Because we are at the point where we need to figure out how this should work for our family, I'm interested to know how other families handle it. I confess that I bought the Larry Burkett book seen below, but I haven't actually cracked it open yet.
Have you seen this bank before? We got one for each of our children but we haven't given them to the kids yet. I love that they help reinforce the save 10%, give 10% and spend 80% rule. These are called Giving Banks and you can find them here.
6 comments:
We don't do allowance yet, but I love that bank!
I've seen that bank before, and I think it's great, as is the book you have.
We give our nine year old an allowance (when we remember) of seven dollars a week. We tie it to chores, in that it's one dollar a day unless she complains...then she has to do the chore anyhow, but doesn't get paid for it. I'm not sure how effectively we're using it right now though. She just saves it all. We probably should start requiring her to pay for some things herself.
We have given our kids an allowance since they were about kindergarten or first grade age, but it starts out as quite a small amount of money. We do not tie it to chores, however wee have given them opportunity to earn extra money with special chores, but regular chores are done because they are a part of the family. As the kids have gotten older and received a bigger allowance, they are required to pay for certain things out of that money, such as Christmas and birthday gifts for friends and family, school lunches if they want to buy at school rather than pack, extra clothing above what they need, going out with friends for a milkshake after school, etc. We have asked our boys to save for a portion of the camp they will attend this summer. In the past they saved to pay for half of the cost of our trampoline. When they were younger, having some amount of money that was their own really curtailed them asking us to buy this or that little thing that they saw in the store... we could just ask them if they were willing to pay for it themselves. If they really wanted it, they would pay us back for it.
Sorry, that was probably more info than you were looking for... but I'll tell you it's something we're always re-evaluating. Let us know what ideas you get from the book!
Hi Kristen...Kristi sent me over here to chime in! :)
We use Dave Ramsey's program for kids. It is NOT an allowance. The word allowance infers making an exception or being given a hand out. He prefers to call it commissions. So we call it commissions in our house. Our children earn a commission for completing tasks.
In our home, there are two chore lists. I believe there are certain things that are just a part of living in a home and contributing to it's well being and smooth running. Those are not paid jobs. My kids take turns emptying the dishwasher, sorting laundry, setting and clearing the table, feeding the dogs, cleaning their rooms, tidying up their messes around the house and so on. This we call "Household Helpers".
As "Commissioned Crusaders", they can earn $5 a week each for doing the following chores: walking the dogs, scooping dog poop, helping take out trash and recycling the night before pick up, vacuuming their rooms, and weeding the garden.
On Commissions PayDay, they are given their money in 3 envelopes: Giving, Saving and Spending. Our 13 year old has a savings account in a bank he puts his savings into, the girls have savings jars that are clear and they can see their money grow. One of my daughters has elected to put a large majority of her spending money in her savings and she has nearly $60!
This is how we do it at our house. I love that bank you posted! So cute and great for little kids! I think the biggest thing for Chris and I is that our kids learn that there are things we do around the house that are just things necessary as active participants in the home, but there are also things over and above they can earn money for!
Hope this helps!
I love reading the comments just to get some other ideas. This is a subject that seems to continue to change in our home. Right now we kind of have a little bit of everybody's ideas mixed into ours.
The kids each get chores assigned depending on what needs to be done because we're a family and everyone has to work. They must do the chores, and if they do them with a good attitude they earn the money. I don't think they should just be handed money. Nobody ever hands me money. Trying to prepare them for the real world. They each get five dollars a week - when we remember. And, honestly, they don't even care about money at this point. I don't think I've paid them for a few weeks and neither of them have said a word about it.
We do three envelopes for giving (10%), saving (10%) and spending. My main purpose here is to teach them to A: work and B: handle money in a practical way. I had to learn the hard way, and I'd like them to learn what its like to save, give and spend on things they want, even if I don't agree with what they are buying. I want them to know the pain of making a dumb purchase when they're kids. :)
Its still very much in the works and I don't know that we will ever figure out what will work all the time in our home. I imagine it will change with their age and circumstances. Hope that helps.
Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to write such very helpful comments. I really do appreciate it! I have such respect for each one of you! Now we just need to nail down what dollar amount is appropriate for an almost 7 year old.
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