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Don’t let mom guilt derail you in your goal to be debt free. Instead find out how to get kids on board paying off debt with these tips.

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[bctt tweet=”Don’t let #money incidents with the kiddos derail you from your #debtfree goal. Find out how to get kids on board paying off debt with these easy tips.” username=”diyadulation”]

You’ve made the decision to finally be debt-free and dig out of this hole you have made. You are budgeting regularly and throwing every extra penny at that mountain.

Then you are leaving the art show at school and the kiddos start begging for fast food because they’re hungry. Or your oldest is begging you for money for the book fair even though he already has at least 5 books at home unread.

These incidents don’t have to derail you in your goal if you find out how to get kids on board paying off debt.

I admit, my kids are my weak spot. It is so much easier to tell myself no than it is to tell my kids no.

If you ask them I’m sure they would tell you I say no all of the time because that’s how tiny humans are. When they want a birthday party or money for something at school, however, I am overcome with guilt about telling them no.

Unfortunately, the grandparents are not always helpful on that front making that guilt triple sometimes. You think, “They [your kids] didn’t create this mess so it’s not right to punish them.”

Believe it or not, you are not punishing them. The fact is that in this stage of our life they need to be told no.

It won’t kill them to have a small dinner for their birthday or forego that super cool eraser set at the book fair.

Yes, it is not their fault that you’re in debt but this is not a punishment. It is a temporary stage of life so that you can live even better in a few short years.

That is why it is so important to get kids on board paying off debt. It makes your life easier but also teaches them the valuable lesson of working towards goals and taking ownership of your mistakes.

Be Straight With Them

First of all you have to tell them like it is. Teach your kids what debt is, how you get it, and why it’s bad. Let them know your total debt and your plan for paying it off.

I promise you that even being a thousand dollars in debt will seem like a lot to them because they cannot fathom that kind of money. Keep this conversation simple for young children giving them short specifics.

Warning:

Make this a positive conversation and let them know that you are choosing to pay off debt. Be very clear that this is not something they need to worry about and you aren’t losing your home or not having food. It is important that they know their basic needs will always continue to be met.

Make It Fun

Think paying off debt can’t be fun? Think again. It is easier than you think to make this fun for kiddos. This family even created a hashtag that they would say every time things come up that they aren’t spending money on.

Eventually their toddler even started shouting out the hashtag. This got the message across while still being fun for the kiddos. You can also have rewards for them every time you go to the store and they don’t ask for something.

These should be free things like extra game time on the XBox or 2 stories at bedtime instead of one. Create a list of ideas and share them with the kids before you leave the house to encourage the behavior.

Get Them Involved in the Goals

Remember when you set goals to help get you out of debt? Make these goals alongside your kids. Let them help pick the mini rewards that will keep your family focused for the long haul.

Later, when they ask for things you can remind them of the next reward coming for hitting your goals. That can be a fantastic incentive to keep them on track with you.

Use Play Money

This tip is especially good for young children. Grab some of their play money and every time they ask for something and you say no, write the cost of the item down.

When you get home, count out the cost of the item with them in play money and put it in a jar. As the money in the jar grows, they will have a visual representation of the money they’re helping you save when they don’t get those items.

The fuller the jar gets, the more excited they will be.

You can use one or all of these tips to get your kids on board with paying off debt. You definitely want to do step one and be clear with them about what you’re doing and why. Everything else simply makes the journey easier.

One last warning, keep an eye on little kids when using terms like “watch the money grow”. When our 5 year old got a bank for Christmas and we told her she could watch her money grow she asked how often she should water it.

It was adorable but also makes you a little nervous about finding water in the banks. Don’t forget, paying off debt is a family goal not only a financial one.

What ways do you get your kids involved in paying off debt? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments!

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Let’s start this week off with a splash of color and sugar. As promised at the Merry Monday party yesterday, we are back today with another fun rainbow treat. These easy rainbow shamrock cakes are a fun addition to your holiday party or simply a nice surprise for the family. Get in the kitchen, crank some Flogging Molly, and bake up this deliciousness.

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[bctt tweet=”Get in the kitchen, crank some Flogging Molly, and bake up these delicious rainbow shamrock cakes! #stpats #recipe” username=”diyadulation”]

I have loved celebrating St. Patrick’s Day since I first moved out on my own. I always went all out with green everything, fun decorations, and games. Since those days, the celebrations have tamed quite a bit but we still enjoy celebrating. We always do some sort of festive food spread and, of course, blast the music. The kiddos get all hyped up on sugar and dance around. This year, I’m surprising them with this new sweet treat!

Ingredients

Box White or Yellow Cake Mix
Food Coloring
Green Candy Melts
Green Sugar Sprinkles

Step 1

First, preheat your oven to 350° F.

Step 2

Prepare a 9 x 13 glass baking dish by lining with shortening and then covering in flour. This makes it easier to get the cake out later. Set it to the side.

Step 3

Prepare your cake mix according to the instructions on the box.

Step 4

Next, separate your mix into 4 or 5 different small bowls.

Step 5

Add in food coloring to each bowl and mix it in. I went with blue, green, orange, and purple but any colors from the rainbow (or all of them) will work.

Step 6

Now, drop dollops of each color of cake batter into the baking dish at random.

Step 7

Next, take a toothpick and swirl it through the cake batter in your baking dish.

Step 8

Bake for 30 minutes at 350° F.

Step 9

After your cake is finished baking, place the baking dish on a trivet to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Step 10

When the baking dish is cool enough to touch without oven mitts, flip it over onto a cooling rack to remove the cake.

Step 11

Place your cake and the cooling rack in the freezer for at least 2 hours. This will make the next steps much easier.

Step 12

After your cake is fully cooled (even partially frozen), pull it out and cut it in half along the center like a hamburger bun. Put one half off to the side for now.

Step 13

Lay your remaining half slab of cake on a piece of parchment paper and begin cutting out your shamrocks with a cookie cutter.

Notes:

I used 2 different sizes to reduce the amount of cake waste.

Put the excess cake that cannot be cut with your cookie cutters in a plastic freezer bag. You can turn it into cake pops later so none of the cake goes to waste.

Step 14

Continue cutting out shamrocks until both halves of your cake have been cut.

Step 15

Now, place your shamrocks on the cooling rack and place it over the parchment paper.

Step 16

Melt your candy melts in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl in 1 minute increments until smooth.

Tip:

After the candy is melted, add a tbsp. of shortening to make it smoother and easier to pour.

Step 17

Next, pour your melted candy over the tops of the shamrocks. Be sure that the sides are covered also.

Step 18

Sprinkle your green sugar sprinkles over the candy coating immediately.

Step 19

Allow your candy coating to cool completely, the remove the rainbow shamrock cakes and enjoy!

Bonus Tips

All I had were plastic shamrock cookie cutters which made the process much more difficult. I recommend using metal ones if you have them. The edges will come out cleaner and it won’t take as much effort to cut.
If you want to make these ahead of time (which I totally recommend) store them in a plastic resealable bag in the fridge for up to a week.

The work on these rainbow shamrock cakes is totally worth it. The candy coating seals in the moisture for a soft, spongy cake and the sprinkles give it a surprise crunch that you will love. In case you missed it, you can find more awesome Rainbow Crafts and Treats at this week’s Merry Monday link party. Don’t forget to complete the fun with these Dollar Store St Pats Party Hats, too.

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A DIY debt payoff chalkboard keeps your debt payoff in your face so that you will not only be reminded of them constantly but also so that you can see your progress visually. That will help you keep your momentum up and propel you forward during the days when the last thing you want to do is cook dinner.

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Ordering a product through these links may result in a commission at no extra cost to you. Read the full disclosure here.

[bctt tweet=”Keep your debt payoff momentum with a DIY debt payoff chalkboard! #diy #chalkboard #debtfree” username=”diyadulation”]

Getting out of debt takes discipline and dedication. It sucks but the truth is, it takes a lot of work. At this point you’ve set your budget, created goals to propel you forward, and you’re starting to chip away.

When we started this journey it was sobering to see how much debt we truly had. It was additionally shocking to me to see what those original loan amounts were for my student loans.

I have been deferring them for 8 years and while that kept us from having to make payments, it also meant that they continued accruing interested on the initial loan amount. Yikes!

Even though our income has actually gone down (my husband became salaried and lost all of the overtime pay we used to count on), we’ve finally had enough. We paid off our credit cards this month and now only have the student loans remaining.

Because this is such a huge chunk of our debt, I needed to be able to see what we are working towards. We need to see the progress we are making or it will feel like we’re stuck under this mountain. With this DIY debt payoff chalkboard I can see the progress grow with each payment.

DIY Debt Payoff Chalkboard Materials

8×10 Thrift Store Frame (Or bigger if you want)
White Acrylic Paint
1-inch Foam Brush
Acrylic Sealant
Chalkboard Contact Paper
Colorful Chalk (If you get the Contact Paper above it comes with it)
Ruler

Step 1

First, flip your frame over and begin disassembling it.

Step 2

After everything is out of your frame, set the glass and inserts aside for now.

Step 3

Next, flip your empty frame back over and add a coat of white acrylic paint to it. Allow your paint to dry completely.

Step 4

After your first coat has dried, add a second coat of white acrylic paint to the frame and let dry.

Step 5 (Optional)

If needed, add a third coat of paint to your frame. Mine required this but lighter woods and unfinished woods will not.

Step 6

As your paint dries, pull out the glass insert from your frame.

Step 7

Thoroughly clean your glass insert. If yours has the price written on the glass and Windex doesn’t remove it, try a little rubbing alcohol.

Tip:

Do not skip this step. You may think it is unnecessary since we are covering it but the contact paper will not stick securely if it isn’t clean.

Step 8

Next, cut a piece of chalkboard contact paper slightly larger than your glass insert. You want at least an inch of overlap on every side.

Step 9

Begin attaching your contact paper by peeling back a small piece of the backing and firmly pressing it to your glass insert. Smooth out any air bubbles as you go.

Step 10

Continue attaching your contact paper, smoothing out the bubbles, until your glass is completely covered.

Step 11

Now, carefully turn your covered glass insert over.

Step 12

Fold up the overages on the sides as pictured above.

Step 13

Again, flip your glass insert back over and be sure that all of the air bubbles are removed.

Step 14

After you have finished covering the glass insert, set it to the side and seal your dry frame with acrylic sealant. All the sealant to dry completely.

Tip:

Be sure to do this in a well-ventilated area.

Step 15

Next, flip your dry frame over and place your glass insert back in with the chalkboard side facing out.

Step 16

Then return your cardboard backing to your frame.

Step 17

Re-secure the backing of your frame according to its design.

Step 18

Now turn your chalkboard over and pullout your chalk and ruler.

Note:

You also want to have your debt snowball list in front of you. Don’t know what a debt snowball is? Read all about it in The Total Money Makeover.

Step 19

Use your ruler to create horizontal lines across the bottom of your chalkboard. You need one line for every debt.

Step 20

Begin creating your bar graph starting on the far right of your chalkboard. This should represent the largest debt you have. Each line on my graph represents $500.

Step 21

Continue creating your bar graph from right to left, working your way down to the smallest debt. The rectangles at the top of some of my bars represent an uneven amount that is less that $500. I tried to keep the representational of the extra amount but did it by hand.

Step 22

Next, fill in the name of the corresponding debts at the bottom of each bar graph. Add the total debt amount to the top of each bar graph.

Step 23

Lastly, hang your DIY debt payoff chalkboard somewhere prominent in your house. We hung ours by the front door so we will see it daily.

Now that we have this visual representation of our remaining debt the next little goal I’m looking forward to is erasing one of these paid off loans from the board. Even better, when you are finally debt free this chalkboard can be used for reminders or love notes to each other. No use creating something that can’t become a permanent piece of useful decor. How does it feel seeing all of your debt laid out? Is it shocking or better than you expected? Let me know in the comments and soon we’ll dive into lifestyle changes that will keep you from ever being in this place again.

See where I’m linking up!

Don’t Forget to Pin It!

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