Little Paychecks
August 8th, 2007 · Notebook ·
I know this is going to come up sometime in the future. And it may not be to far from now. The issue of an allowance. We all got one as a child. Up until our teen years. I don’t even remember how much I was given. But an article on CafeMom triggered my thoughts to this subject.
I honestly don’t know how much I would allow Mini Buff to have. Maybe $1.00 to start. Maybe even $2.00. Doing this might teach him some early “responsibility” with money and he’ll possibly learn how to save up for the things that he really wants (at the time). Amy came up with something that gave me an idea as well. The money she earns from her mommy blog is split between herself and her kids. I could do that. Maybe I should start a little savings account for Mini Buff. And split what I earn here between me and him. *high five to Amy*
But it’s something that I have plenty of time to think about. Right now, the only thing he does with money is try to eat it or tear it apart. 
I'm Jen, and I'm a twenty-five year old WAHM and freelance web designer. This is my personal weblog and mini online collective. Welcome! 
August 8th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
You read my blog? Aww.
You know what’s good for that age? Coin jars.
Let them have the coins they find and keep them in a jar. Then, when it fills up, take it to one of those places and get cash. Take them out to Target or whatever and let them pick a toy. If it’s cheaper, you get what’s left!
August 8th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I remember when I was in my teen years getting an allowance but I dont recall receiving on prior. And I don’t do much now. Maybe that is why :\ hmmmm
August 9th, 2007 at 7:57 am
I never had an allowance when i was growing up. And we dont give our kids an allowance. We feel that doing your daily chores is is part of life, you dont get a reward for doing them. They can however earn money by going above and beyond waht they might normally have to do, say helping grandma do some housecleaning, or helping the neighbor rake the yard. Children need to know that daily chores are part of life and everyone needs to do their share in order to make a household run the way it should(not that ours suns smoothly).
Hope this helps.
August 9th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I never got an allowance, I always got what I wanted/needed, I was very spoiled lol, I did do household chores though…
August 9th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
My parents gave me money for doing things. Perhaps you could pay for certain tasks performed.
August 9th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
I always got an allowance as a kid but when it came to for our little one, my husband made a good point. He asked”why are we going to pay her to make her bed? or help with dishes and so on?” His idea being that to do so would take away from family participation and helping just for helping sake. We opted to give her the opportunity to earn money by doing special chores.
August 10th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Allowance? Don’t recall one of those things “back in the day”–*heh* Lunch money (for milk–carried lunch to school), yes. What did I need my own money for as a kid? Well, not much, and if I wanted something and it wasn’t in the family budget, I just pined. Or I made it. My first kite, for example, was a disaster, but I made it. The next one was the envy of the neighborhood (some whittled-down sticks from our back yard, some string–bought with MILK money–sure, I went without some food for some string–and a dry cleaner’s plastic bag. Outflew everyone else’s–especially the “store-bought” junk.) Money for chores? Gee, never thought to ask. Doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, cleaning house: they all seemed like just being fair and chipping in when Mom and Dad both worked to feed and clothe us all (and Mom also cooked the meal we cleaned the dishes for).
Being paid for doing our chores? Didn’t come into the equation. And why would it?
Still, for youingsters nowadays, I guess being paid something for doing chores is better than being given an allowance for doing nothing.
Teenage years? Allowance? No: work. If I wanted something beyond food, clothing, you know, essentials, well I just had to work for it.
Must have been a different generation. Call me an old phart, but giving a kid money just for being seems to teach the wrong lesson.
August 11th, 2007 at 7:25 am
It is very important to start early. We use a mixture of an allowance and earning extra. The allowance is for tidying their own bedrooms or bringing their washing down . We offer them the chance to earn the extra by helping with bigger chores for example helping in the garden, and tidying the rest of the house. If the kids want a bit of extra cash for the ‘latest must have thing’ they ask us can I do a chore for x amount. I think this is why earning is important rather than just letting them have. It teaches them the value of money and the value of their own efforts.
August 12th, 2007 at 11:57 am
I think when you give someone an allowance, even if it is unduly generous, it teaches children how to spend,save and budget money. Ten dollars might sound like a lot initially to an 8 year old, but when she sees that it takes two weeks to pay for one CD, she learns a new appreciation for how much things cost.
August 13th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
What we are doing with our 16 year son at the moment is making him earn it. But say if we agree $10 for a chore he gets $5 and we buy him clothes of his choice when he has enough. So if he wants to buy those training shoes that are ‘only’ a $100 he can. Doing this way it limits the amount of cash he has to spend on things we may not approve of like cans of beer or smokes.
August 20th, 2007 at 9:53 am
I like the large jar idea. It’s something we’re planning on doing with the kids and matching the savings they do. Managing money when they are young is the best thing we as parents can help with as the bad mistakes are cents. There are so many ways to get into money troubles now than ever and they’ll not be listening to reason or us soon enough teaching money values can be fun and starts them on the right path to finacial success. I found these two articles from raising4boys.com really helpful in understanding what to do and how it worked. Food for thought
This is the original post
http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2005/05/20/kids-money-setting-an-allowance/
This one is the follow up post
http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2005/08/11/kids-money-tweaking-our-allowance-system/
December 28th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
“he issue of an allowance. We all got one as a child.”
Not all. Not I.
Well, actually, during (grade)school I did get a nickel a day for milk. I found that if I saved that (and didn’t buy the milk), I could buy comics, then trade (2 for 1) and after a while I had a going concern selling used comic books.
Made enough to buy materials I couldn’t scrounge around the house (mainly string of my own) to make my own kites, saved some for a new baseball every now and then, etc. That sort of thing (though not always comics–whatever was “hot” with the kids who did have an allowance–lazy buggers) pretty well carried me through junior high. Well, that and mowing lawns, doing chores for neighbors who either didn’t have kids or whose kids were useless drones.
What else did I need? We didn’t drink pop when I was a kid; no junk food around to waste money on; games? Those were things we played with people, not things. Most of the things kids “need” nowadays… they don’t.
In high school–an allowance? Surely you jest. A job.
January 1st, 2008 at 11:04 pm
The allowance debate is always relevant. Hope you eventually figure out what’s right for you. Just make sure you don’t give out money until you’re sure you’re not going to have to find it again on an ER xray ;).
Just linked to you from my blog: http://blog.feefifoto.com/2008/01/who-says-youre.html. Feel free to visit and give me your opinion.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
My husband and I have been toying with this as well and I came up with a paycheck. Neither of us were given an allowance and we don’t thing our kids should have them either, but we do want them to learn the value of a dollar and to save. So when I get paid I’ve created a paycheck for our oldest son - he get’s paid for going to school every day. He get’s all the deductions just like I do and then he has to pay his part of the bills. Once he has paid everything and he has not more bills, he get’s to keep what s left over. He might earn more if he did odd jobs for others, not us. His home is just that, his home and we teach him how to take care of it and that it is a must - not that you will be compensated for what you should be doing. The check idea has been working and he’s learning to save instead of spend. I wish my parents had did this sort of thin with me when I was growing up.