The Sadaqah Jar & Worthwhile Projects

Recipe for Financial Success: Save, Sadaqah and Spend.

The Triple S

1. Divide it in half
2. Dump one half of it into the Savings Jar
3. Divide the other one half into thirds
4. Place one third in the SpendingJar/Wallet/Purse
5. Place the remaining two thirds in the Sadaqah Jar.
6. Update ledger

A friend expressed utter surprise when I told her that the kids do have money saved up. It's a cultural and generational difference, I suppose, because where she grew up, the only money she ever saved were those for buying special treats at the store. When I was growing up, I did have some money saved up for emergencies (If my father were suddenly struck with utter poverty, I could come to the rescue and save the family with my savings of 50 Malaysian Ringgit). My husband was also a saver, a very frugal saver at that, as is apparent now.

I have long thought of training the kids to wisely handle their finances. Seeing how hubby is the economics guy, I asked him to handle the matter. Unfortunately, he said that it all comes to him by instinct, and that he doesn't know how to 'teach' it to the kids. In other words, he has no organization whatsoever in his method of saving money.

So it was up to me to yet again do some reading and searching and researching as to a doable method of training your children to manage their finances. K and Rq had mentioned what Muhammad Alshareef taught in Rizq Management about not putting all your eggs in one basket. I had heard about that before, and one day I came across the 3 'basket' method (at least that's what I call it).

So I adapted it for the kids, and assigned each of them three jars. We had some glass spaghetti sauce jars that I had decorated, and in which they had lept their money before. So it wasn't that hard to do what I planned for them to do. Basically, each of them will have:

1. Savings Jar
2. Sadaqah Jar
3. Spending Jar

Each time they are to receive money and make a deposit, they are to follow the Triple S recipe. After a while, dividing up 1 dollar bills into halves and thirds just got tiresome, and we agreed that for small amounts of money, they can divide it as they wish and allocate it as they wish, but that for amounts of $10 or more, they would have to follow the Triple S recipe.

So, for a while, we have had the Sadaqah Jar, which has increasingly been getting full, tabarakallah. Other than donating the money at Jumuah prayer, we thought of sponsoring an orphan as a family, having the kids contribute their Sadaqah money to it. Though we had filled out the forms, it hasn't really taken off yet.

And one day, out of the blue, while I was bloghopping, I stumbled upon the most amazing blog owned by sister Farhana, called Sketched Soul. I have always wanted to do projects like these with the kids, but in light of my full plate, I never got to even hashing out the idea. Alhamdulillah for like-minded sisters that actually takes the time to hash out these ideas and make them a realistic occurence, Allahu Akbar!

All the projects are mashaallah, really great ideas, but two caught my fancy; The Muslimah Doll Project, and the Sew Giving Blanket Drive. More so because these are projects I can directly involve the kids in. Bubbling over with enthusiasm, to which the kids are now very much accustomed to whenever I am struck with an idea for homeschooling, baking, gifts, or arts and crafts projects, I told them of my find. Responding with the same amount of enthusiasm, they eagerly nodded their way to agreeing in contributing in the projects. The only damper is, H is pretty much left out, as he doesn't know how to crochet, and even though he wanted to make the doll in the beginning, he later opted out.

As of now, we have yet to pay a visit to Jo Ann to buy yarn and muslin for the doll's body, and Farhana had said that that project is put on hold for now, but that we can still make the dolls and it will be used for another project inshallah.

S had already started her baby blanket, but we're running out of yarn, so maybe after this weekend, we can make that trip to Jo Ann, inshaallah.