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

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!

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!!

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!

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...

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?

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!