How to Teach Kids About Money the Simple Living Way (Real Life, Not Worksheets)

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Here’s something I think about a lot: kids who grew up in the ’90s learned most of what they know about money not from a class, but from watching their parents count change at the grocery store, from saving up for something they actually wanted, from understanding that money comes from work and doesn’t just appear on a card.

We didn’t have financial literacy worksheets. We had real life.

And honestly? I think that worked better than we give it credit for. So when it came time to figure out how to teach my kids about money, I didn’t reach for a curriculum binder. I looked at our actual day — the chickens, the garden, the Saturday market trips, the family budget conversations at the kitchen table — and thought, this is it. This is the classroom.

If you’re a homeschool family living a more intentional, simple life, you’ve already got more teaching tools than you realize. Let me show you what that looks like for us.

Start With the Basics: Money Is a Tool, Not the Goal

Before we ever talk numbers with our kids, we talk about what money actually is. In our house, we frame it simply: money is what you get when you trade your time and work for something. It’s a tool. You use it to take care of your family, help others, and occasionally enjoy something special.

We don’t make money a secret or a stress — but we also don’t pretend it grows on trees. Our kids hear us talk about the grocery budget. They see us comparison shop at the farmers market. They know that choosing to buy something means we’re choosing not to buy something else.

This kind of money transparency is free. And it is genuinely one of the most powerful things you can do.

The Three-Jar System (And Why It Works for Simple Living Families)

If you want a structure for younger kids, three jars on the kitchen shelf is about as simple and effective as it gets. We label ours:

• Save — for something bigger you’re working toward
• Spend — for small things you want now
• Give — for blessing someone else

No apps. No special accounts yet (that comes later). Just glass jars they can see. There’s something about watching coins pile up that a digital number on a screen just can’t replicate — and that very tactile, visual experience is so Charlotte Mason at its heart. Real things. Concrete understanding before abstract concepts.

When our kids earn money — more on that in a second — they physically divide it into those jars. They decide where their give money goes. They watch their save jar grow. They feel the weight of those coins in their hand before they decide whether something is worth spending on.

Backyard Chickens as a Real Money Lesson

Okay, this one is my favorite. Our flock has been one of the best unplanned homeschool tools we have.

Our kids help care for the chickens daily — filling the chicken waterer, collecting eggs, keeping the coop clean. And when we have extra eggs, they help sell them. We keep a simple notebook to track how many dozen we’ve collected, what we’ve sold, and what the money goes toward.

Right now, a portion of our egg money goes back into chicken supplies — diatomaceous earth for the coop, feed, occasional bedding. The kids see that running even a small operation has costs. They see that profit isn’t just what you bring in — it’s what’s left after expenses.

That’s a real business lesson. And they learned it in their pajamas before breakfast, gathering eggs in the backyard.

If you’re just getting started with backyard chickens, Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens is the book I recommend to everyone, and the Kid’s Guide to Keeping Chickens is great for getting the kids involved and invested in the whole operation.

For more on how we fold the kids into farm-style chores without losing our minds, you’ll love this post: How to Involve Kids in Homestead Chores by Age (Without the Meltdowns or Doing It All Yourself).

Real-Life Money Skills We Practice Every Week

Grocery Runs as Math Class

I bring my kids to the store. Not every time — that would break me — but regularly. And when they come, they have a job. Sometimes it’s comparing unit prices. Sometimes it’s helping me stay under a set budget for one category. Sometimes it’s just watching me choose the store brand over the name brand and explaining why.

This is living math. Way more sticky than a worksheet.

We use Math-U-See for our formal math curriculum because of how hands-on and visual it is — but honestly, the grocery store reinforces those concepts better than almost anything else.

The Garden Economy

When our kids help grow something — tomatoes, herbs, sweet potatoes — and we eat it at the dinner table, I make a point of saying, “We grew this. We didn’t have to buy it.” That’s value. That’s savings. That’s a form of wealth that doesn’t require a single dollar.

This kind of thinking — that you can create value with your hands and your land — is something I want deeply rooted in my kids before they’re grown.

Wants vs. Needs: The Simple Living Conversation

We talk about this constantly, and not in a preachy way. It comes up naturally when a kid wants something at Target. “Is that a want or a need?” is a question they now ask themselves — which, honestly, is the whole goal.

We also talk about the things we choose not to spend money on, and what we do instead. We make our own cleaning products (DIY Natural Cleaning Products for Every Room has our whole routine). We preserve food from the garden. We repair before we replace. These aren’t deprivation — they’re intentional choices. And kids notice.

Age-by-Age: What This Actually Looks Like

Kindergarten–1st Grade

• Identify coins and bills
• Practice counting change with real money during play store
• Start the three-jar system
• Help collect eggs and understand that chickens need food and care to produce

2nd–3rd Grade

• Introduce simple earning (small chores beyond their basic responsibilities)
• Bring them along for grocery trips with a specific budgeting role
• Talk openly about family choices (“we’re saving for X, so we’re skipping Y”)
• Practice making purchases themselves at a farmers market or yard sale

4th–5th Grade

• Help track a household expense (the chicken feed budget, for example)
• Introduce the concept of interest and saving over time — even just simply
• Give them a small monthly budget for their own personal needs (school supplies, fun money)
• Start conversations about giving generously and why it matters

What We Don’t Do (And Why)

We don’t pay for every little thing. Basic chores — taking care of the chickens, keeping their rooms tidy, helping with dinner — those are just part of being a family. We don’t pay kids to be family members.

We also don’t use money as a reward or punishment. That gets messy fast and sends the wrong message about what money is for.

And we try really hard not to make money feel like a source of anxiety. Kids pick up on our stress more than we know. We talk about money calmly, honestly, and with confidence — even when the budget is tight. Especially then.

If you’re working on simplifying your family’s financial life overall, these posts go hand in hand with everything we’re doing: Meal Planning for Large Families on a Whole Food Budget and Simple Living with Kids: Practical Tips That Actually Work for Real Families.

The Bigger Picture

Here in Northwest Florida, we’re not living an extravagant life. We’re living a full one. And I think there’s a huge difference. My kids are growing up understanding that the best things — watching a sunset over the bay, catching fireflies in the backyard, cracking open a warm egg from our own hens — cost nothing at all.

That’s the foundation of financial wisdom. Not spreadsheets. Not savings accounts (though those matter too, later). The foundation is knowing the difference between what you need and what you’ve been told you need. It’s knowing that your hands can produce real things of real value. It’s knowing that generosity feels better than accumulation.

We’re not raising future finance bros. We’re raising kids who know how to live well with what they have — and how to be grateful for it.

And I truly believe the backyard, the chicken coop, the garden, and the kitchen table are better classrooms for that than anything I could buy.

📖 You Might Also Like:

• Meal Planning for Large Families on a Whole Food Budget (What Actually Works for Us)
• Seasonal Living Ideas for Families: Simple Ways to Celebrate Every Season Year-Round
• DIY Natural Cleaning Products for Every Room (What We Actually Use in Our Non-Toxic Home)

Frequently Asked Questions

What age should you start teaching kids about money?

You can start as young as 3-4 with simple coin identification and play money. By kindergarten, most kids are ready for a basic three-jar system (save, spend, give) using real coins. The key is keeping it concrete and hands-on — abstract concepts like interest and budgets can come later, around 4th or 5th grade.

Should I pay my kids for doing chores?

This is a personal family decision, but many simple living families — ours included — distinguish between basic household responsibilities (which are just part of family life and aren’t paid) and extra jobs kids can take on to earn money. The goal is for kids to understand that money comes from real work, without tying their family contribution to a paycheck.

What is the three-jar money system for kids?

The three-jar system is a simple, visual way to teach kids to divide their money into Save, Spend, and Give. Using clear glass jars lets kids physically see their money accumulate, which is much more meaningful for young children than a digital balance. It’s low-cost, easy to implement, and teaches giving and delayed gratification naturally.

How do homeschool families teach money skills without a curriculum?

Homeschool families have a huge advantage here because real life is built right into the day. Grocery shopping with a budget, tracking egg sales from backyard chickens, comparing prices at the farmers market, and involving kids in household financial decisions are all powerful, curriculum-free ways to build genuine money skills.

How do I talk to my kids about money without creating anxiety?

Normalize money conversations early and keep your tone calm and matter-of-fact. Avoid making money a taboo subject or a source of visible stress. Frame budget choices as intentional decisions rather than limitations — ‘we choose to spend our money on X instead of Y’ rather than ‘we can’t afford that.’ Kids take their emotional cues from us, so the more grounded we are about money, the more grounded they’ll be.