If you have a teen you often probably feel like the bank of mum. I know I do – what’s more, often I don’t have the cash on me and then I am left scrabbling around or having to do a quick trip to the cash point. I would never give the children my debit card and pin and I am a strong believer that children need to know the value of money but they certainly do not need to know what is in my bank account.
Therefore I saw the Kalixa Pay as a great way being able to top up a pre paid mastercard. You simply upload the money onto the card (it always needs to be in credit) and then your teen can use this to pay for things when out shopping. They just need the pin number like you would any other bank card. The card would be ideal for University students too and I would prefer to give money this way knowing they can’t get overdrawn. I think it is so important to live within your means and I am proud to say I have never been in debt apart from Student loans and the mortgage. I want to teach my children the same attitude to money and the kalixa Pay is an ideal tool to teach these values as the user has to budget and stay in control. You can load the card free of charge and there is no monthly fee – just a one off set up fee.
I decided to see how easy it was to use in the high street when Chloe and I went on our ‘back to school’ shopping trip. I had a little worry that the sales assistants wouldn’t recognise the card or it wouldn’t be accepted. This niggle was totally unfounded as I used it time and time again.
School bag shopping is a bit of a thing in our house. Chloe has learnt young that you regularly need a new bag our only disagreement is always about how big the bag should be. All to often I see girls at my school with the tiniest school bag that they cannot fit anything in.
Chloe and I used the kalixa Pay in Next which is where we finally agreed on a bag, the bag was £35 We also used the card in WhSmith as they had a great deal on. If you bought any pencil case you could then buy the sharpies set for £6.99 instead of £16.99, therefore I bought a pencil case for £1.25 to get that deal! Lastly I used it in Tesco to but a bottle of Gin and and a box of mini cans of slimline tonic! However seeing as I have put myself on a two week alcohol ban until after the cheltenham half I will keep it till then. I am sure after I have run 13 miles I will deserve a G&T or two! Another plus with the card is that you receive sms and email alerts with regards to spending – therefore another ideal way to help with budgeting or as a parent to keep an eye on the spending!
Disclosure: I was given the Kalixa Pay a pre paid card and some money to try it out for the purpose of this post.
2 Responses
We had one of these on holiday this year and will never go away without it again. Just a brilliant way of spending money abroad. My teens loved that I could give them the card and off they went!
After reading both yours and Mummy Barrow’s experiences regarding this magic card, I definitely need to get me one. Could be a nice little way of saving pocket money for the kids!