how can they earn money?

The girls have at school banking and are able to bring money in to deposit it. It's run through our town's credit union.

I need to think of ways for them to earn money because I don't want to just hand them money each week to deposit. I feel there are certain things they should do without getting paid for...picking up their clothes, toys, and room, making their beds.

What sort of things do you have your littles do to earn an allowance/some cash. I want to try and be able to give them each $2/week to put in the bank. I need some suggestions!!

 

Ah ha, I have the start of something...I got 2 mason jars and will have them decorate them. I'm going to have them put quarters in the jars as we go through the week (still need ideas ) and told them a quarter comes out if I find them not telling the truth about something. :good: One thing I thought of so far was 1 quarter for 3 good deeds (one DD just brought her sister's bowl to the kitchen...I counted that as one...she did it without being asked).

 

Aaron earns money for chores above and beyond normal household things. For example, he washed the dogs for $5, he vacuums and cleans the cars for $5 each, and so forth. For free, he is to clean up after himself (toys, dishes, clothes).

 

What about things to make your life easier? Making your bed, emptying the dishwasher, switching over the laundry, etc. the trick I would use is that you give them the examples and tell them to use their imagination. The only rule is like any working relationship they have to ask you first of you want it done, so that they arent bringing you a drink and expecting a tip.

Something else I thought of is for them to ask friends, family or neighbors & explain the project. They could entertain a neighbor's baby so mom could read or make dinner; or rake an older person's leaves (that might be a multi-day project).

 

We do two things:

One is a set things you do as a part of the family (jobs) that you do NOT get paid for: cleaning up after yourself, putting away laundry, helping set table,etc

The other are 'extras' that they can earn $ for: dusting, putting away laundry, organizing something (pantry, socks, etc), cleaning bathroom (not with cleaner, but wiping it down with rag/water), vacuuming, etc

 

This is what we do as well. Some things that are done around here for extra money are:

emptying the bathroom trash cans on garbage night
feeding the cats/dog
changing over laundry
wiping down the sinks/counters in the bathrooms
sweeping
weeding the garden (I hate to do it!)
unloading the dishwasher

 

I used to keep a list on the fridge of chores and the amount you got for it. $.25 for emptying dishwasher, $.50 cleaning playroom, $.50 vacuuming...... Whoever did the chore, would have me check the work, and then they put their initials in the box to say it was already done. The only problem with that was the kids would fight over the big ticket items.

 

Cleaning the fronts of all the cabinets.
Cleaning all the baseboards.
Using the vacuum edger around the rooms.
Using the vacuum edges on the stairs.
Cleaning any leather furniture.
Taking the couches apart and vacuuming under the cushions.


Marissa

 

Most of the extra money in our house is earned on Yard work. Weeding the playstructure area is a big money earner, and it is easy for them to pull the weeds out of the mulch. Shovelling snow will get added in the winter (I may jinx myself, but we are at Nov 15th and have had no signs of snow yet, which is really rare up here)

Dusting is another area, since I hate doing it. I especially like to have them dust around each of the banisters on the upstairs railing.

Anything that is not expected, should be a place they can earn money (we don't pay for making bed, room tidy, playroom tiding, etc, as those are expected)

Once they are older, you could add things like ironing. When I was 12 or 13 , I started getting paid to iron my parents' clothes. 25 cents for my dad's work shirts and 50 cents for cotton items. I would watch TV and do the ironing at the same time (Note that this was 25-30 years ago, so that was fairly decent pay.

 

Excellent ideas! Thank you all!! :woo: