Lessons Learned

I have spoken numerous times about how I do not like the idea of paying children for chores. When they get an allowance it will be because they are contributing to a part of this family. Well the time has come. This month, they are getting an allowance (and they will get an allowance for each month following). They will get $1 for each year old they are. And they will follow the Dave Ramsey style of having a save, spend, and give envelope. They will give 10%, save half, and can put the spend in the rest.

Now you might disagree with me on the saving half. But here is our thinking....

If we can get our children in the habit of SAVING now, while they are young, that is a GOOD THING. They will still have their spend money. AND by saving so much, they will see that they can actually get by on spending LESS than they think they need to. I think we get into a bad habit of consumerism as well as thinking everything costs so much money. By saving more and spending less, they will learn to seek other, less expensive ways (not cheap, we want quality here) to get things they want OR come to the realization that it was more of a want than a need and they can wait. Yeah.. waiting... it teaches them PATIENCE. It teaches them that it is ok to WAIT for something.

Giving can be to the church, to the missions (the Sunday School classes take up money for missions), or to whatever organization they wish (for now) - like Compassion, Gospel For Asia, etc.

As for the saving, that money will be taken and put into a savings account that is DO NOT TOUCH. It is like their emergency fund. Once they get older, we will be teaching them how to invest.

As for their spending, Brian and I have let our kids know how that money can be spent:
*Mommy and Daddy will no longer be buying toys and trinkets for them (Christmas and birthdays excluded). If they want to, they may buy it with their own money. If it is something that can benefit the entire family (like a great deal on a microscope or something like that), then Mommy and Daddy may consider buying it for the family.
*Mommy and Daddy will no longer buy underwear, socks or clothes for you if you lose them, stain them, or tear them. If you have outgrown the item, Mommy and Daddy will buy you replacements.
*Mommy and Daddy are not your maids. At 4:30 a bell will ring. At that time if you have not done your chores, I will put them up for auction. Chore will be assigned to the lowest bidder and YOU will pay them. (We listed out EVERYTHING it takes to run a home and keep it clean, then Mommy and Daddy said what we could do, the rest was up to the kids to help so that they are contributing to the caretaking of the home. Each child chose what they would do to help. It has been GREAT because I learned that there were some jobs that they did not like doing, while another sibling did, so they traded what had previously been assigned to them - now EVERY ONE is happy.). If at the end of the day, the job has not been done, you will pay Mommy or Daddy to do the job (and you do not get a say in what you pay us)
*After all THAT, spending money may be spent or saved up to buy something bigger (like the hermit crab AA wants).

AA and EE will keep ledgers (like a checkbook) of where their money is being spent. This is a GREAT way to teach graphing skills (not to mention other math skills and finance). :D