This post was sponsored by State Farm®. For more information on the best financial services for your family, please visit or call a State Farm agent.

As I mentioned before, I’ve been working with State Farm on a few posts about saving and planning for your kids’ college. It’s been a really eye opening experience for me for a number of reasons. Here are five things I’ve learned along the way…

We have a long way to go teaching our kids about the value of money. As much as Jared and I try to talk to Henry a lot about saving and the value of money, it’s still a lesson that we’ll need to continually teach and re-teach as he gets older. I can imagine it only gets more complicated from here on out. He gets more independent, better able to understand complicated adult realities, and more aware of what others do and do not have. It’s more than just making piggy banks (although I do love how those turned out!). And then comes his first paying job and his driver’s license…money topics will be something we’ll be revisiting again and again, clearly!

Thinking outside of the box about gifts. Our culture has created so many opportunities to give generously to those we love and care about. Birthdays, holidays (and not just Christmas- Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc), graduations, rewards, etc.  And yet, most of us just pick up something fun that will likely get played with for a few days and then tossed aside. Thinking outside of the box about non-traditional gifts, like encouraging others to contribute to college savings, has been really eye opening to me. If you missed it, here are 7 non-traditional ideas for a new baby gift I posted about.

Should we or shouldn’t we? It’s actually made me stop and think about whether or not we even should be paying for our kids’ college education. It’s insanely expensive and without planning can be a huge burden on any family. My husband’s family wasn’t able to help him at all.  Granted he went to a very inexpensive school, but he still took out loans and paid them off after a period of time. Of course it would make things so much easier for them if we were able to help, and I like the idea of helping them save as well. Do you feel obligated to pay for your kids’ education?

Talking it out is way easier than researching online. I cringe at any online information about saving, investing, and money in general. When I first started reading into college funding options online, it made my head spin. So, it was so helpful to meet with State Farm agent, Joe Freund, and go over everything step by step. He answered all my questions that felt dumb, and we could talk about our family’s specific situation and needs. He also was able to direct me to some interesting sites about calculating the costs of college education and explore more options for savings plans and crazy scenarios my head came up with in terms of the logistics of the plan. Hooray for patient agents!

We’ve so much to learn from each other’s experiences. During our Twitter party last week, I learned so much about what others were doing to save and teach their kids about money. It made me appreciate this social media community so much. There are so many people doing smart things that are way more money savvy than me, and I love that we have a kind and generous space to share all those ideas.

This post was sponsored by State Farm. For more information on the best financial services for your family, please visit or call a State Farm agent.