Money-Saving For Families and Teens ~ Episode 404 with Felice Gerwitz and Merit Curtis 
Is it easy to teach money-saving tips? No. What about teens? Many kids do not know how to save money and we will help you! My special guest Meredith Curtis is a mom of five and the queen of frugal!

Thanks to our sponsor – Media Angels Membership and Meredith’s curriculum – Powerline Productions

Meredith wrote an economics book for teens that teach kids how to be frugal, budget, and save money. Teens are interested in money so what better time to start.

* First renew your mind when thinking about money. Many times the attitude in saving money can be, I just want to get something as cheaply as possible, but the Bible tells us the Workman is worthy of his wages. And so the right attitude that one more time, the money is to start with this.
* Everything I own belongs to God now, yes, I give him the 10%, But even that rest of that 90%, that's the Lords. And so my question becomes, Lord, how can I manage your money? How can I get the things you want me to have in a way that honors you? Because I'm a steward and I'm accountable to the Lord for how I spend my money. And I'm accountable to the Lord for the things that I accumulate. And there are many things that we need, and I believe it's the Lord's desire to bless us. He said in his word, it says that he creates all things for us to richly enjoy. So I think when we think about teaching our kids money, saving tips, the first thing we need to teach them is that you, as a Christian, everything, we have belongs to God and we're taking care of things for him.
* I need to decide if I really need the items, and ask the Lord what do you want, what do you want from me? What is your will for me?
* And would you provide that for me? And that's a really key step because I think so many Christians forget to just ask for things.

We should work hard and save money. And it is amazing what will happen in your life. God provides through hard work. So God provides through us working hard and saving that money to buy what we need. Debt is really more of a result of the fall. And the Bible calls that foolishness. It, doesn't say it's sinful to go into debt, but definitely as a young team, you don't ever need to go in debt.

You can work hard, you can save money and save money up for the things that you would really like to have. And again, if you're living in a way where you're, you're a steward of the Lord's money is it being a good steward to buy fast food, everything, or would Jesus not have you do that? You know, those are the kind of questions you tackle. I find when I remember that I'm a steward, I spend less money. And when I do things, I'm much more cautious in what I purchase.

When you're thinking about working hard and saving money, many times, if you're living that way, you will actually have quite a large savings. And sometimes the Lord will have you use that savings to help someone go on a mission trip or something like that. But a lot of times, if you're really living, a life with Christ at the center, you are going to end up being able to save money rather easily, because you're less likely to splurge on little things.

When I counsel young people some don't listen, but many of them do. I'll say if I were in your place and I was able to save this much money each month, I would save up. I know this is crazy, but I would save up $10,000 and I would get a really nice car that would last me for 10 or 15 or even 20 years. One of the money saving tips that I've learned over the years is it's better to buy quality that will last than to hurry and buy the first thing you can a...