The Ericksons Family Bank.
It’s not FDIC insured, but if you know me — it has a chart involved. 🙂
My kids get allowance from the “family bank” — it is an idea that I have morphed from the Power of Moms and from the Eyer family. I came to a point where I REALLY wanted my kids to know the value of money and how you work for it. Up to this point I had gone by the philosophy that they get paid just for existing and being a part of this family.
Problem is, no one pays ME to exist.
So I came up with this handy dandy chart:
It has just the 2 older kids (I will probably add P to this chart in about a year, possibly 2 — up to that point we don’t really do allowance and I am just there to show them what IS and is NOT a good purchase, I do think it’s possible that at 5 P will get an allowance for existing up til’ she’s about 7). On the left you’ will see the 4 things they are paid daily for doing (some doesn’t work as well on the weekends). Then, under chores I lightly added what their chores are for each day (helps me as much as them). But, here’s the catch. In order to get paid to do their jobs (because I do believe that doing jobs around the house isn’t something they should get paid for), they have to do them before they play and without being asked. I see them messing around, and I ask them to empty the dishwasher, no check.
Conner (age 13) gets paid 40 cents/check
Spencer (age 9) gets paid 30 cents/check
AND, if they get 90% of their checks, they can double (they can also memorize a quote for an “extra” check or do an extra job, so in reality they can miss up to 4 checks and still get the double. Here are a few FAQ’s
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Each child must get each check signed off before bedtime. They are horrible about saying they “did” the job without “doing” it. I don’t tolerate this in the slightest. If I find out the job wasn’t done they miss the check. The end.
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The room has to be clean before school to get the check
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Lunchboxes have to be put AWAY to get the check.
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My 13 year old has the opportunity to ear up to 18 dollars/week (this has never happened), but he is responsible for all his own clothing and everything he wants to buy. I also ask him to chip in for school things (if he wants the t-shirt, he buys it). He is also paying for part of his band tour. But all clothing and wants have to come from his own pocket. He is learning a lot of things from this allowance chart. Let’s just say he is learning to shop at Goodwill. As am I.
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Spencer earns less, and we discussed the reasons: 1. He gets a lot of hand me downs from Conner (which he is fine with) and hence, doesn’t have to buy nearly as many clothes. 2. His jobs are easier. 3. He doesn’t need as much money. In discussing this with him, we told him we would assess his needs as he started to need more money for school things and he may, in fact, get a raise at some point (likely Jr High, and Conner is likely get a raise at high school).
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I know, you’re thinking this is too expensive, but you’re wrong. Having kids who don’t know how to manage money is REALLY expensive. We have made it work — and the kids don’t actually earn their high amounts very often. Somehow it has worked out, although I too was really worried about this in the start.
How do you do allowance? We have been doing this for almost 2 years and while it seems complicated, it really works for me. Money is an incentive for my kids and I need to have them learn how to work.
You can read more about the Eyer system here.
Lara says
We adopted this system a few months ago, too. Our charts are more like Shawni’s, but it’s working pretty well. Though Chloe opted out of getting a check mark today because she simply didn’t want to.
Julie says
I really love your ideas about allowance and how you have taught your kids. I especially love how they earn more than the typical allowance, and the oldest is responsible for the clothing purchases etc. Great idea!
Hilary says
Thanks Julie — it obviously has snags along the way but I like how it’s making my kids think. 🙂
Jayleen (@How Do The Jones Do It?) says
It’s interesting how different systems work for different families. We tried the work for pay allowance system but I just got too lazy. Too much figuring out for me;0) The kids do get an allowance and are responsible to pay for their own hair cuts, gifts for Birthdays, etc. and they do have household responsibilities. It’s just a different method that works for a lazy mom like me;0)
Hilary says
Yes, I do put a lot of the work on the kids, to actually get the jobs signed-off — etc. BUT, it is up to me to calculate on Saturdays. I should get on that…. 🙂
Jennifer says
Starting after my sister graduated and I took over all the “chores”, my mom began paying me $15 a week (super fair, even now because she pays her cleaning lady $40 every other week). I had 5 different chores to do in order to earn the money. There was no figuring on my mom’s part because the only time I was able to “choose” not do a chore is if I was sick…and then I had to make it up later in the week. There was no skipping, thus, no figuring. Granted, I was in 6th grade when this started and I’d been doing half the chores (my sister did the other half) for free until that point. So the expectation wasn’t new…the allowance given was.
Paid chores were: vacuuming and mopping the kitchen and dining room, cleaning the master bath, cleaning the guest bath, dusting and vacuuming.
Unpaid chores were: keeping my room clean (I wasn’t very good at this), helping with dinner, unloading the dishwasher, helping clean up after dinner, gathering the trash twice a week, bringing in the empty trash can twice a week, bringing in the mail daily, helping with grocery shopping, helping to bring in and put away the new groceries…and anything else my parents asked for help with.
Hilary Erickson says
This is awesome — we do something simliar. I think the best program is one you can keep up with and WORKS. 🙂