In our family, the beginning of the school year is marked by a continuous flow of money. Unfortunately, the money is flowing out, not in, and I’m not sure I could tell you where it’s all going. My children, their school, and its PTA assure me that it’s going to good causes.
In the interest of staunching the flow, I think it’s time we start paying allowances. Now, that might seem like more money going out, but I’m hoping it will help my kids decide what is truly important to spend their money on, now that it’s going to be their money. So I created a cute chore and allowance system, which, if nothing else, looks like I know what I’m doing when it comes to both decorating and parenting. Hence this post…
Basically, each girl gets a jar with her name on it. In that jar are sticks with all the normal weekly “jobs” they have, such as clearing their plates after dinner, keeping their rooms clean, etc. I also stuck one in called “Help Mom and Dad.” If the jar were a job description, this would be the catch-all called “other duties as assigned.” Then we decided on a basic weekly allowance amount for each girl.
In the third jar are extra jobs that they can perform to earn extra money. They pull a stick from this jar, do the job, and put the stick in their own jar, once I’ve approved their work. Then at the end of the week, we add the amount of their basic allowance, plus any extra work they’ve done and pay them the total. Plus, if we feel like they’re not keeping up with their regular jobs, then I can pull the appropriate stick out and dock the allowance.
The girls are excited, motivated, and my trashcans throughout the house are magically getting emptied! So far, so good, at least for day 2. I’ll let you know after a few weeks have gone by…
Johanna says
this is fantastic!! I would definitely be inspired to do chores…maybe I’ll have to make myself some tongue depressors. 😀
Emily says
I love this! How have I not seen this before?
Meredith says
Thank you Emily! Yes, this one is an old post, but I still have those jars, and in a good week, we actually use them! 🙂
Meghann says
How well did this work long term? (a yr or more)
What tweeks did you end up making…I am looking at this as a potential to teach work ethic for my older kids.
Meredith says
Hi Meghann, it’s funny you ask that this week because we’ve gotten out of the habit of using them, but I’ve been thinking I should get started again. It worked really well for my older daughter, who was 7 at the time. My younger one, at 5, was a little ambivalent, but she didn’t really have any concept of earning money or allowance yet. We used the system for a long time and I really enjoyed not having to negotiate and nag them constantly to do their chores. After a while, we stopped using the sticks because they could just think of them in their head, but then we fell out of the habit. I think that physical reminder really helped. I think I’m going to reinstate it, and probably adjust the amounts that each chore is worth, plus add a few now that the girls are older. Let me know if it works for you!
Heather says
What are the things that you stopped paying for now that they have their own money?
Meredith says
Hi Heather, the kids now pay for all their “extras” like music, movies, gum, etc. and any clothes or accessories that they want but I don’t want to buy for them. It helps them decide what’s really important to them, without me having to tell them No all the time. Win-win!