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We have a weekly allowance that doesn't change. It's to be used for personal things beyond what is provided by the household (music, comic books, movies, etc), and is a budgeting and financial responsibility teaching tool. Since it's a fixed amount, draw it from the bank at regular intervals in an even denomination (ex. fifty-two $10 bills for a year of weekly allowance). There are no advances on allowance, if you can't afford something that you want you have to save for it or work for it...
Which leads two the second cash drawer...
Negotiate "wages" for chores above and beyond normal household chores (ex. $5 an hour for babysitting, $50 for cleaning & organizing the garage). Enter those in a ledger/notebook, and pay out regularly on a set schedule, usually the same day as allowance is given unless you make other arrangments (they need $20 today to buy something on sale).
If they were paid in advance for a special job that wasn't completed, then that automatically gets withheld from their allowance and.or wages. The same as the federal gov't will garnish your wages to pay back a student loan... kids need to be taught financial responsibility early so it isn't a surprise when they're out on their own.
If you chose to give them random cash from your pocket whenever you feel like it, then that is considered a gift because it's neither allowance or wages.
There are several apps, templates and spreadsheets available online... just search for "keeping track of allowance" and you should find a method that matches your organizational style as well as your personal preferences and how your family handles allowance and chores.
We don't want our son to give up his school activities to work. He works in the summer and we allow him to keep his money. $100 per month would not cover the car insurance.
No $100 would not cover it. It would give the child a sense of having to pay for his expenses though.
What does an 11 year old buy with allowance in other families? Just curious.
My eight-year-old is expected to pay for any kind of treat-type thing she wants at school events & bake sales (her school has three or four 'family events' a year, where in addition to dinner there's either popcorn for sale or a bake sale, and then the middle school does a couple other bake sales each year as fundraisers).
My twelve-year-old niece generally tends to just save her money but she does sometimes buy clothing, if she wants something that's beyond the basics.
I never had an allowance, but I did receive cash on birthdays etc, I and I can tell you that at 11 years old 100% went to purchasing books I was drooling over. Oh the good old days
Our now 8 yr old gets some cash from relatives on birthdays and we for spelling tests if he gets all 10 words right and the bonus then we give him 10 dollars. He uses it to get small legos/hero factories/wii games if he saves up enough. We try to teach him to save up his money that he doesnt have to spend it right away....which sometimes works sometimes it doesnt.
We started our son with an allowance at five, the dollar a year of age a week. He was always a bit of a scrooge, so he saved and pinched pennies. We didn't keep track of what we gave him, he did. I remember that my Dad gave him one of those little red safes with the combination lock. He was thrilled.
We never paid for chores.
By middle school he had a savings account at our bank.
We live in a high cost of living area- so in high school we gave him more than his age. I think it was 25 or 30 dollars a week. He was very busy and active in high school and only had a job during the summers. His job was school. In high school he got his own bank account , including debit card, and prepaid Visa card (the one that after two years of regular payments becomes a non prepaid account.)
We gave him a car when he was 16. He used our gas card and we paid for maintenance and insurance.He kept this car for 12 years.
We also starting a savings account for each of our kids at the bank and we deposit some of their money in that each month as well.... hard to get the of savings across to young kids and not the instant gratification.
This thread either went WAY Over my head, or people have lost most of their thinking chromosones since i was a kid....or had young children collecting an allowance.
The parents decide on an amount. Say $5/week.
You give it to junior on Sunday evening. Insert technology: A piece of paper and a pencil will do. Write down date, and amount.
I do not keep track because we do not give our children allowances. You live here, eat here, use the internet and electricity here, etc... I am NOT going to pay you to be part of the family and help keep the family home running smoothly.
We used allowances for our kids to teach money management.
Early on at 5 or 6, it was pocket money. They could spend it however they wished and they did not have to ask for money for small toys or treats. They could save up for a bigger toy if they wished.
As they got older, it became budget money as well as pocket money. They got a budget for clothing, school supplies, the public bus, etc. My ds would walk to school and save the bus money to buy his baseball cards or tickets for various sports games. My dd would buy her clothes at the thrift shops and save money for her music and for tickets to plays. Both learned to save and to make decisions about *how* to spend their money this way.
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