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Allowances/chores
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We have been very inconsistent with paying for chores/giving an allowance to our kids. We’re trying to fix that. So I was thinking maybe $.50 for each chore that our oldest does – and then I added it up. That’s $20 a week!!!!!
Cannot do that…….. So then I thought, well, how about $5/week? How much is that per chore? That’s like $.12 a chore… That’s no good, either, because she understands too much about money (I’ve taught her well, evidently). I thought $10 a week, but boy, that’s like $40 a month… She’s only 8! We also want to get her started on a budget, too, since she was interested in it yesterday and we sat down and worked out a “sample” budget of $20 a month for her. She really seems to be ready for something like that.Keep in mind, we have 3 other children (2 of whom earn chore money). We don’t want to go broke doing this, kwim?
So what do you guys do for this? How much do your kids get, and what are chores worth?
Well, we don’t tie allowance to chores… (actually, we aren’t giving allowance yet, but have wanted to for a while… money is tight here.)
My sister used to give her kids $1/week/age…. so an 8yo got $8/week. That was in the 90’s…. but that was a GOOD allowance then.
When I was a kid (About age 9), my allowance was $1/week total – and at that time it would buy me a small bottle of pop, a chocolate bar, and a small bag of chips. The only other allowance amount I remember was as a teenager, when I got $20 a month (in the 80’s). I was also given an extra $20 in December to help buy Christmas Gifts (I had 10+ people to buy for!)
I think the $1/week/age is pretty reasonable at this point.
hope that helps!
Inconsistency is deeply ingrained in my nature, so I still have a long way to go.
But, I’ve done alot of thinking on this. I’ve listened to Dave Ramsey alot, and really like his ideas. But I also want ds to learn that much of our work at home we do because we live here and are part of a family that works together to keep up our home. But, I want him to also learn about the relationship between work and money (on the job if ya don’t work, ya don’t get paid) and create teachable moments for money. So I’ve been working on a list of chores for the former (making bed, cleaning room, etc). These are things you just have to do. So far we have only come up with one job that he gets paid $1/week for – picking up after the dog in the back yard. Dave Ramsey suggests Five jobs for $5/week ($1/job). So we’re trying to come up with a few more that seem reasonable to be paid for. He also outlines putting some aside for giving, and some for saving. That’s where your budget comes in, I suppose. But that’s where we are at this point. I’d love some ideas for a few more jobs he could be paid for.HTH, and TIA!
Melissa
I read somewhere that some “expert” suggests one dollar per age of the child — so an eight year old would get $8 per week. Many “experts” also say that allowance should not be connected with chores, as chores should be simply an expectation as part of the family. I don’t get paid to wash clothes or make meals. The same “experts” say that as part of the family, children are entittled to a portion of the family’s disposable income.
My husband and I still haven’t figured this one out, either, so I’ll be looking at the answers. We don’t currently give our boys an allowance. I never had an allowance as a child. Other than birthday money, and money from my grandparents when we visited them twice a year, I never really had any money of my own until I started babysitting in my early teens. My husband also started working when he was about 12. IMO, If either of us had allowances, I don’t think we would have been as motivated to start working. Many teens go through highschool without ever having had a job, and yet they always have pocket money thanks to mom and dad. A job not only makes them responsible for earning their own cash in order to pay for the things they want, but also eats up some of the spare time where they might also be getting into trouble. I don’t think younger children really need pocket money the way a teen does. Most of the time my sons want to buy candy or pokemon cards, or some other junk they don’t need. It is harder to say no when they have their own money to waste on stupid things. I am hoping they don’t get as caught up in the wanting all the things that the other kids have when we start HSing in the fall.
Personally, should we decide to start offering an allowance, I’m more inclined to think that chores should be expected as family responsibility and not rewarded with money. However, I don’t agree with “Money for Nothing’. This society is over-flowing with people — especially young people and children–with an over inflatted sense of entittlement. I would consider attitude something of much higher value than whether or not the bed gets made, and I would have high expectations of what my children did with their money — ie, tithing, saving and spending money.
This is what we do. For several years we’ve been paying our three children .25/age. We pay by the month. So my 12yo receives $12/month. 10% goes to tithe; 20% goes to a “no touch” savings; 25% goes to short-term savings for big things they are saving for; and 45% is theirs to spend as they please. I did this so they would be used to putting away money in savings; tithing; and being able to buy something when they wanted to. My youngest (12yo) will spend his “spend” money right away (most times). My other two (14 & 15 yo) are very cautious with how they spend their money. I don’t tie the allowance to chores really but they have a list of chores they are expected to do every day. It’s not perfect but my main goal was for them to learn how to handle money. As you can see they don’t earn alot of money but they don’t need alot.
Blessings,
Susan
Like others have mentioned, we do not tie money to chores, but we expect chores/responsibilities to be done. When our DD turned 6 we started her on a weekly allowance. We got her Larry Burkett’s bank that looks like a town. It has 3 buildings for the bank, store, and church with stickers for the children to apply on each appropriate building. So, when we pay her each week we divide it up for her, and when she is ready to learn percentages we will let her divide it up herself.
On occasion when she wants to earn a little extra money we will let her do extra chores. Depending on the difficulty of the chore or how much time it takes determines how much we pay her. We will increase her weekly allowance as we see her take more responsibility as opposed to basing it solely on age.
We don’t do chores=money either. The problem we have is when you have a large family how to do this. So if a bigger items needs doing and after they do it we might just offer X amount of money for doing it. Or like my son broke the window cutting the lawn and we now have to have it reglassed so he’s moving dirt my dh wants done at $2 a load, 4 loads a day not sundays and when its paid off he’s good to go. But with a large family to be honest at the end of a month I don’t have say $50 to give to the kids. How sad is that?
We never paid for chores, the girls were just expected to do certain age appropriate things as a matter of course, because they were part of the family. When they were older we had a talk with them and told them that all their daily needs are met by us and we explained that there would be times we would be able to give them a little pocket money, but other times the need of the family would have to come first and we could not at any time guarantee money on a weekly basis. So they grew up doing chores naturally to be helpful, and they knew that occasionally they would get some pocket money and it was up to them what they did with it, if they wanted something big, they would need to save, they needed to do their charitable church fund and the rest whatever they wanted to do. Now that they are older, they are very reliable around the house and yard, they know their basic needs are still always met and they know that if they don’t do their chores then they don’t get the riding lesson, or other activities they enjoy. For various reasons they have not got outside jobs at this point, but they are very aware of the cost of things and the value of money. They are really good savers and seldom ask for anything. When we bought this house, we involved them in the process, they know about the mortgage, they know about the car and the costs involved and they know what the bills are per month. They know we seldom use a credit card, only if it is unavoidable and we always pay it off – they also know that we don’t have store cards and only the one credit card. We used Math U See Stewardship Course and really liked it and also a course by Dave Ramsey for teens. There are no guarantees that they will make good choices in life, but we hope we have given them a good starting point. I do not believe it is absolutely necessary to give an allowance, what is important is that the children are taught early that no-one is entitled to anything, that we live in a world of greed and that we could live with a lot less than most of us do. I have taken them to see areas where people are not as fortunate as us, and I make sure they are a part of choosing the charities we dontate to. I think as long as they have a good idea of the value of money and how hard you have to work to get it, then they will have a good start. Good luck. Misty do not feel bad that you don’t have $50 to give your kids a month – that is the culture talking, I never had pocket money growing up, but I always had what I needed and more importantly I was loved. Linda
Chores in our home are an extension of home life. Thus we only pay our girls for extra things like picking up sticks from the yard, raking leaves, etc. I pay by the half hour/hour $1 for the older girls and .50 for my 3 yr old. I pay when I see them working (not standing around or playing). If I see them going the extra mile, I’ll pay extra.
We say that being part of the family means part of the maintainance. =) However, I found that it was very difficult to always be saying I am not spending my money on that, or we can’t afford it. I also realized that they are getting older and need to have practice and a say in a few money things. I pay $2.50 week for my older two. They are expected to finish all responsibilities and assignments. I am trying to teach them about 10% tithing, so the $.50 makes that easy. I also tell them thank you for the extra babysitting or good attitiudes, etc that I noticed during the week. It is not tied to money per se, ‘cuz they do it anyway, but it is a better reward for them than candy. Plus they are learning to save money. If we are having really serious issues with attitude or something, sometimes I tell them that they can lose $.25 from their money this week…it does seem to help with that. =)
We give allowance, but it isn’t tied to regular chores. Those chores are performed simply because you live here. Allowance is how we train them to manage money. Extra chores or big jobs may receive pay, however. I should also add that if we were not financially able to use this as a training tool, it would be fine, but since we are, we use allowance as a tool.
$1 per year of age seemed too much for what we expect them to do with their money. We give $0.50 per year of age. DD10 gets $5 and ds7 gets $3.50. They pay for treats, games, toys, desserts, the rare movie out, etc. and if they were to want a nicer pair of jeans or something, they could pay that, too, from their money. We don’t buy “stuff” for them.
Their piggy banks have 4 compartments for –
10% = giving
10% = long term savings or investment
20% = short term savings
60% = spending
As they get older, we may increase their allowance and require they use more of it towards necessities – personal grooming items, etc.
Right now the two oldest are paying off a $150 damage to another car. This was not intentional damage, but the bill had to be paid nonetheless. We don’t want to shield them from the responsibilities even if they are the result of accidents.
Right now, I have assigned ” everyday” no pay chores like make bed, etc. Then there are the paid chores, usually a different one a day. I have been paying 25 cents for each completed chore on that list.
Missceegee, what kind of piggy bank has 4 compartments? Sounds great!
Missceegee, that is much like how we do allowance. IMO, allowance would be different than pay. It’s not an allowance if you are paying your child for chores. Anyway, just wanted to say that I agree that the allowance’s primary purpose is to teach money management.
This is the bank we purchased for our daughter: http://www.christianbook.com/my-giving-bank/9789834502706/pd/502702?kw=my%20giving%20bank&event=PPCSRC&p=1018818&cm_mmc=Google-_-Kids-_-general-_-my%20giving%20bank&gclid=COP2lJff3akCFdMn2godVg0GbA
Cannot do that…….. So then I thought, well, how about $5/week? How much is that per chore? That’s like $.12 a chore… That’s no good, either, because she understands too much about money (I’ve taught her well, evidently). I thought $10 a week, but boy, that’s like $40 a month… She’s only 8! We also want to get her started on a budget, too, since she was interested in it yesterday and we sat down and worked out a “sample” budget of $20 a month for her. She really seems to be ready for something like that.
But, I’ve done alot of thinking on this. I’ve listened to Dave Ramsey alot, and really like his ideas. But I also want ds to learn that much of our work at home we do because we live here and are part of a family that works together to keep up our home. But, I want him to also learn about the relationship between work and money (on the job if ya don’t work, ya don’t get paid) and create teachable moments for money. So I’ve been working on a list of chores for the former (making bed, cleaning room, etc). These are things you just have to do. So far we have only come up with one job that he gets paid $1/week for – picking up after the dog in the back yard. Dave Ramsey suggests Five jobs for $5/week ($1/job). So we’re trying to come up with a few more that seem reasonable to be paid for. He also outlines putting some aside for giving, and some for saving. That’s where your budget comes in, I suppose. But that’s where we are at this point. I’d love some ideas for a few more jobs he could be paid for.
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