How Are You Paying Allowances?
We have just gotten to the stage where we are ready to start talking to our children about money. Right now, they have limited sources of income– birthdays, Christmas, and saying verses to my parents for a dollar! (I wish my mom would have paid me for verses!)
My wife and I have talked about trying to help them learn to save and learn to give– both important things.
- If we don’t save, we can end up in debt.
- If we don’t give, then we miss what our money can truly do to help others.
At the same time, we want them to learn about how to save for small things and big things. One way to do this is to have separate banks and teach kids to count cash and to use it for different things.
Another neat way to do this is by using PAYjr. This program allows you to setup an account online for paying for each Chore they do around the house. You can program the system to setup the allowance, print a chore chart each week, and help them learn to budget.
Just like the cash method, I believe that once kids see that they can earn extra money by helping out, they will want to do it more– and practice and rewarding good behavior is one way to encourage responsibility.
And the other neat thing about this system is that it allows you to put money on a reloadable Target Gift Card or into a savings account.
What different ways are you doing chores in your home, and what do you think of “paying kids to be good?”
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Comments from MInTheGap
Jenna said,
Wrote on November 6, 2007 @ 1:32 pm
Our daughter doesn’t get an automatic allowance. However, she does have opportunities to earn money. Her favorite thing to do is to massage Mommy’s back or feet so she can earn “chip money”. *laughs* She loves those little snack bags of chips.
All other money goes into her piggy bank. I don’t pay her for helping with household chores, because we feel that these are things that she needs to do in order to help the family. However, we are always watching how she works, and we know how to give good gifts.
MInTheGap said,
Wrote on November 6, 2007 @ 2:19 pm
I’ve always thought that if I paid for housework it would have to be on some graduated system where the thing that you did for pay this month you did for free the next and only got paid for doing more or something more difficult.
It’s a hard concept– because you want to teach them not only how to deal with money (choosing to save/give vs. parents doing it for you) and budgeting but they have to have some kind of steady source of income.
My job IRL pays a salary, and that is like an allowance, but there are performance reviews and I’m expected to get my work done and do a good job. Something modeled after this seems to be appropriate to me. Can I explain that to a 5 year old? I don’t think so.
Jenna said,
Wrote on November 6, 2007 @ 4:20 pm
That is where we are too. I just think that our 6 year old is not mature enough to really understand the lessons about money. Now, maybe that will be far different by the time that she is 10. Instead of giving her an allowance at that point though, it sounds more appealing to teach her how to make cupcakes for a bake sale, cut grass, shovel snow, etc. for our neighbors.
MInTheGap said,
Wrote on November 6, 2007 @ 4:50 pm
You’re right there, Jenna. I still think that I may come up with some type of salary scheme to supplement teaching how to be innovative and make money. I’d like to be able to have the review process and work through how we can do better.
One thing I was really impressed with at college was our annual spiritual check up where we saw where we were and what we needed to improve on. It’s definitely something that we should all build into our lives– be it at an anniversary or some other time.