Our First Allowance Pay Day
Posted on: May 19, 2009 by Matt
As a follow up to our implementation of a chore and allowance system for the kids I thought I would let everyone know how the first pay day last night. Overall it went pretty well and the system seems to be doing well. My girlfriend took the chore charts down from the fridge and we counted out how much each child had made.
Her son neglected to pick up toys all week which lead to a $0.75 deduction from his allowance. To emphasize the point my girlfriend took the approach of “This is how much you would have made, but since you did not pick up the toys you only get this much” and laid the money on the table so he could see how it all worked. We then gave him two jars where he placed 20% of his base amount and 10% of his base amount (so $0.50 and $0.25) for savings and charity respectively. He took the remainder to his room and put it directly into his piggy bank (he wants to save it). The point seemed to hit home that he needs to do all his chores to make his full allowance and he did manage to get everything done last night to start the new week. However in all fairness we are not sure how much of the incentive was financial and how much was fear of losing access to his favorite video game for the rest of the night (he had to finish chores before he could play).
I missed the review with her daughter but know that she had a $1.00 deduction ($0.50 for a missed chore and $0.50 for a poor attitude) for the week. I also noticed a couple of smaller jars on top of the fridge this morning containing her portions for savings and charity containing $2.00 and $1.00 respectively. I also noticed that she did not appear to get any of her chores done last night but she also got home a bit later in the day than usual – I am not sure what the result will be here and will have to talk to my girlfriend about it. She may be granted a waiver or she may have deductions, I am not sure yet.
The kids also went out for ice cream with their uncle last night and I believe that they each brought their own money as well. Overall I think that our little system is working fairly well and I am looking forward to seeing how it works over a longer term.
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TagsFamily, Personal Finance, Planning, Relationships Filed Under: Planning, Relationships, Savings
I’m glad I read this. I rarely reply to peoples comments…not because I don’t like them…but because I thought it was self-serving.
Thank you
sagar