Your kids and Allowances

[Goofy'slady]

How many mommies and daddies are giving their kids allowances?

Our oldest came to me last weekend saying she wanted to start getting an allowance so that she could save for something she wanted. She just turned 10 and I thought that was very responsible of her, so Pat & I talked it over and agreed that she could start this week getting an allowance.

Do you require them to do chores to get an allowance or is it something that they just get it automatically?

How much do you give them?

T.

 

[tammy1210]

We do give an allowance - it was something that we thought about long and hard, and in the end this is what dh and I decided: we give each $5 on Friday- but they must give $1 to church, and $1 to their piggy bank - that gives them $3 per week to spend on whatever they want - we don't attach chores to it, though - we wanted to help them learn more about saving/tithing. DH and I both received allowances growing up if our chores were completed - neither of us really learned about saving - so, we're hoping that this will help our kids. They have chores to do - but, it's just expected and not associated with their allowances. Also - they know better than to ask me for something when we're at the grocery store (except snacks for the family), Target, etc... - they have their own money. Tammy

 

[jewelshouse]

We have a 9 and 11 year old, we just started giving allowance $5 each a week. But they do have to save $2 of it. They also have chores to do, vacuum, empty dishwasher and keep their rooms half way decent.

I want them to learn to save, but also learn that you have to earn money. I think that way, they will learn the value of a dollar and hard work (not that they work hard).

We also give money for good grades. $10 for each A, nothing for anything below an A.

 

[nessz79]

Our kids are small- 5 and 3. We give .50 each per Saturday. However, we don't really base them on chores done. They have responsibilities of keeping their room clean, cleaning up their dishes after meals (clearing them and putting them in the sink), and putting their clothes away. However, we don't connect the chores and allowance.

They put them in their piggy banks. They're allowed to get their money out to spend whenever, but I'm encouraging them to save for Disney (we have a short trip in less than 2 weeks). So far, no withdrawals

Edited to add: We will be giving them a raise to $1 soon once they get the idea of their .50 allowance.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

My girls are 12 and 7.....
They have very minor chores each day (youngest...feeding dog... oldes takes out trash) and on occassion one may have to load the dishwasher or vacuum or something like that. It's $1 per day....$7 per week. If they didn't do a days worth, they lose that dollar. Also, if we have to remind them more than twice to do something...they lose a dollar as well....

 

[imthatgirl]

yes my kids do chores for theirs, i work for my money and they will too.

my 8yo daughters chore list is like this
monday- clean room, make bed
tuesday-keep room and bed up plus do dishes
wednesday-keep up room and dust house
thursday- keep room up and do dishes
friday-keep room up and vacuum her room only
saturday- keep room up and clean toy room
sunday- free day, get $5 allowance

she can do whatever she would like with her money uts hers. but, if she doenst do the whole list she either gets less, or if hardly anything gets done, she gets nothing.

 

[SherylWrites]

My two, 10 and 12 get $5 a week. There are certain chores that are expected as members of the family and in keeping the household running smoothly. They have chores in addition to these to earn $5 a week. It's always different.
Today they are putting away clean dishes, bringing in garbage cans and they will be preparing dinner (shishkebobs). Yesterday they had to do some sweeping, and dusting, take out trash, recycling/compost.
They are expected to save half of it. Teaching them how to save can be a struggle sometimes.
We do not pay for good grades, we feel that a good grade is the reward for working hard. Any birthday money they get usually gets put into the bank until they find something they really want to spend it on (this year they saved up for a Wii). Otherwise they blow it at the dollar stores if we don't do that.
Each family has it's own way of working. This is just ours.

 

[czycropper]

I have 2 DDs they are 8 & 10 and they get $4.00 each a week and they have to keep room clean (the youngest is better than the oldest) and they have chores like bringing the dishes into the kitchen after dinner, keeping the shoes in the shoe racks in the laundry room, keeping their side of the bathroom presentable and helping with the dusting & cleaning the fingerprints off the walls once every couple of weeks. If they don't do everything some money is deducted from their allowance.

They save their allowances for souveniers during our vacations!

 

[leagirl12]

The only set chores my dd9 and ds10 have are to feed their animals (1 cat and 1 dog) and then keep their rooms clean. They do not get paid for these they are just expected. To earn money though they have the option to do other things like washing dishes, folding clothes, vaccumming....those kinds of things. Each action is worth a certain amount so if they want to make money they have to put forth the effort and say hey I want to do that. They don't get an allowance except for the money they earn by doing the extras. They also don't get lots of extra things either....they know if they want something they have to earn the money and save up for it.

Both are actually really good about volunteering to do things....it is very rare that I take a load of clothes out of the dryer that one of them hasn't claimed the folding of them in order to earn money.

 

[Jen117]

My kids are still pretty young (5 and 7). We give allowance on a monthly basis based on a sticker chart. So they earn their money, yet also get freebie stickers for just because. Since they are young, we also have them put most of it in their banks and talk frequently about saving money. The sticker rewards are for various things. Right now my 5 year is struggling with bed time, so she gets a sticker for every night she goes to bed without a big production. Every sticker they earn has a money value to it and we add it all up at the end of the month.

 

[justice4all]

My daughter is 9 and we give her $5.00 a week. She does not have set chores that she has to do to earn it but she is a big help around the house already. We expect her to make her bed every day, empty the dishwasher, clean the dinner table every night, feed and water the dog and cat and keep her room clean and organized. She also does extra chores I ask of her but just picking up after herself is a BIG help and she knows it. She knows that I work hard keeping the house nice for our family and she thinks it is "fair" to help when she can. The main purpose for allowance for us is to help us cut down on the "I wants" and help her learn how to save for bigger purchases. She thinks about how many weeks she would have to save to buy "x". It also make her think about how much all the "piddley" things cost and figure out whether they are worth the money. We always make her save and spend her own money at Disney. I buy her one charm each trip and any other souvenirs she wants are purchased with her own money. That way she has something special from each trip and has the option of buying anything else she wants with her savings.

 

[eeyorefan74]

My almost 7 year old DD gets $3 a week. Looking at other posts, I guess I must be cheap. She makes her bed, helps keep the toys picked up, waters flowers, and feeds the dog. We give her bonuses sometimes if she helps with a big project in the yard or whatever. She's great about doing chores at this age, and is always asking for something extra to do so she can make more. She's always sure to remind us that it's allowance day. I do think we need to implement the giving, saving, spending method of dividing her money, though. Right now, she wants to spend it as soon as she gets it.

 

[proteus]

We have never done allowances. DD isn't interested in shopping and when birthday or Christmas rolls around rarely can think of something that she wants. She got a lot of money over the years from relatives and hasn't spent any of it, her savings could easily pay for 2 WDW vacations.

I don't I'm excessive with gifts as she is an only child, I spend usually $300-$400 per Christmas/Birthday. That adds up fast and I can see how you run out of stuff to buy.

 

[DVC Sadie]

What a great way to teach children about finances.

We gave our son the same dollar amount as his age, so at age 10 he received 10.00 per week.

Out of that money he had to put part of it into a savings account. It helped him learn about finances and how to save for something long term. As he got older he was given more money and he then had to spend part of his allowance for movies with friends... etc.

By the time he was 18 he had learned how to open a checking account and all about credit cards (and the pitfalls).

Now my SILs are using allowances with their kids and it seems to be working.

 

[eclairemom]

My DD 4 has a responsibility chart and she gets $.10 for each responsibility completed during the week it adds up to 2.50 to 3.50 a week and right now she is just putting it away for our Disney trip. Of course the responsibilities are easy picking up toys, brushing teeth, going to bed etc... but it has helped her be motivated to do things.

 

[MinnieMouse73]

We're working in £ here but my DD (age 6) started getting an allowance recently. She gets £5 per week, but out of that she has to put £1 into savings and £1 away for vacation money. So she has £3 to spend or save up for something.

She has a few jobs that she is expected to do (e.g. clearing the table after dinner) which she started doing around the same time we started the allowance, so I guess they are linked! But fortunately so far we haven't needed to take any money away from her for not completing her jobs, as she quite enjoys them!

 

[1rileydog]

My DD 7 gets an allowance of $5/week and is expected to save 10% and tithe (give) 10%...the rest is his to do whatever he wishes. Hopefully he's been saving a bit for our trip in a couple weeks!

 

[reelmom]

We do give an allowance - it was something that we thought about long and hard, and in the end this is what dh and I decided: we give each $5 on Friday- but they must give $1 to church, and $1 to their piggy bank - that gives them $3 per week to spend on whatever they want - we don't attach chores to it, though - we wanted to help them learn more about saving/tithing. DH and I both received allowances growing up if our chores were completed - neither of us really learned about saving - so, we're hoping that this will help our kids. They have chores to do - but, it's just expected and not associated with their allowances. Also - they know better than to ask me for something when we're at the grocery store (except snacks for the family), Target, etc... - they have their own money. Tammy

We do the same thing.

 

[stsomewhere]

DS-10 and DD_7 get $5 a week allowance.
DS takes the garbage cans to the curb. DD brings them in.
We expect them to get good grades, and read daily.

They have to keep their rooms pretty clean or no allowance- I got to keep it
They didn't care because they had bday and christmas $.
So I started charging them $5 if I had to pick it. up and no allowance. Still, didn't care that much.
But, I raised the price to $10 and boy that does motivate them to keep it clean.

They can alos do additional chores for extra money

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

My kids are almost 5 and 3, and we give each one of them $4 every Friday. They put 50 cents in their piggy bank, and tithe 50 cents and the rest ($3) is for them to spend.