Money lessons for Ashington parents

Posted by The Journal on Oct 31, 08 05:28 PM in News

Young mothers in Northumberland have been learning how to tighten their belts and boost their family finances at money management workshops run by a children's charity.

Parents have been offered tips including how to cope with the cost of Christmas at Action for Children's Financial Futures workshops at children's centres in Ashington and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.

The workshops, run by Action for Children staff and volunteers from Barclays Bank, are part of a ÃÂ£1.8m national partnership between the bank and the charity aimed at improving financial literacy and helping people to avoid debt.

Other topics covered include budgeting, coping with debt and credit issues, and the pros and cons of borrowing money from different lenders.

Project co-ordinator and course leader David Forster said: ``Many of the families we support have to make a little money go a long way and often struggle to make ends meet, especially at Christmas.

``These workshops have been of real value to them because they now realise that they can significantly reduce their weekly outgoings simply by changing their view of what they need to buy.

``They now understand that they have a much better chance of covering the cost of the things they need if they start to cut out the things they want.

``The workshops have also provided these parents with a comfortable environment in which to share their financial concerns, allowing us to then point them in the right direction for professional help and expertise."

Weekly workshops will be running at Newbiggin Children's Centre until December 10. Ashington Children's Centre, which hosted a course that finished earlier this month, is hoping to hold more workshops in the new year.

For more information please call David Forster on 01670 819988.

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