The summer is here and that means for many of you the kids are home. While we all love the summer, for this mama it brings more laundry and a dirtier house. It can also mean a lot less time to work on your coupons and grocery deals.

I want to encourage you to put your kids to work helping with the grocery budget rather than throwing the coupons out the window. Here are some ways that we get every one involved in saving:

Cutting

This is the most obvious way to involve idle hands. Give them scissors and let them get to it! All of my girls learned to cut by cutting coupons. Give younger kiddos expired coupons so they can feel like they are helping without causing you too much stress. When they ask for your approval just sweetly recommend that next time they try to cut less of the barcode off… Older kids will be perfect helpers though. I usually print out everything we need and then hand over the freshly printed coupons for the older girls to do all the cutting.

Kids Coupons

Try letting them create and maintain their own coupon folder. Get a small coupon organizer for $1 or so at the Target Dollar Spot (right inside the front door) and then let them organize and keep any coupons they find in the store, or for younger kids give them expired coupons as you clean out yours. They love to do anything that you enjoy when they are little and now feel just like mama, but as they get bigger and hold on to real coupons, they will love having some responsibility.

Organizing Your Coupons

If you use a binder or large category system to organize your coupons there is always work needed. Let them sort out categories and clean out expired coupons, or let them fold and insert coupons into the baseball card sleeves. Step this up a notch and in the store my girls are responsible not only finding the dispenser coupons, but also for going ahead and putting them in the organizer in the top of the buggy. No you’ll never come home with coupons to put away, they are doing the job while you shop.

Deal Hunting

Older kids can find deals better than some adults! If they have things they want then put them to work finding their own bargains. I’ve seem some mama’s offer them the money they saved… while I don’t think I’d be that generous, I am more willing to buy something if I know you’ve put effort into using my money wisely. This not only gets them busy helping, but it’s also teaching them valuable skills.

Have a Goal to Help Others

Kids love a mission. As a family pick another family or charity organization to help and then get every involved in clipping and saving to get things to donate. There are so many freebies and super cheap deals that you’ll have boxes full by the end of the summer to donate and the kids will love the family project. While you cut and clip to donate, you’ll also find that you are saving too on your own trips!

So, getting the whole family involved can be fun, can teach your kids some great life skills, and is a great way to keep saving throughout the summer!