Chores & Allowances

My kids will be 6 in a few months and with the new year starting, I want to start some sort of chore and/or allowance system. I am torn on what to do. I believe there are certain chores they should do because they are part of the family and shouldn't get paid for. Basic things like picking up toys, setting the table are just expected and shouldn't be paid.

What constitues a chore at your house and do you give allowances? I like the idea of an allowance because we can start working with them on the concept of money and saving money. If you give an allowance, how much?

Thanks for the feedback.

 

My dh tackled this...and I think it's quite convoluted...but who am I?!? Lol!

On their list:
Feed dog
Make beds
Set table(3 times/day)
Clear table(3 times/day)
Get ready for bed
Had a great day

Everything is .10 except setting/clearing the table is .25.

Told you-it's all convoluted! Lol!

 

Hey Kathy: our are about the same age. I don't give an allowance yet, although in a way I do. We have certain things they do just because: help me clean up, clear the table, etc. then, they each have a list of things they do daily : wipe down the bathroom sink, empty waste baskets, open shades, turn off nightlight (stuff they picked, that I would have to do) that if they do them without reminders they get a star. After seven stars (a week, supposedly), they get to order a book on the next book order. If they have more than one week, they get that many books ; they can save them up or not, too.

That's my system. Works for us.

 

Hi:

Mine are almost 7 and we give an allowance, but it is not tied to regular chores. (Chores are something that everyone in our family has to do as a part of the family.) My kids can earn extra allowance for extra chores that are beyond the regular ones.

Allowances get used for their own toys (we basically only buy them toys for Christmas and birthdays), to put toward going to a special event (movie, popcorn, ice cream) and for game cartridges and such/

Also, if they break something in the house being rough or silly (or if they use up all the bandaids or all the tape being silly), we make them "pay" some of their allowance as reparations. This is not for true accidents -- mostly for rough-housing.

I can't find it now, but there is a good online resource about age appropriate chores. We don't do any sort of chore chart with the twins (too much work for Mom). Instead, since the twins are our only kids we assigned one to "odd" days and one to "even" days. Much easier for me to track!

Good luck!

Meg

 

Right now, the only way my kids earn money is by shoveling snow or mowing the lawn. They really don't ask for money or things often, to where we felt they needed a regular allowance. They do things around the house like put away laundry, help with the table, sweep the floor, etc, because they are things that are part of being a family. They are 10.5.

 

Mine do chores but I don't give them an allowance. Personally I think they just need to do stuff around the house because they have the pleasure of living here, they don't need to be paid for it. They put away their laundry, keep their room and bathroom clean, clean up their dishes after meals, help clean up the baby's toys, help clean up & feed the cats and fish and they vacuum/sweep when I ask them to. When they ask me for an allowance I remind them of all the things I do around the house and no one pays me! :lol:

 

We give an allowance to teach working, earning, spending, giving and saving. We want them to understand that money comes from work. If you don't do the work, you don't earn the money. They lose money when they have not done their chores properly. We don't deduct for bad behavior, but we also haven't faced a situation where we'd need to "fire" them for completely messing up. We also haven't faced a situation where they really refuse to do the work. When that time comes, we'll address the fact that the chores are not optional but required as part of our family. They sometimes complain about how many things they have to do. When they do that, I list all the things I planned to do that day (wash their clothes, shop for food, cook, drive them to friend's house) that maybe I won't do because I'm tired of how much I have to work. So far, the reverse psychology works.
They must tithe and save long-term in the bank, ie college/first car. The tithe plus savings is 30% of their allowance. They can save the rest towards buying toys and going to the movies, etc. We rarely buy them toys or books outside of birthday and Xmas. They purchase most of their playthings.

Our chore list is pretty extensive.
- Homework is their number one job
- Lunch box in the kitchen after school
- Feed cats
- Clean bathroom weekly
- Put away clean clothes
- Clear table
- Pick up toys/clean family room and living room (kind of their play room)
- dirty clothes in the hamper

So far the system is working quite well. They like to understand how much things cost, like our house, car, college tuition. They think carefully before purchasing toys as they've both blown through money on dumb purchases. It's funny to see how quickly they will decided they don't want that new Wii game when they have to buy it themselves. So far, the biggest result has been impulse control, which I hope will have benefits beyond just how well they budget and spend money in the future.

 

I like your approach, how old are they? I feel like 8 or 9?

 

My girls (age 5.5) get $1 per week, each. I like teaching them about saving and spending at this age. We have piggy banks with four slots - save, spend, donate, invest. A part of each allowance goes into each slot and when I take a bag of clothes or toys for donation, they decide how much they have to donate too. They've picked some stocks and we track those loosely to see how their investments are doing. I didn't actually invest the money, so it's all for fun (you can really buy Disney stock with 44 cents), but it's a good lesson.

I'm less successful on the chores. Ideally, they'd carry their backpacks from the front door into the kitchen, wash their hands when they come inside, set the dinner table, clear their own plates, put dirty clothes into the hamper, and keep their toys picked up. Some days they do all of that and others they don't, and I haven't gotten strict about insisting. Sometimes it's easier just to pick up the toys after they've gone to bed...