The Three Jars: Save, Spend, Share
When you get money, split it into three jars.
SAVE jar: money for something big later. SPEND jar: money for small things now. SHARE jar: money to help others.
Waiting to buy something bigger is called patience — and patience is a superpower with money.
Your Share jar holds money to help people or animals. You could give some to a library for books or to an animal shelter for pet food.
You, imagine you get two dollars for helping wash the car. You can put one dollar in your Save jar for a big toy and one dollar in your Spend jar for a yummy popsicle later!
Learning objective
Give coins different jobs and count a savings goal.
Understand the mechanism
Your jars are labels for choices. Save waits for a future goal, Spend pays for something now and Share helps someone else. There is no single perfect split for every family. Choose it with a grown-up.
Keeping jars separate lets you see progress. If you move money from Save to Spend, your goal will take longer. That is a real choice, not extra money appearing.
Put it to work
Draw a picture of your goal and its price. Each time you add coins, count how much remains. Sharing can also mean giving time or helping; you do not need money to be kind.
Worked example
- 1
You receive $6.
- 2
Put $3 in Save, $2 in Spend and $1 in Share. Count: 3 + 2 + 1 = 6.
- 3
Your goal costs $9. With $3 saved, you still need $6.
Every coin can have one job at a time.
Your practice lab
Split $8 among three jars. If your Save jar gets $4 toward a $10 goal, what is left to save?
Personal scratchpad · not graded or saved
Maya's Three Jars
Maya got $10 for her birthday. She really wanted to buy a new bouncy ball for $2 from the toy store. But she was also saving up for a big Lego castle that cost $30. Her mom reminded her that their local library was also asking for donations to buy new books for kids.
Maya felt a little confused about what to do with her money. So, she took out her three jars. She put $2 in her Spend jar for the bouncy ball. She put $5 in her Save jar, which made her feel closer to getting the Lego castle. Finally, she put $3 in her Share jar to give to the library.
By using her jars, Maya didn't have to choose just one thing. She could get her bouncy ball now, make progress on her big savings goal, and help her community all at once.
Using the three jars helps you make a plan for your money so you can spend, save, and share at the same time.
Illustrative example — names and figures are composites for teaching.
Get three real jars (or boxes) and label them SAVE, SPEND, and SHARE. Draw a picture of the big thing you want to save for and tape it to your SAVE jar. Write down how much it costs.
Example: SAVE jar has a picture of a scooter that says '$40'. SPEND jar is for small toys. SHARE jar is for donating to the animal shelter.
Go deeper — outside resources
- MyMoney.gov — learning hub · MyMoney.gov
- PBS Kids — learning hub · PBS Kids
Key ideas
- Split every dollar three ways
- Saving means waiting for something bigger
- Sharing helps your community
Try it: Label three cups Save, Spend and Share. Put your next coins in all three.
Quick check
1. Which jar is for something big later?
2. What superpower helps you save?
3. What is the SHARE jar for?
4. Leo earned $5 doing chores. He wants to buy a comic book that costs $4. Which jar should he use?
5. If you put $3 in your Save jar for a video game that costs $10, how much more money do you need?
6. Why is it important to keep the money for each jar separate?