Allowance

[Mama Dragon]

Which works for your family: Working for money/allowance or having a set amount that can be taken from for serious problems, possibly allowing additional to be earned for extra stuff? How do you do your 9-11 year old's allowance?

[~member~]

Never gave allowance. My kids know how to make money. For example, my 10 yr old dd is using her loom and doing beadwork, which she is able to sell for $15-$20 a piece. She wants an iPod Video thing (?), so, she knows how much money she needs and has figured out how to buy the extra beads and such with the money she made during the summer sweeping sidewalks and raking leaves and such.

[smillerhouse]

I think having an allowance and being clear about what gets spent out of it works the best for us. I have done the one dollar per age. My daughter is now 13 ,nearly 14. She has grown in her money awareness. For clothing, I do \acertain Actually, she get more now but pays for all of stuff like snacks,movies,I-Tunes. I just don't like a lot of power sturggles and nagging around chores. I want her to clear her floor . I get weekly help with the major housecleaning. She is expected to give some to less fortunate and also save some. I think differrnt things work for different families. This is what has worked for us. Sallie

[sunshinesister]

Originally Posted by Synthea™

Which works for your family: having a set amount that can be taken from for serious problems,

dd is just 1 now, so take this with a grain of salt...but here's what i think...
i do not believe that once one has earned money (or tokens on a reward system or whatever), it should be taken away. i can understand not receiving additional money/tokens if something has happened, but to take away what has already been earned doesn't feel good to me. once earned, it's earned.

As a child, i was expected to help with "chores" and i did. my allowance did not feel conditional on doing these chores, but i never found them to be a bother, so i'm not sure what would have happended if i refused. doing things to help out around the house was simply an expectation. we all participated as a family to do what needed to be done for the family. i did have allowance withheld once while paying my parents back for "pizzagate", but that's a long story. also, sometimes i'd be able to do things to help out and make some addtional money (ie picking up nails from the ground when house was reshingled - $.01/nail). if i felt as i got older that i needed more money for more activities/stuff, i was expected to create a budget and present it to my parents. then they would see that i had thought about why i needed more money (ie i wanted to start going to one movie a month with my friends, ice skating more frequently, additional busfare). this helped me learn about money management and i wouldn't have to be always asking for money.

[operamommy]

My ds1 (11) gets $4.00 per week, and my dd (8) gets $2.50. We felt this was fair as ds1 does more chores around the house than dd. Receiving the allowance isn't tied to doing chores, but when ds1 negotiated for a raise in his allowance he offered to take on extra chores. We don't take allowance money away - it's their's to spend/save as they see fit. They use to go crazy and spend every bit of it every week, but as they've gotten older they've finally learned the value of saving up for big things.

[kimiij]

I would never tie chores to allowance. Helping out around the house is not optional...its what everyone in the family does because they live in the house.

If younger kids want money, they have to save what they get from birthdays and Christmases, or what I might give them once in a while. If older kids want money, they work. Again, I will give them money once in a while and as needed, but for the most part, I would expect them to pay for the things they want.

[Ninjinmama]

We don't really do allowance at our house. Both my boys have things they are expected to do around the house to help the family. We sat down and talked with them, gave them each options of what they could do, and they picked which one they'd be responsible for. If they want something specific they save and can use the money they recieve as gifts from holidays and birthdays. If it's something really big(expensive)they are saving for then we will pay them to do extra things sometimes.

[kraftykathy]

my older kids are 10 and 12. we just started doing allowance because, honestly, we just couldn't afford to do it before. they get $5 a week, not much, but they also get opportunities to work for extra money. we live on a farm so there are lots of chances to work.

my parents did the same for me, i got a very small allowance and lots of chances to work for more.

[Storm Bride]

DS1 gets $10/week (was $6/week until two days ago). We still buy his clothes and food and anything school-related. We pay for his guitar lessons and will pay for Tae Kwon Do if/when he goes back. He pays for movies with friends, toys, a certain amount of junk food and any big ticket items he wants. Right now, he's saving for a Wii...so he's not spending a lot!

DS1 also has chores, which he's expected to do. That's part of making the family work, and has nothing to do with his allowance.

[MillingNome]

We don't do allowance either. We're all part of this family in this house. The dc are given a chance to pick a toy/game/treat or take $15 a month to save. No one pays me to take of my house so for me it didn't make sense to pay them to do chores that have to be done...


(dh says they don't do enough though...)

[Mama2-4]

We do the $1 per age so our DD has a possiblity of earning $10 per week. She has her regular chores that are expected of her as a member of our household, but if she wants allowance she has extra chores that she may do to earn the money. She has a checklist of daily "extra" jobs. She gets paid by how many she does, so she often does not get the full 10. My DH is the mastermind behind this system. She also has to pay "taxes" on her money which is then put into her savings acct. It is complicated, but it works like the real world which I think is a good lesson for her to begin learning!

[Mama Dragon]

I like the $1 per year (not sure if it'll work though as that's about $80 a month for both the older kids and that is more then *I* make many months because business isn't happening ). I talked to DH about it and then DD and she likes the idea of $10 a week, I brought up she could save it and in a year and a half, she'd have a laptop.

I think we'll do the $10 a week. DH and I are working on a list of things that will take away money (not interested in hearing any disparaging remarks about that please). Additional chores, things beyond her daily chores that she currently earns more computer time for, will now also add to her allowance. I think I want to add some school work in there. We're mostly unschoolers, but I want her to be doing some Math.

Going to find an unused bank register and instead of givng her cash (which she loses), we'll keep a running tally. Once it hits about $100, we'll open her own savings account (for another incentive, she'll like having her own account).

And if anyone is wondering, DS1 will get an allowance as well, but as he's special needs/developmentally disabled, it'll work different.

[philomom]

My kids get allowance just to learn to spend and save. We all do chores here, even the breadwinning dh.

[mommy68]

I don't give my children an allowance. We tried it for a short while but it didn't work out. They learn to do chores and help around the house and pitch in because they are a part of our family. They have to do it when they get older and move out on their own one day and no one will reward them for it then. It's a part of life.

My children make money doing other things that are outside the realm of regular household chores and get monetary gifts on birthdays and at Christmas and they know how to handle their money and save it up. They are very responsible.

I'm curious as to those of you who pay your children each week. Do you also buy them toys/special things throughout the month outside of that allowance? Isn't that a bit over the top if you do?

[Irishmommy]

12yo gets $5 every week and (supposedly) $5 into the bank for savings (I actually do that bit every few months). She does not have to do anything to earn it, and I don't think I've taken it away for misbehaviour.

[SandraS]

My 13 year old earns money for mowing and emptying the dishwasher; my 9 year old earns money for helping clean and watching his little sister. My oldest keeps his money to do with what he will (he's rather social, so he's never around - always going to movies, out to eat, dollar stores, etc.). We keep our 9 year old's money so he doesn't lose it - and he can also spend it on what he wants.

We don't have too many "chores", I want them to be kids.