Now that Kaia is 5, we’ve decided to start giving her an allowance to teach her about money. We tossed around lots of ideas of how it would work, but then we ran across this article. So, Kaia now has 4 jars and each week gets $2 to put into each jar. “Spending” is for immediate satisfaction… to spend on what she wants. “Savings” is when she wants to save up for big purchases (she can take her ‘spending’ money and put into her ‘savings’ jar if she doesn’t want to spend it that week. “Donation” is for giving to her favorite causes… maybe 2-4 times a year we will empty this jar out and give the money to whatever cause she wants. “Investment” is a more long term thing so she can learn about putting money away for the future when she gets older.
She already had a piggy bank where she would put money that she got for gifts and stuff. So she decided to break the piggy bank and buy a doll with that money. The rest of the money will be split between the jars.
Here is her new doll (it’s a porcelain doll she got for $10 from our local fabric store!) and her money jars.
What a great idea…and what a happy face 🙂
Oooohhh I am glad you wrote about this!! I have been thinking about it a lot recently, and am glad to see you bring it up. Might try your 4 jars suggestion. Another question: do you tie allowance to chores (there seems to be some debate about this) or do/will you pay her extra to do specific jobs? Any thoughts?
Hey Leigh,
We asked her what she wanted to do. She picked out feeding the dog, helping with the chicken, and making sure we eat healthy foods. I added keeping her room clean. So far, she is really enjoying it. I think, because she sees that she now has a little control over what she can buy and when. I’m making it easy for her right now. I have read the debates about paying kids to do things that they should already be doing around the house any, just because they are a part of the household ‘community’, and how paying kids to clean their rooms makes them not want to keep their homes clean when they get older, because they aren’t paid to do so. I agree with the first statement… yes, she should be taking part in the ‘keeping of the house’, and will probably still have chores that aren’t related to getting an allowance. But, the second statement I don’t agree with. I know many people who earned an allowance to help clean the house, and they keep a fine house now.
We’ll see how it all goes… I’ve drawn a chart and she is putting stickers on it every time she completes one of her chores. She’s enjoying it so far.
She gets an 8 dollar allowance each week?!?!? Man, I need to move in and get on that gravy train! Even when I was like 12 years old I only got 10 dollars a month! INFLATION SUCKS!
Really she only gets $2 a week… the rest she can’t spend yet.