, listen, we won't run into so many financial problems." (More on Time.com: Should Radiation from Japan Scuttle Spring Break in Hawaii? A Mom Agonizes)

According to the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, 45% of college students carry credit card debt (the average debt is upwards of $3,000). That's hardly surprising considering that just 21% of students between the ages of 16 and 22 say they've studied personal finance in school. Parents aren't picking up the slack, either: just 26% of kids ages 13 to 21 say their parents taught them to manage money.

Any parent who's ever strolled the aisles of Target with a kid begging first for a Pillow Pet, then for Silly Bandz, knows the drill: no, no, no, O.K., fine, but just this once. But meting out allowance, as my husband and I are finding, reframes the dynamic.

"It changes that moment in the store from, 'I want that,' to, 'How much money is in your spend box?'" says Karges.

Teaching kids the discipline of saving — what my dad called "delaying gratification" — is as vital as teaching them to read and write, says Lori Mackey, founder of Prosperity4Kids, which sells products she created because parents told her they didn't know how to teach their children about money. (More on Time.com: Why Having Kids Is Bad for Your Health)

"If you get straight As in school but you have no ability to understand financial literacy, you're going to fail in life because you will never have control of your financial situation," says Mackey.

Like Moonjars, Prosperity4Kids sells a piggybank with different compartments for saving, spending, charity — and investing. Investing with young kids doesn't have to be abstract; Mackey advises explaining to kids that they can actually own a piece of the company that makes their favorite toy.

"We'd never take a child and say, 'Read a book,' before we teach them the alphabet," says Mackey. "But we give a child a credit card with no education. It's all about creating habits." (More on Time.com: 5 Ways Parents May Be Sabotaging Their Kids' Health)

Along those lines, our 8-year-old gets $1.50 weekly, our 6-year-old gets 90 cents and our 3-year-old gets three pennies, divided equally between saving, spending and sharing. We consider it only a matter of time before the youngest — she who wondered aloud about the importance of money — asks for a raise.

Find this article at:
http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/21/a-new-take-on-kids-piggybanks-save-spend-share-even-invest/

A Bit About Allowance: How does this seemingly simple question make you feel?

2011-03-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

Today I drew a card from my yellow Conversations To Go box and it posed an interesting question “What subject do you least like talking about?”

For my parents it was definitely allowance. When determining the how to’s of allowance so many issues come to mind it can make it difficult for many parents to even start an allowance program with their children. But, this subject is definitely one that needs attention.

Researchers have shown that children learn about money primarily from their parents, so it shouldn’t be strange that I say let them learn. As many would agree, learning by doing is an effective way to grasp a concept, so let’s examine the ins and outs of allowance in hopes of using this simple mechanism as a path to financial savvy. If a child is provided with a fixed income they can learn how much things really cost. At first they might spend it too fast, but over time they will learn to budget. When they go to the candy store and spend their entire week of allowance on Monday, they won’t be able to buy the toy they want on Wednesday. It seems simple enough, so why is this such a sore subject with parents?

Well many complicated dynamics go into establishing an effective allowance program. What determines how much a child should receive certainly gives us something to think about. Some say link it to chores, while others may argue that chores are a responsibility as a member of a family and should be done regardless of pay. So, it might be necessary to have a fixed allowance and leave the option for children to do extra work (like washing the car) for supplemental income. Linking allowance to behavior could potentially diminish the important lesson to be learned from fixed income - if Sally is bad this week then she doesn’t get any money. How might this fluctuation affect the budgeting she is trying to learn about? With that being said, look at your household’s financials and see what works best for you. Might a percent of income fit in or should you maybe give X amount of dollars per year of age?

Now that they are receiving money, it is important to keep the discussion going and supplement your child’s understanding of money and its value. Make sure to set goals and periodically assess the progress toward achieving those goals. It might also be helpful to help your child set up a budget and consider sharing your household budget with them as an example. This will also help them understand why they can’t always get every type of snack food they want when at the supermarket. They will begin to realize that things cost money and how some things are more important to buy than others.

A great idea to further the concept of budgeting is to allow children to separate the money they receive into three distinct categories: saving, spending, and sharing. The amount to save can be explained by their goals - that new bike in three months is going to cost X dollars so get to saving. The spending category can help to determine the importance of short term spending - is candy today worth not being able to get your new bike on time? The importance of sharing is often over looked and can often yield significant dividends when instilled at a young age. Get a list of various charities and show your child their websites, most likely something that sparks their interest and gets them excited about helping their community.

There are no definite right or wrong answers to many of the tough questions dealing with allowance, but it is an important tool to help grow/raise financially capable children. So, it is worth it to invest the time, assess the possibilities, and teach your child the fundamentals of saving, spending and sharing.

Moonjar products get a "MUST HAVE" rating from this blogger review!

2011-02-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

http://giveawaysandlife.blogspot.com/2011/01/moonjar-money-learning-kit-review-and.html

Proud wife and mother, Moonjar fan/customer, and member of the world community (but located in Lawrence, KS)!

2011-02-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

Dear Moonjar Staff:

My name is Jeannie Houts and I am the co-parent of a 6 year old boy. We gave him a Classic Moonjar for the winter holidays. He was delighted with the separate containers, colors, and even the rubber band. We had no problem convincing him to use the Moonjar instead of the piggy bank from when we opened his savings account with a local bank. The separate containers offer us a chance to teach him about finances and what it truly means to "decide"
and "choose" where and how to spend ones money.

Our son is currently in Kindergarten and being taught by an incredible teacher, Mrs. Kelly Rettig. She teaches the children about self-awareness, kindness, and the power of choice in addition to the mandatory curriculum of the public school system in which she teaches.
The class will be organizing a "Pennies for Peace" drive in the spring based on the lessons from the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. The money raised goes to the non-profit Central Asia Institute, to promote and support community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Along the spirit of the lessons learned from one man's journey to change the World, one child and one school at a time I am interested in giving Standard Moneybox Moonjars to each child in his class (there are 24 students). My family would love to pass on the lesson of financial mindedness to the kindergartner's in our sons class. Having these messages introduced to children at such an early stage in their lives is POWERFUL for all!
Sincerely,
Jeannie M. Houts
(Proud wife and mother, Moonjar fan/customer, and member of the world community (but located in Lawrence, KS))
Jeannie M. Houts
903 W. 20th Terrace
Lawrence, KS 66046
785.832.9328
jmhouts@ku.edu

2011-02-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

Words That Last – Save, Spend, Share
~ Mary Karges, CEO of Moonjar and PEPS parent
Stop, Look and Listen - we can all read those words and remember immediately that those were the cues offered to us from a very young age to bring us safely across the street. Before too long those words just became the actions that we automatically follow, several times a day!
Save, Spend, Share
What words do we have to direct our children to safe financial habits? At Moonjar, we believe the financial counterpart of Stop, Look and Listen is SAVE, SPEND and SHARE. Finding ways to talk to kids about money can be tricky so we are dedicated to creating tools in the form of banks, books, games and curriculum that help families open the conversation about money and keep it growing as the children do.
Children as young as three years old are ready to make simple choices around money. Our moneyboxes are three-part teaching banks that invite the youngest children to decide where to put the money based on color. The bank is divided into Save (red) Spend (green) and Share (blue). As children grow, so does their financial capability and responsibility. When a 6 or 7 year old gets a Moonjar it is all about putting pictures on the outside of the box, creating visual goals. I recently saw a second grader with a Moonjar saving for a rocket and spending on a calculator while sharing with space exploration. This was a very individualized statement and one quite different from my son’s where he is saving for games and spending on candy! This opportunity for individuality is the key in money conversations because we all have different goals and those goals need to be acknowledged.
Financial capability and literacy are making great strides these days. We are seeing more and more high schools offering classes and requiring some financial awareness for graduation. Early studies, however, suggest high school is not soon enough. We need to start teaching that money is about choices from a very young age.
Share
We have found the SHARE box to be a very popular piece of a child’s development. Just before the holidays I was with some third graders who were targeting a micro-lending group in South America. The children understood so clearly the basic needs of others and thanks to Google Earth they saw exactly where their help would be going. The season for sharing is always! The Share box is as much an important piece of the whole as the Save or the Spend and deserves a great deal of thought and care. If the goal is to start a conversation, starting with the SHARE box is a great place. Our Conversations to Go game has some great questions to get the family chatting about what really matters to each person and from that the child can begin to decide where she would like to share. A couple questions to get going; “ When have you worked the hardest and felt the greatest sense of accomplishment?” and “Name the most important job in the world. What is it worth?"
As parents our task is to create an environment where a conversation about money can be as common as the conversation about crossing the street. When offering simple solutions to complex ideas that can last a lifetime, our children are empowered and teaching money capability starting from preschool will offer our children the financial smarts to make positive choices.
About the Author
Mary is currently the CEO of Moonjar where she gets to combine her passion for communication with her passion for children and parenting. Mary is the mother of three: two high-schoolers and a sixth grader. She participated in PEPS with her oldest and loved it. Mary incorporated the concept of Moonjar into her own family live. Her oldest was saving since she was 8 to get a red car …now at 16 she is rolling that savings into money for college! Her sharing of time and money is going to the 4NOLA and Shirts Across America group that helps to rebuild New Orleans Africa and the Richard’s Rwanda project. Her 15 year old is sharing his time, energy and money with Africa and the Richard’s Rwanda project and her 12 year old uses his share money to help me buy food for the events we help with at the Recovery Café.
About Moonjar
At Moonjar we spend the days reaching out to companies, organizations, families, teachers and community leaders who want to create change. Our mission is to help kids build dreams by learning to save, spend and share. When Eulalie Scandiuzzi created the Moonjar product and company in 2002 she understood that most children are visual learners. All of our products are visually exciting and offer the space to encourage individuality in order to bring these concepts to life.

2011-02-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

Kristina Halvorson's Parenting bag
My "Intentional Parenting" Bag of Tricks
My fabulous kids are 3 and 6. These are a few of the tools and resources I rely on in my day-to-day work as a mom who's trying to raise self-aware, empathetic, generous kids.

Moonjar
The Moonjar products help kids learn about the three things you can do with money: spend, save, and share. I bought one of their banks and gave it to my son when he turned 6, just before I started giving him a weekly allowance. He gets it, and he loves it.

More For Your Money: How to teach little ones about money basics

2011-01-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

More For Your Money: How to teach little ones about money basics

Teaching kids about finances can be challenging. It seems little ones have an unlimited supply of questions, especially when it comes to money. There are some easy ways you can help your kids learn the basics.

Jessica Darrington, a single mother of two, says it seems like her children are always asking for something at the store – and that telling them no just doesn't work.

Community Credit Counseling's Dona Graves educates hundreds of people, including children, every year on personal finance. Graves says the first step is to explain to your kids why you cannot afford something – and give them concrete numbers. "As parents now, we have to be more open about the family budget and the family expenses and explain to our kids what we're doing -- 'look, mommy has to take this money out of the bank every month and make the house payment,'" said Graves.

Additionally, explaining your family's budget will help your kids understand why they cannot always have new things. And while you're at it, use the conversation to talk about wants versus needs and how savings is integral to your budget.

Darrington says she has told her children that they cannot have an item until they can save up enough money to buy it. Once they save the money, they can go to the store together and purchase it. Also, give your kids something tangible to work toward. Seeing the money will help them understand how it works, so do not use debit or credit cards all the time.
"If you're at the check-out counter, for example, and you're paying with a debit card, tell your children 'okay, I'm paying with a debit card, but it comes out of my bank account. So this isn't free money,'" said Graves.

Finally, sharing is an important lesson for kids. If you're not already doing it, teach your kids to give. Talk about a savings goal, and pick a charity together that your child can get excited about. In Darrington's family, they chose the Humane Society because of their dog Mimsy.

Lauren Lowrey

Jan 4, 2011

Never too early! First-graders learn money skills

2011-01-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

Never too early! First-graders learn money skills
‘We’re changing lives,’ official says about Memphis program

The smart young savers in Kimberly Britt's first-grade class at Richland Elementary School in Memphis, Tenn., may not be able to spell "entrepreneur" yet, but she's teaching each one of them how to become one.

Budding restaurateurs, cat sitters and dog walkers, these 6- and 7-year-olds are also learning the difference between "needs vs. wants" and determining the "opportunity cost" of their economic decisions.

Watch Teaching Value of a Dollar video: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39420467/ns/today-money/

Britt reads a story about a young girl having to choose between using money she earned dog walking to buy a new vest or a bike. Camille Clippinger, 6, says she understands why the girl decided to just decorate her old vest so she could save the money for a shiny new two-wheeler.

"She didn't have enough money so she had to get one or the other," Clippinger says.
Clippinger and her classmates are learning the importance of saving, budgeting and entrepreneurship through a program called Smart Tennessee. In the past four years, the program has reached more than 70,000 students statewide in first through eighth grades.

"We're the only state that does a systematic, comprehensive approach starting in first grade, and going all the way up," says University of Memphis economist Julie Heath, who created the program. "I think we're changing lives."

Tennessee is one of only 13 states in the country that requires students take a personal finance course to graduate from high school. But Heath says it's important not to wait that long.

"We treat economic and financial literacy like reading literacy. You start early in the primary grades and build a foundation," says Heath. "Economic and financial literacy ... is not just an educational issue, it's an economic development issue."

Sharon Epperson
9/30/2010

Take a look at what the blogaholic said!

2010-10-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

BYE BYE PIGGY BANK. HELLO MOONJAR MONEYBOX
I recently wrote a post on how to get your kids excited about fundraising and giving back to the community. Today I’m going to tell you exactly how we got Logan saving up for his favourite charities. Our secret? The Moonjar Moneybox.
This is a great tool for teaching kids about finances. It’s never too early to start talking to your kids about money and the importance of saving. In my opinion, the Moonjar Moneybox is the best place to start – earning its PTPA seal of approval.
The Moonjar is a set of three canisters that helps kids separate their money into categories: saving, spending and sharing.
This system helps kids learn how to budget (something even I could use some help with). It also comes with a passbook, which helps kids track their money by having them document what comes in, how it’s allocated, and what goes out (again, something I should really be working on myself). And finally it comes with a guide to help walk parents through talking to their kids about money (phew).
It’s a complete tool for teaching kids about finances and one that I think all kids should have. So many adults are atrocious at budgeting their money (think Til Debt Do Us Part) so kids should be taught the basics at an early age.
When we first sat down with Logan, he didn’t really have a good understanding of finances – I’m not sure how many six-year-olds do. That was until we received the Moneybox to test.When we gave him the Moonjar, he immediately wanted to put 90 per cent of his allowance into the sharing tin (bless his heart). While we want him to be generous, it wasn’t exactly a realistic financial plan for the long-term. We walked him through the guide and it helped him see how he should be prioritizing his money. We helped him set financial goals and discussed what he wanted to save up for as well as how much he should allocate to savings and charity. Suze Orman would be proud.
Now he has a better understanding of how finances work in the real world (instead of just passing GO and collecting $200) and it’s all thanks to the Moonjar Moneybox. I think I even learned a thing or two in the process.

Posted by The confessions of a blogaholic at Wednesday, October 27, 2010 Labels: moonjar moneybox, PTPA winner, review

Getting The Word Out!

2010-07-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day for Moonjar! We started by opening the package with our new award from AEP (Association of Education Publishers). We won for our Classroom Kit and new math curriculum K-5. It is an amazing feeling to work so hard with our little team and then to watch as the larger world responds so positively to our work. Thank you AEP! We are so proud.

The next step today was an appearance on NEW DAY NORTHWEST talking about kids and money with our friend Sheri Storm from Verity Credit Union. It was so exciting to see the reaction from people who had never heard of a Moonjar Moneybox and once again to realize that our best marketing effort is through the kids and families who use the Moonjars.It is your stories that carry us on. I am always excited when a child comes into the office to get a Moonjar and he or she tells me why the Moonjar is important to him or her. Those stories are what we carry into the moments when we get to speak about money on television! Today I had the story of a little girl who wanted a Moonjar for the SHARE BOX. She wanted to share with her friend by getting her a new zoo pass. The passion she had for making sure her friend got to go back to see the penguins was inspirational to me. The other story I carried into this interview was about my daughter when she was almost 10 years and I brought home a Moonjar. She cut out about 20 pictures of a red car and taped those pictures all over her SAVE box as a visual goal for her savings plan. My daughter is almost 16 now and although it might not be a new car she could very well have saved enough to consider that conversation.

The third great moment today was when we took a look at a map of all the wonderful Credit Unions who reach out to teach kids about money. There are so many amazing efforts afoot to raise financially fit kids. We are proud to be among these forward thinkers. We signed up for the Jumpstart Educators Conference today which is a great place to learn all the latest steps in financial literacy on a governmental level. We are also preparing Standard Moonajrs to make a showing at the National Youth Involvement Board annual meeting later this month. This is a group that exsists to
share ideas around Credit Union Youth efforts. Today was a big day.

So as you enjoy the summer please remember to help us spread the word about Youth Financial Literacy and Moonjar! Thank you as always for your support!!

Moonjar on TV

2010-04-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Moonjar is going to be part of the PBS show BIZ KIDS!!

We are so excited that the producers of Biz Kids asked us for families who use the Moonjar to talk about money. The segment is about allowance and how a familiy works together and individually to create goals for the money and the family budget.

Please watch!
The Biz Kid$ episode with Moonjar and the Kerr Family, 304 - Where's My Allowance, airs this Saturday, April 24th at 10:30am on KCTS, channel 9.

We will have the segment on our site after it airs!!

How to Teach Your Kids to Save, Spend and Share in 2010

2010-03-17T12:51:00.000-07:00

We were recently asked to give an update in the JUMP$TART NEWSLETTER and we said:

Imagine how different the economy would be today if every child knew the basic pillars of financial money management, saving, spending and sharing, as commonly as “stop, look and listen.”

For more than eight years, Moonjar (www.moonjar.com), the leading international provider of children’s financial literacy tools, has helped children and families learn the three basic principles of money management: saving, spending and sharing, through a line of creative products aimed at helping parents and children take the first steps towards a healthy financial future. We must not forget that our as role educators, business leaders, and parents is to provide students with the best of both worlds: a strong and challenging academic curriculum, and a full infusion of the 21st-century skills students will need to succeed.

Starting a conversation about money with kids can be tricky. We have developed six tips for parents to teach their kids to save, spend and share their allowances—even at a young age.
1. Start with a visual tool. Most children, beginning at age 4 or 5, are visual learners, so using a hands-on tool like the Moonjar Moneybox, a bank with three compartments—one each for saving, spending and sharing, can better help them learn responsible money management through critical problem solving.
2. Make money a “yes” conversation. Use pictures to help your kids visualize their goals and then prioritize what they are saving for, what they want to spend their money on, and with whom or with what they want to share their money.
3. Discuss wants vs. needs. As you set goals, identifying objects that represent “wants” and “needs” helps to overcome the desire for instant gratification.
4. Allow mistakes. Children, like adults, learn from making mistakes. From time to time, allow your child to buy a toy you believe will not be enjoyed very long, for example. Sure, they may be disappointed in a few weeks, but many lessons can be learned from this experience. Encourage them, without guilt, to plan their future purchases, weigh the cost and the benefit of their choices and to think twice next time, even sleep on it.
5. Encourage philanthropy. Help your children understand that they are part of a larger world community through discussions about sharing their money and/or donating time to causes of their choosing. Volunteering as a family is a great activity for all to participate, learn and grow.
6. Be a good role model. Make sure your children see you doing the things that you are teaching them. Let them in on your bill paying, savings and investment plans and charitable giving. Discuss your attitudes and philosophies about money and tell them your dreams for how your money can fuel your passions.

SAVING SPENDING AND SHARING EVERYWHERE

2010-02-23T10:02:00.001-08:00

Moonjar is happy to announce that we are being BLOGGED about! Please check out this mom's blog and get a chance to win a Moonjar FAMILY KIT. The family kit includes everything you need to get that Money Conversation going at home- a lesson plan, a couple of Moonjars, a Conversations to Go game, a How the Moonjar was Made book and our felt characters to keep it a living story!! http://fivedollarshake.net/?p=3180

It is a busy time at Moonjar! We are taking part in the DECA even - ROAD to RICHES where we will be one of several companies there to encourage these students to be financially wise. The topics will range from early learning and budgeting (that's us) to college loans, credit and identity theft. The event takes place Feb 24 at the Auburn City Hall please join us if you can.

We are also pleased to announce our FACEBOOK PAGE! Please become our friend and fan. We would love to see our facebook page emerge as a forum for discussion on allowance, family mission, budgeting, and many other money conversations. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/MOONJAR/300535442318?ref=search&sid=820379166.3382258552..1

Moonjar will be speaking at the Annual PEPS Luncheon on March 4th in Seattle. PEPS is an amazing place where parents come together to learn all sorts of things about parenting and they do it with other parents who have children the same age and who live in the same general community. For me PEPs was a support group when my children were small - it was insurance that I was going to get out of the house! We are going to talking about allowance. It should be a great event!

Great Time to Give Carefully

2010-01-20T17:21:00.000-08:00

We all want to reach into our pockets and give everything we can when we hear the news today but we have to remember to be mindful of how we choose to give and where.

Helping kids understand how to discover great ways to give is as important as helping them understand that SHARING is part of the whole money picture along with SAVING and SPENDING !

At Moonjar, we share as a team and we also share as individuals, here are some tips we would like to pass on when it comes to choosing where to give:

1. Look at the experience the charity has with similar situations.

2.Watch out for those Charities that push too hard to get your $ . Including those that promise that 100% of the funds will go directly to the cause. (even Charities have overhead)

3. If you have time, the very best is to go to the Charities Website to see their past work and successes.

We would love to hear from you about ways you and your family are using your SHARE box and how you have made your choices around giving!

Thank you! And thank you for your concern about financial literacy.

Moonjar Family Kit Featured in the Editors’ Gift Guide on Seattle Magazine.com

2009-12-18T13:13:00.000-08:00

Moonjar Family Kit Featured in the Editors’ Gift Guide on Seattle Magazine.com

Check out the Moonjar Moneybox as well as the two Moojar Family Kits featured in Seattle Magazine’s Editors’ Gift Picks! We are delighted to see that Seattle Magazine editor Rachel Hart started the conversation about money with her son at a young age using the Moonjar Moneybox as a tool.

Don’t miss out on the Moonjar in-store discount of 15 percent for reading this review on SeattleMag.com going on now through December 23!

ALSO- We have a WINNER!!! Thank you so much for all the SHARE stories! We have selected our winner andwe will sending the family a Classic Moonjar Moneybox today!

Let's Keep Sharing!

2009-12-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

We are so happy to hear all of the great share stories!! They are inspirational.

When I read them to my 11 year old he decided that although we don't have much cash to donate, we do have so many extra coats in our house and we need to give them to people who do not have a coat. It has been crazy cold in Seattle and everybody needs a warm coat. So we packed them up and my husband brought them to the St Francis House.

Here is another great story about how financial literacy is bringing so many great ideas home!

I bought a family set for my grandson for his 10th birthday, and he has become the "teacher" for his Dad, and his older and younger brothers. He is fully engaged in the "share" piece asking lots of questions about who, why or how to share, and I offered an example from my community saying that a neighbor had a fire in their home and lots of people in town either brought them into their homes or gave money, clothes or food until we could have a "house raising" party to rebuild, to which his brothers and Dad reminded him about someone in their school that had suffered a similar experience. I told him I felt it was important to keep your sharing close to home so you know and can see the benefits of helping others, and then you can take time to do research about other causes that matter to you. I asked him to think about ways he might be able to share his stories at school or in Cub Scouts, and as he got more comfortable, that he might consider doing a presentation for the local Rotary or Lions Club, or even a local bank, to see if he might interest them in sponsoring him to run a program with their help to purchase the kits for his group, which he is thinking about now...

I am so glad for this program and want to thank you for such a simple, yet wonderful idea. Kids get it, and want to learn and become independent in money matters. Jack's older brother immediately drew up a "contract" complete with terms and conditions for actually "earning" his allowance, and says he will email his progress to me. He was already on track about saving and bought himself a guitar with the money he had been saving since last February, but now he can incorporate saving (and NOT spending) and sharing to his skills. I am grateful for this wonderful program.

Thank you and please keep the stories coming! We will have our drawing on Dec 18th.

Stay warm!!

:) The Moonjar Team

So Many GReat SHARE Stories to SHARE!!

2009-11-30T13:57:00.000-08:00

Thank you for sharing your share stories!!!

We are inspired by each story. Please take a look at the stories we have collected. Also, here are a couple more stories from another blogger who is particiating in our Season for Sharing Give away.

Please keep the stories coming. We are going to randomly draw a winner from all the stories of sharing on DEC 14!

Thank you again for the inspiration!

The Moonjar Team

Headline: ThriftyMaven.com Participating in Moonjar Season for Sharing Contest!

ThriftyMaven.com is hosting the Moonjar Season for Sharing contest on her blog http://thriftymaven.com/?p=7814 , and already there have been 16 entries of families giving back.

Here are a few of the stories we love and want to share with you to inspire a little holiday sharing of your own!

kathy dunaway // Nov 13, 2009 at 9:40 am

We donate to United Way all year long and we are helping our kids with heating bills and buying toys for the kids for Christmas.We donate food to the food drives.This year is going to be hard for a lot of people.I hope everyone will help out others if they can.

Tari Lawson // Nov 14, 2009 at 7:35 am

We always give to food banks, Goodwill, Toys for Tots and our soldiers. In addition I have my boys visit an elderly friend who is in a nursing home with me several times a year.

Paula Adams // Nov 14, 2009 at 4:32 pm

Since its just the two of us we donate two or three complete holiday dinners to our local food pantry.

My club also sends expired coupons to The Overseas Coupon program. We have sent over $358,000.00 in coupons to our military families overseas. This helps with their holiday dinners as well….

Erin M // Nov 14, 2009 at 10:39 pm

We always sign up at church to go to help out a family that doesn’t have much–We buy a toy or 2 for their children and hand deliver it!
It’s honestly life changing. . .puts one in perspective that’s for sure

Introducing the Moonjar Season for Sharing Giveaway Contest!

2009-11-24T09:03:00.000-08:00

The Moonjar mission to encourage communication about money and empower children and families with basic life skills of saving, spending and sharing is truly taken to heart in my home of three kids, ages 15, 13 and 11. In fact, it has become a Thanksgiving holiday tradition for my family to “SHARE” by serving a meal during the community-building and dinner hour at the Recovery Café (http://www.recoverycafe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=46) in Seattle. This year is no exception as we helped prepare and serve a Thanksgiving meal to give back to those in need during a time of the year when the need for sharing is greatest.

Since this year was marked by the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, we at Moonjar want to know how other families are giving back this holiday season so that their stories of sharing can be rewarded and most importantly, inspire other families to give back as well. To collect these stories, we’ve launched the first-ever Moonjar Season for Sharing giveaway program. In this program, we are asking bloggers to help us collect stories of family giving this holiday season. Each participating blog asks their readers to submit their stories of how their families are giving back during the holidays. We are offering one Standard Moonjar Moneybox to be given away to one family per contest as thanks for giving back and spreading the “SHARE” message this holiday season.

We’re also hosting the contest on this blog, so share your story of how your family is giving back this season in the comment field for a chance to win a Standard Moonjar Moneybox! The winner will be selected at random and posted on December 4, 2009!

We’re looking forward to hearing your inspiring stories of family giving this holiday season!

Response to Comment...

2009-06-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks Tatum! You brought up some interesting thoughts...

"Never to pay a bill unless you were willing to pay it" Wow! We were taught that it wasn't appropriate to ask how much things cost, because if you had to ask, you couldn't pay for it!

'Well, she was taught how to budget very very early~ I found her Journal in the attic a month or so ago. One key element to her success as a single Mom was that she was taught the value of the dollar early on. She had to budget for every little thing she spent her allowance on. I'll post a an image of her allowance journal to the blog so you can see her accounting as a 9 year old! Sharing was simply an integral part of the Canadian civic culture.

Take a look at her ledger above!

Home Economics - Where Did It Go?

2009-06-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

My name is Lalie and I created Moonjar and I wanted to share a couple of thoughts I had today.

I was taking a walk this morning with my dogs and was thinking about the local Homeschool show we just went to this week-end. There were so many families wanting to teach their children (young and old!) about money that it got me thinking...

What happened to Home Economics and what if we all reflected on the Three or Four things our Mother’s said about money?

Here’s what my Mother said:

SAVE - SAVE - SAVE

"THE RAINY DAY DOES HAPPEN! Buy a long term Bond, CD or Treasury Bill. Put it in a bank deposit box and forget about it! When it matures you will be happy you did."

BUDGET - BUDGET - BUDGET

"Remember to account for your bless'd/right to freedom: TAXES!"

"Do your research and always ask questions. Count your change – It’s YOUR money after all and every little bit counts! It’s the idea of understanding whose pocket you are putting your money into. Yours, the shopkeeper’s or a little in both?"

SHARE - SHARE - SHARE

Her 3 children are her first priority and her rule is to share equally between us three.

Her community charities and volunteer work always came after us. She never gave us so much that it would strangle our professional/educational pursuits.

These simple yet powerful tools were the reason why I created Moonjar!

What are the tools your Mother or Father taught YOU about Spending, Saving and Sharing?

Happy Trails!