We've been giving 7 1/2 year old Emily $16 a month: $8 has to go into savings, $8 goes to spending (comes to $2 a week, but we give it to her at the beginning of the month). She has been discussing how she would like a bigger allowance. I would like to see her control her spending. Unfortunately she is a lot like me and spends it all at once. This month she used it to buy a $7 diary. Not a terrible purchase, but maybe I just expect her to do with too little maybe? Maybe she needs more? Any mamas have any advice for me? Btw, I don't really believe in giving her more money for doing extra chores. She is expected to do her chores (and she does) as part of a member of this family, and she receives her allowance as a member of the family (I hope this makes sense.).

We pay allowance if she did her chores. I've got enough grown people in my extended family that think they should get "paid" just because they are related. I have to work for my money, so she has to work for hers.

I don't disagree with the way you do it, though...we just do it the other way.

She gets $1 per year and she's going to be 8 in a couple weeks. Guess she'll be getting a raise. I do dock her allowance accordingly if she doesn't do her work. Not a stickler about it though. Reasonable attempts are acceptable and it's not that much anyway.

I guess I should give Jac $4 per week. I pretty much just give him a couple $ whenever we are out and she's spending money. That works for him.

She's more of a saver than a spender. She'll get all gung ho to buy something only for us to stand around looking at whatever it is while she goes back and forth about whether she wants to spend the money or not. Once, we left Toys R Us after waiting on her for 3 hours to make a decision. She's always been that way.

Anyone else?

I may not be much help since I pretty much do, or did, it the same way jacnal'smom does. $1/year of age, with a set amount going to savings and charity. Our deal was $6/week, with $1 to savings and $1 to charity. We were lazier with Ian, who is 4, b/c it didn't seem to matter much to him, LOL. Bren is a saver too though, so maybe that makes a difference. He won't ever spend ALL of his spending money. For example, he wanted a toy that was $10, he waited till he had $15 before he would buy it!

Bren's allowance was tied to behavior at school and chores, although I admit I was pretty slack about the chores, I considered it a good week if he did what I asked him to without him giving me too much grief, LOL.

Now, I say all this in the past tense because Bren recently had a few really bad weeks and lost his allowance for a month, with the understanding that we were going to re-think the whole process at the end of the month. He lost his allowance b/c he broke something that is going to cost ~$120 to fix, but we also need a better system around this house, especially with me trying to take care of a new baby this summer!

We do the $1/year allowance as well and will cut it in half if the chores were not done satisfactorily.

We don't do a regular weekly allowance. If the kids want to earn money, they do extra chores for it. The older kids (9 and 7) each have one chore per week (kitchen floor and their bathroom). They don't get paid for those. But if they want some money, I pay them to fold laundry, vacuum, dust, wash windows, and pick up garbage outside. Each chore has a set amount, like laundry is $.50 per load. I also pay according to how much work is done and how well it is done. If someone chooses windows and only does one window and does it badly, I'll only give them a dime! It seems chinsy, but when they do a good job they're rewarded.

The money adds up fast, and they usually have between $4 and $8 in their wallets. We go out occasionally, and if they make bad decisions they need to live with it. I do try to warn them that if they spend all their money they won't have any left! To them, it's nice to be able to sit and count out all their money, and lately they're not too eager to spend as much!

My 9yo and 14 yo get 17.50 a week, which works out to $1.75 a day. They each have what I feel is a great amount of work to do. Some jobs are just expected because they live here, but their daily cleaning jobs they get paid for. They are to be completed by 8pm, if not, they don't get paid. My 6 and 4yo get $5 a week because they do equal work now, for the most part. Mine are savers too, which makes it easier on deciding how much and giving them so much. My 9yo saved up and bought a sony vaio and my 14.5yo son (who also works a few outside jobs too-he works for a surveyer, horse sits, cat and dog sits, has a mowing business, makes PVC bike racks that can be used in trucks as well as garages etc, works at the local market and also just generally works for all the people who call wanting him to do whatever) saved up and bought a Ford F150.

Editing to add that the 14.5 yo is responsible for everything in the kitchen and one bathroom and of course his room. Those are daily. He helps me maintain the 5.5 acres of grass/trees. He does most of the repairs, fixes anything that doesn't run, chops wood, maintains the pool and a few other things I think I'm missing.

My 9yp daughter is responsible for the living/schooling area, the hallway/entrance which is where many of the toys are stored and her room which are all daily jobs. She helps with the little ones a bunch, feeds the animals, cleans one side of the garage, and again other stuff I just can't seem to think of. Oh, and she does all the garbage (outside and to the street on tuesdays).

Wow, I guess I am behind the times! Katie gets $1/week. Gosh, what she'd do with $6/week! Ack! I don't *have* that kind of extra money, either.

She is expected to do her basic chores for that amount and she can get extra jobs to earn extra money.

Sometimes I think I really cheat with the little ones. They often end up buying something i would have bought them anyway, like a book or art supplies. I find they are open to, um, suggestions. :lol: It just makes them feel good that they saved and bought it vs me buying it.



Wow, I guess I am behind the times! Katie gets $1/week. Gosh, what she'd do with $6/week! Ack! I don't *have* that kind of extra money, either.

She is expected to do her basic chores for that amount and she can get extra jobs to earn extra money.

WOW reading some of these replies I feel like a Scrouge! Alex (nearly 9) gets $2 a week, and an extra $1 if he weeds the garden, or some other larger chore that takes more than 5 minutes. There are times when he has to do jobs because he lives here and he is part of the family, and we all clean up messes that we didn't make occasionally (talk about laundry for instance... I am the only one who does a house fulls worth of laundry. Fair... it is not.)

We have the "job" system as well. He has to take out the garbage, make his bed in the morning, and bring his homework home. For each day he forgets his homework he looses $.50... Money is a good motivator and since we have had this plan he has not forgotten his backpack ONCE. lol... He doesn't get docked for missing chores... We all pull together in that area. But if he makes a big fuss out of doing them while I am doing something else (like say, taking out the garbage while I am making dinner becuase it is full and the cat is getting into it.) I have no trouble docking him a bit... we all have jobs to do here. Even the three year old (although she does not get paid... yet.)

I am sure that when Don gets a better job I will bring that number up a bit... (Perhaps with his birthday in July depending on money situations)...

We talked to him about it like it was a job. He has his job and we have ours... he gets paid for his like we get paid for ours... if we fail to show up for work or finish the things we have to do to get orders etc, we get paid less... likewize if he does a bad job (like not bringing his homework home) he gets paid less. It is a rule of money... and of what brings money and what doesn't. Real world stuff... it has worked like a dream. :)

Love Val

Chelsie is 13 and gets $10 a week. She is also paid to help above and beyond her normal stuff. Her normal stuff is her room, taking out a recycling bin daily, and sweeping her bathroom/hallway. Above that, she earns $5 an hour to babysit on some days, for her little siblings. She is also paid by friends to babysit, $5-6 an hour. She is also going to be working at my clinic on weekends during the summer. 6-8 hours a week, at $7.50 an hour...so she will be required to place 50% in savings. She is also expected to help out, when needed, without being paid. From help sweeping some days to weeding on the occassional weekend. We all live here, we all help.... ;)

Sarah and Justin need an allowance. They are almost 8 and 6. I buy a lot for them, and sometimes think they don't know the value of money because of it. I think having an allowance would help. But they also have no chores at all, except their own rooms. They help when asked, which is daily on small things here and there. But nothing set or anything "big" like vacuuming, etc. Typically just things like bringing me laundry or helping me take food off the table now and then.

My 10 year old gets $2 a week. She doesn't do chores at all. She runs back and forth between her dad's and here, so she doesn't have a whole lot of time here when she is out of school. Maybe I better give her some chores. I would be thrilled if she cleaned her room. Out of the $2, she has to give 10% to church, 10% to her savings, and she gets to keep the rest. Our 3 and 5 year olds don't get an allowance.

I need to clarify. My children each get their age in allowance once a month, not weekly. This does fall within what most of you have given for allowance to your children. I also want to add that if they have a reasonable request for something, we will buy it, after we have taken into consideration their fulfillment of their regular tasks and their attitude in doing them.

edited

We can't do this any other way or we would be in bankruptcy court!! Do the numbers:

18
15
13
5
2
$43

NO WAY could we fork out that kind of dough every week! Heck, I don't even get that kind of pleasure money.

My children do get their age in allowance once a week, but now that Bren has money, I rarely buy him anything. His money pays for extra snacks at school or when we are out and about, any toys or books he wants, stuff like that. I feel like I am saving money, and I like that he thinks twice about asking for something almost every time we are out somewhere, LOL

Our 5 year old gets $4 per week if he does his chores. If he doesn't do them, he doesn't get the allowance that week. His chores are:

*picking up his toys and books every night before bed
*helping me vacuum and sort dirty laundry (he also puts away his clean clothes)
*feeding this cats every morning
*setting the table after I put out the plates and silverware
*putting his dishes in the dishwasher

Tara

if chores are not done, I have a question. We are thinking of starting that. If I want my dd to straighten up the bathroom each evening, if she doesn't do it the first night of the week, and she knows that she isn't getting an allowance, she probably won't do it for the rest of the week. Do you run into that problem? Do you make them do the chores anyway?

my children do not get an allowance to do things that are considered being a part of their daily responsibility, such as
making the bed
keeping the room straightened
picking up toys after playing with them
putting their dishes in the dishwasher
folding and putting away their clothing
cleaning their bathroom
these are considered things everyone has to do and we dont understand paying our children to keep their rooms straightened lol


they will earn money by
helping to clean another childs area
yard work
extra cleaning (baseboards, garage)
helping in the office
things like that -
the money is determined by how difficult the task is and how old they are

if chores are not done, I have a question. We are thinking of starting that. If I want my dd to straighten up the bathroom each evening, if she doesn't do it the first night of the week, and she knows that she isn't getting an allowance, she probably won't do it for the rest of the week. Do you run into that problem? Do you make them do the chores anyway?

I dock $.50 for each mess up... That way he has four chances.... by the fourth one he is not getting regular allowance, but he knows he can make up that money by doing other things... so no... we have not run into that... in fact, we have only docked his allowance once for a major house rule violation, and we told him that he still was responcible for his chores that week or there we would be docking allowance for NEXT week.

Harsh... but better than spanking. And he cares more too. (money does that... lol)

Love Val

I dock $.50 for each mess up... That way he has four chances.... by the fourth one he is not getting regular allowance, but he knows he can make up that money by doing other things... so no... we have not run into that... in fact, we have only docked his allowance once for a major house rule violation, and we told him that he still was responcible for his chores that week or there we would be docking allowance for NEXT week.

Harsh... but better than spanking. And he cares more too. (money does that... lol)

I think that is a good idea. I have to figure out something for 10 year old dd. Everything is a battle. What would normally just be expected ends up being something we have to reward her for. I wish I could get her to keep her room clean, and do all of those expected things, but honestly, I don't know how. She throws fits over every little thing, and hates to even do the slightest bit to help out.

I see I did that wrong.