Pitching in! How We Do Allowances and Chores in Our Family

Do you sometimes feel like your children think you have a never ending supply of money on the money tree out back?

Well I have to admit that I have been guilty for spoiling my kids and in the last eight years of being a parent. I am always learning and constantly tweaking my parenting skills. When I began my journey as a parent at the age of twenty one, I started off making some major mistakes parenting wise. I think at that point in my life I had not yet learned some tough money lessons myself.

I am a gift giver by nature. I love to receive gifts and I love to give gifts. I recently took the Five Love Languages quiz online (click here to take the quiz) and, no surprise here, my top love language is receiving gifts! This does not mean that I'm superficial, it just means that I love the thought and attention that goes into giving a gift. With that said, I have been known to over indulge my children. I started to notice that they would ask me to buy them stuff at the store every time we went out. Not only did they ask for everything in sight, but if I bought into their impulse items they would play with it for about five seconds before being bored.

I implemented an allowance because I felt that my children needed to understand first how to earn money and second how to budget and plan for expenses. I think that it's really important for children to actually handle money. In this day in age everything is electronic and it would actually be easier for me to transfer money into their bank accounts online, but I prefer to hand them their hard earned allowance in cash.




This is how chores and allowances work in our home:

-each child is assigned chores for the month. I start my kids off with chores and allowance once they start school. The younger kids usually have one small job like organizing the shoes on the rack or putting the clean cutlery away. As the kids get older they take on more responsibility.

-children under nine years old make $5 a week and children nine years old and up make their age in dollars each week. If you are ten years old you make $10 a week/$40 a month. I'm not sure how we decided nine years old was the magic age. I think we decided back in the day when one of our children wanted to make more money and take on more chores, so we have just stuck with nine years old to make your age in dollars.

-each year that the older kids get a raise in allowance, they take on more chores.

-my children are also expected to keep their bedrooms clean and clear their plates from the table. This does not fall under their chores, as I feel like everyone needs to pick up after themselves. There are still responsibilities in being part of the family and you shouldn't get paid to clean up after yourself.

I know this may seem like a lot of money to some of you, but besides clothes, activities and necessities my children buy everything else on their own. My kids usually keep some cash in their wallets or piggy banks, and the rest goes into their bank account. If the school is selling items as a fundraiser (I still buy hot lunches and food items) like pencils or book fair items my kids buy them.

I don't usually have my children bring their money to town, unless we have discussed beforehand a purchase they would like to make. I find the money burns a hole in their pocket and they would buy anything in sight. I want my children's purchases to be conscious and thought out.

If we go on a family vacation my children are expected to buy their own souviners. It brings a smile to my face when my children say "mom this is what I'm saving for", instead of "mom can you buy me this".

I pay out the allowances once a month. My pay day is the kid's pay day. I withdraw their money, put it in an envelope and pay them out for the last month.

I'm not a financial advisor, nor am I an expert on parenting. I have found that in my family this method has cut back on my children asking me for "stuff". I have also found that when they are spending their own money lots of the "stuff" really isn't all that important to them.

Hope this helps and feel free to leave me a comment!