Our Allowance System

To give or not to give: allowances are one of those perplexing parenting decisions. The simple system I'll describe below is what works for our family. Various parenting and financial programs do not necessarily endorse this type of system of payment; indeed, many do not recommend giving allowances at all. In our marriage, Randy came from an allowance-giving family. He liked it. I came from a non-allowance-family. I did not like that. It wasn't about the money for me; it was about having to ask for money and having to justify every purchase. Also, the Brady Bunch kids all got allowances. Sensibly, we decided early on that we'd give our children an allowance. That is the extent of our philosophy.

We start giving an allowance of a quarter at age 5. With this allowance comes the responsibility of making one's bed each morning. At this age, we are guiding the child with bed-making, and by 5 and a half, the child can make a decent bed. We raise the allowance at the half-year mark by a quarter. On every birthday, we raise the allowance again. I'm not really sure that we have a scientific pattern for this, but right now at age 7, Duncan gets $1/week, and at age 15, Jesse gets $5/week. Laurel is right in the middle with $2.75/week.

As they get older, the have more and more household responsibilities which are directly tied to their allowances. The older kids must have their rooms cleaned on a certain day of the week. (This day changes depending on what our schedule is like that particular year.) If they don't clean their room one week, they don't get their allowance. If they don't clean their room the second week, they must pay ME the amount of their allowance to clean the room for them. I believe this has only happened once per child. Other responsibilities include, upon request: setting the table, taking out the trash, feeding the dog, helping me clean house, clearing the dinner table, basic home maintenance, etc.

Our kids are motivated by receiving their allowances because they often have "big ticket" items for which they must save. For Duncan, a big ticket item might cost $5; but Laurel has saved enough to buy an American Girl doll, and Jesse has purchased clothes, an iPod, guitar amp, etc. Big ticket items usually include adding some of their birthday money from grandparents into the pot, but the kids are required to put a portion of their birthday money into their savings accounts.

We also have jobs for which we pay extra money. When Duncan was a preschooler, I would pay a sibling a quarter to play with him for 15 minutes so that I could do one-on-one schooling with the other child. Other jobs include: deep cleaning of a specific room, pulling weeds, mowing the lawn, painting, sweeping off the driveway, cleaning the car, etc. Prices vary on these jobs, from $5 for mowing the lawn to 50 cents for pulling a bucket of weeds.

I've heard some people say that their kids aren't motivated by money. If this is true, you may have kids that are totally not materialistic, or you may be buying them too much stuff yourself. Why should they be motivated to save money if they know that we will buy them whatever they want? My youngest always wanted to buy ridiculous things out of the gumball machines at grocery stores. I would occasionally give him a quarter to do so until I realized he was expecting that quarter. The past couple of years, I just remind him before we go to a store: "If you want to buy a gumball (or a tacky gold necklace), make sure you bring your own quarter." Amazing how this has cut down on the number of cheap plastic objects around our house.

Like I said, this is the system that works for our family. We're hoping that we raise children we will know how to manage money because they've had their own to manage since early childhood, and we also hope that they will value the responsibilities that come with being part of a family. Ask me again in 15 years how this all turns out...

Comments from former blog; scroll down to add a new one.

Sunday, April 27, 2008 - too funny

Posted by onfire (206.132.61.176)
must be something about youngest boys. while we were at your place, E wanted to buy a tacky necklace in the stuffmart gumball dispenser. He had his own stash of loose change, so he bought the desired thing ... only to realize that the chain it goes on was another $5 from the second machine. nice lesson learned.
I personally believe the tn flipflops were a better purchase. Too bad they ripped while he was being a gentleman and holding the door for someone.
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Monday, April 28, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by sadie423 (69.247.28.184)
We need a well devised system....we randomly do allowance now, and I reward for a job well done, like when Rylan vacuums the entire house....I have one saver and one spender....Cale would spend all his money on trinkets and such if I let him....Rylan is much more conservative....but that travels over to almost everything they do....not just money
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Monday, April 28, 2008 - Good Plan!

Posted by lcourtneymom (208.104.165.129)
We also do allowance with a very similar system to what you described. Our dc have to divide allowance between spending, saving and giving, and they each have a savings account at the bank.

I think an allowance is very necessary in teaching money management.
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Sunday, May 4, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by JHS (67.181.62.180)
Thanks for participating in this week's Carnival of Family Life hosted by Riley at All Rileyed Up! Be sure to drop by and check out the other wonderful submissions included in this week's Carnival!

JHS
Colloquium
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Sunday, May 4, 2008 - allowances

Posted by Riley (70.181.102.150)
Great tips! I've been thinkin of implementing an allowance with my son when he turns six because he's starting doing small tasks around the house with success. I had an allowance when I was growing up and it was a great way to teach me to save up to buy the things I wanted. Thanks for contributing to the carnival of family life!
Riley
http://allrileyedup.wordpress.com/
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Ways for Kids To Earn Money Around the House

If your kids are like mine, they love to have a little cash on hand. While we do have give our children a weekly allowance (see Our Allowance System), they are often looking for ways to earn more money. My youngest enjoys a few extra dollars to buy Lego sets or, more often, candy. My daughter has her eyes on saving for big-ticket items, like a nice camera.

My problem has always been that, while I know there are lots of extra jobs that need done around the house, I can never think of them when the kids seem to want them. I finally took the time to come up with a system that I wish I had thought of years ago: our Money Makers file. 

{Check out details about Ways for Kids to Earn Money Around the House on The Homeschool Classroom!}

Homeschool Memoirs #17: Chores

This week's Homeschool Memoir asks for how we do chores at our house: "how you order your day with school and getting housework done. How do you decide which chores should be done by which child, of which age?"

We've tried various approaches through the years. While we don't do this consciously, I would say that we use the phrase "family responsibilities" rather than "chores." My kids have had the kind of thorough immersion in historical fiction that when hear the word "chores," they think of milking cows and sweeping the hearth. They also know that "chores" is supposed to bring about a batch of grumbling. It's all a matter of semantics, really; however, our goal is to foster the idea that we all have to work together to make our home run smoothly. Thus, the term family responsibility.

Our kids have certain responsibilities—cleaning their rooms, making their beds, setting the table, etc.— that are directly tied to their allowances. Here is a post about our allowance system that really explains the whole process. For other jobs, I just ask, and they do it. Perhaps I should rephrase that. I don't "ask" them: "Hey, would you kids like to pick up the living room?" Rather, I tell them: "It is time to pick up the living room." Sometimes I'll make jobs fun by playing a game of I Spy ("I spy something brown and bumpy that belongs to Duncan") or picking up color-by-color or by having each pick up a certain number of things ("Everyone pick up 22 things, even if they're not yours.").

Something that I used to do frequently when the kids were younger was called "15/15." For this, I would set the timer for 15 minutes, and we would all clean. When the timer when off, we'd stop and play. They absolutely loved this system, and I have no idea why I don't employ it more regularly. Perhaps today I'll start it again!

Our house goes through various phases of cleanliness and clutter. If we have a particularly busy week, we'll have piles of stuff everywhere. I would be fairly horrified for anyone to walk in my house right now. But then we'll have weeks like this one, when activities are at a minimum and we can attack the chaos. I do daily maintenance, of course. I was a Flylady follower years ago, and she taught me the basics of managing one's home: shine your sink, get dressed, put on shoes, declutter for a few minutes at a time, etc. I am still fairly consistent with all of those things.

Basically, we've trained our kids from toddlerhood that they are a part of this family, and that in order for our home to run smoothly, they must help. They know that they can't watch TV or get on the computer, etc., unless they have done what I've asked them to. As they get older, their responsibilities and expectations increase. I have been really happy in the past year to see that our 15-year-old regularly cleans his room, including vacuuming, without ever being asked. I can't remember the last time that I reminded him to get his room clean. I think it all comes down to years of training, consistency, and, well, a kid who likes a clean room.

* Guess what? I'm hosting the next Carnival of Homeschooling here at SmallWorld! I've been an avid reader of the Carnival for a couple of years, and I'm excited to have a chance to host finally. Any blog post you write that has to do with homeschooling can be submitted by using the form here. If you've never submitted, just look back over your past posts and find one you especially liked, and send it in!

Tricks of the Trade: From Organization to Mystery Folders

Combating the January Blahs
Educational Freebie Sites
Favorite Family Games
Kindergarten: What To Do
Mystery Folders: Encouraging Independent Work
Our Allowance System
Organization, My Way
What to Do with the Little Ones While You're Homeschooling