Allowance Questions

carolineh

Hi,

 Can someone please walk me through the basics of how allowance works in your house?  I would like to start giving my kids an allowance when they complete their chores.  And then from that allowance teach them to divy it up into spend, save, give, etc.

DH or I never received allowance as kids so while I really like the idea, I'm not 100% sure of how to put it into practice. 

Thanks for any help/advice!!

meglew

There was a question about this on the SAHM board yesterday.  My husband had shown me this article that I had posted.

https://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/01/04/young-children-allowances-and-financial-focus/

I think that the system used in the article might be something you are interested in.

 

carolineh

Thank you!  That was helpful!!!

DandelionMom

We do allowance but it isn't tied to chores.  It is only a money management teaching tool. 

DD3 (4 y/o) gets a quarter a week, she saves it until she has a dollar and then blows it in the dollar section at Target.  She's already learning to count money, to keep it in a safe place (and not lose it), and that if the dollar section is having a sale (ours often has 50% off) she can buy two things instead of one. 

DD2 (7 y/o) gets a 50 cents a week.  She's a good saver.  She's learning all the things mentioned above and she's really understanding the value of money.

DD1 (10) gets $5 a week.  Her allowance is expected to cover all her little non-essential school expenses (her school has popcorn day, school store day, and bagel day every week and often has "give a dollar so you can wear a hat day" and things like that).  She was not a saver and had trouble with losing her money so DH came up with a percentage deal for her.  The allowance was based on how much she had in savings.  Now she keeps at least $50 in savings so that assures her $5 a week.  She's learning a lot about budgeting and percentages. And the added bonus is I don't get bugged about "bagel day" or whatever. 

We haven't addressed investments with the kids.

 

jettagurl

I've been thinking about the allowance thing lately as well....that article meg posted is great. 

 

zacook

Growing up our allowance was $25 a week (we were older)

my parent has a board on the frig. and if we didnt do our chores, got in trouble etc money was taken off.. If we didnt clean our room when asked minus $5.. if it was our turn to do dishes subtract money..

 

carolineh

Thanks everybody- I guess the part I'm struggling with is if I tie it to chores or not.  I like the idea of doing work to earn money but I worry they are then going to start asking for $ for every little thing they do, which would be a nightmare.

StellaZ

I've thought about this and (though it's far off) I plan to follow the Love & Logic theory of allowance...

don't pay the kids to do THEIR chores...but you can pay them to do YOUR chores!

 

I also like the idea of having 3 mason jars to divvy up $$...give, spend, save