How to Curb Teen Spending

At my house, there's a few teen girls. As of right now 4. However, it won't be long until the 5^th one emerges and we're off and running the house with 5 of them. Two of them are quite frugal with their money and the others, not so much. Over the years in different publications I had come across a few articles addressing this topic. Now that I have a couple of teen spenders I'm finding myself calling upon some of these strategies to help these kids see that there are a few alternatives to curb teen spending.

Thrift Stores

Sometimes when your new teen is just emerging from the tweeny stage, they find themselves having such a great time at the mall spending with friends, they don't have a clue that there are alternatives to paying full price. Once I took my teens to the local thrift store in the area and showed them the price of the jeans that look the same on those racks as the jeans on the brand new racks, only the price is 4 bucks, I didn't need to say anymore.

Rummage Sales

Another avenue to curb teen spending is to let them know about rummages, and how to find them. As a mom of 8, rummages were a staple of mine. It's a good idea to let them know to check out the local paper to find the some locations for rummages that aren't too far from your neck of the woods. If you have a particular community near you that is a bit more upscale, those are a great place to start a more penny-wise spending spree. This is a great method to bring your teen and you together for some good economical fun as well.

Second Hand Music

What teen isn't into music in a big way? We have a few local second hand music stores in our area that are easy on the pocketbook when it comes to CD's and other musical equipment. Many of these places carry musical instruments and some other technical music equipment that may interest your teens while curbing their spending.

Second Hand Books

I have a few big readers in my house and I don't think we'd have the latest versions of a lot of the newer big sellers without the second hand bookstores. The bigger sets of books like Harry Potter and Twilight come to mind in this regard. There's no way the kids could afford some of those complete sets without the second hand bookstores that make them more financially easily accessible.

Hopefully these suggestions will help in giving your teen some direction with regard to spending, and perhaps keep overspending at a minimum.