Living on One Income

Of course, the kids should be informed about the change in your family's financial status, and with this, comes the adjustment that they also need to make. So, depending on the way you have handled your family's finances before this change, your kids might have picked them up from you without you realizing it. So, if you have allowed them to enjoy material things before when there were still 2 paychecks in your household, you really have to do double time in telling them that it's not going to be so much fun anymore in your current situation.

So, next time you go malling, don't easily give in to their requests for you to buy them the latest doll or robot.

• Teach your kids the value of things. Let them understand that it takes hard work to pay for the things that they want you to buy for them.
• Don't motivate your child through these material things, rather teach to be motivated through intangible things.
• Don't use material things as a way for you and your kids to bond. You can go malling together, but you shouldn't give them gifts unnecessarily.
• Give your kids a small allowance so that they will have a sense of responsibility.
• Allow your child to spend some of her allowance. Help them in this aspect for them to buy little things.

I'm from a country where live-in househelpers are abundant (well, not really nowadays because i think they've all gone to foreign countries to earn dollars), but we can still easily hire somebody to do the ironing and laundry of our clothes.

So, for quite a long time now, we have had no househelper, but we have somebody who does the ironing and laundry of our clothes, at least twice a month. In between this schedule, and also to lessen on the expenses, we have trained our kids to do their school uniforms. At first there was resistance, but later on, they've learned and now they do it willingly.