Allowance - Deep Gap,NC

I don't do an "allowance," but starting young, they earn money by doing chores. As a SAHM managing a small income, the pay-scale is on the low side, but I hope to teach my kids that "work = money" and "not working = no money", because that's how it is in real life.

Just today, my younger son got to buy some $5 sunglasses because he still had money left over from Christmas; my younger son had spent all his and didn't have enough saved. So, he is begging me for chores today, so that he can earn money to buy these sunglasses. :-)

we don't do an "allowance", we make our kids work and then we give them money when they need it. But we don't let them go too crazy with needing money either. We make them save as well.

I'd like to share with you what my husband tells our kids when they ask for an allowance. Feel free to use it!

"You want an allowance? Well, I allow you to live in my house. I allow you to eat my food. I allow you to wear my clothes (because I'm the one that pays for them). I allow you to watch my TV while sitting on my couch. I allow you to shower with the water I pay for. What more do you think you need?"

Children are a part of a family unit. We believe it's important that everyone do their part to maintain the house we all live in, and giving them money to do what they SHOULD already be doing seems like working backward. Do any of us stay at home moms get paid weekly for all the things we do? So, why should our children? Allowance teaches children to help only if there's money involved. So when they get older and get their own jobs, are you still going to be forking over money to bribe them to help around the house? When does it end? What they need to be taught is that each person must do their part to contribute to the good of the family which eventually evolves into them growing up to be contributing citizens of their respective community.

Good luck raising responsible kids!

Funny Story:

We started giving our daughter $5.00 a week as allowance for small chores she was doing. Setting the table, keeping up on the cat box, etc. She was 10. I took her to the bank once and saw that she had been having her grandmother stop at the bank each week and depositing her $5 into her Minor Account.

Seems the little trinkets she could get out of the treasure box at the bank for making a deposit were more important to her than the money.

She is now 15, and because we have so many expenses related to school activities and figure skating, she does not get an allowance from us. We expect her to help out at the house because we do so much for her, activities, clothes, driving her to friends house constantly, etc.

BTW - When we asked her why she was depositing her money every week, she answered "Because everywhere we go, you guys pay for me, so why do I need the money?"

Maybe you can start a bank account for yours, and instead of giving them an allowance, you could make a weekly deposit, and once in a while let them take out some money they have "saved" for a new toy or something.

We don't really do allowance, per se, but the kids may keep any money they find while they are cleaning the house (they are 5 and 8 years old). I find that this really engages their attention on tasks such as sorting the laundry (Daddy tends to leave change in his pockets ;), dusting (he also tends to throw handfuls of change out of his pockets onto random surfaces throughout the house), and cleaning bathroom countertops (what can I say, my husband's supply of pocket change is seemingly endless). The kids probably make a few dollars apiece this way every week. For the most part they keep it in their piggy banks and it never gets used for much. Once they realized how expensive things are, they have decided they don't really need as many things. So that's one good thing about them foraging for their daddy's spare change around the house! LOL

I am not very good at remembering and luckily our kids forget too. probably b/c we are not strict with their chores. "The Plan" though was a few choress and our son who is 7 would get $2 every Friday and our daughter who is 5 would get $1 every Friday. I have heard from Dave Ramsey that you can start as early as 4 but not to call it allowance but yet to call it 'commission' so they learn that "you work, you get paid, you don't work, you don't get paid". You can go to Daveramsey.com and get info for kids. Very interesting. I would suggest making a chart if you can stick to it, unlike me, and check off what they have done and each thing can have a certain amount next to it or you can do all or nothing. $.25 for this, $.75 for that, etc I would not pay too much, they don't need money too young. As they get older and want more money for movies, skating, etc you can add more and add more chores too. I also heard Dave Ramsey say that you can start a program as they get a bit older where every dollar they save, you will give a dollar towards a car. Or, save for a car and whatever they come up with, you will match if you are able.

my daughter is 8. for the past year she gets $3 per week for cleaning her bedroom (vacuming, dusting, picking up, etc) and $3 per week for cleaning her bathroom (cleaning the toilet, sink, mirrors, sweeping) ... Of course she helps out with other things that she does not get paid for. But those are her 2 chores where she has the opportunity to make some money. Last week she cleaned my bathroom too and I gave her an extra 3 bucks. If she wants to clean the toilets I'll pay her! LOL

any age is good. please don't do like so many parents do and give big bucks. children need to know that the have to work and save to buy the things they want. it drives me nuts when people give like 20 bucks to a say 10 year old for taking out the trash. they will have a rude awakening when they start a real job. R.

We started allowance when our dd entered kindergarten.
We found that when she had a choice of me buying something or her using her own money for it the wants were alot less. She's 14 now and uses her allowance to buy her clothes, shoes, makeup and other things she needs. She also has saved and purchased two dogs and she is responsible for buying their food and paying their vet bills. She is also allowed to earn money and she has become a pretty good money manager over the years.

We give her $20 a week, plus money for lunch and snack at school.

we started allowances in Kindergarten. $5 a week - they have chores to do - so the money is not just given to them...

My oldest is responsible for getting all the trash cans emptied and to the garage.

My youngest is responsible for setting the table every night.

They both have to bring their laundry down stairs and separate it. Now that we are planting grass again, they are responsible for watering the grass in the AM and PM. they take turns.

They get money taken away from them for failure to do a chore. If their rooms are not cleaned up - again, money taken away!!!

we dont do allowance-our boys have chores they do every day and some extras on the weekend. The oldest gets paid by grandpa to keep up his grades and help him with his yard/house chores if he needs extra money. We give them money when they need it.

T.,
My kids started getting allowance when they were old enough to do things to earn it, chores , per say. Setting the table ,taking out trash ,etc .It was never a lot, but, I wanted them to learn the value of a dollar and the idea of saving for something they really wanted. As they got older , the chores were a little more work and they received a little more accordingly. I didn't include their rooms as part of the deal though, those things were part of them taking responsibility for their own things and appreciating them.
Today, I am raising to grandchildren ages 14, and 12 and we do the same thing, they all also rotate their chores so they don't get stuck doing the same things a million times and yard work earns them extra ! It has worked out wonderfully ! Good Luck, C.