I Excel at Allowance
There have been a bunch of posts recently in the mom-blogosphere discussing allowance and chores.
As if the two were related. At all.
Those (four) of you who read my blog regularly know my position on chores. It is, quite simply:
YES.
I wholeheartedly believe in chores. EVERYONE in the household has a job to do. Everyone needs to do that job.
Chores in my house are assigned based on what I call the “McDonald’s” system—first come, first served. I haul over the first boy I find and assign him the chore. If he whines, complains, or yells that all too familiar, “It’s not fair!” he gets the next five chores, absolutely free.
I do not pay for chores, mostly because no one pays ME to wash dishes or dust the living room.
Chores are part of living. When the kids get older, the name changes to JOB.
I do, however, give allowance.
Allowance, at my house, exists primarily so that I have something to garnish when the kids break something.
For example, when the Goth got mad at the Grouch and tossed a marble, breaking 1) the glass panels on the TV cabinet, 2) the lamp over hubby’s comfy chair, and 3) the floor to ceiling window BEHIND Dad’s comfy chair, he forked over the $850 bill for the glass. AND the $40 bill for the replacement glass on the TV cabinet. AND the $10 to replace the light bulb.
He missed the Grouch’s nose by about a millimeter. Imagine what THAT would have cost him.
Stretch went through a stretch where he broke a couch and a cell phone (MINE), back to back. He was in the hole for a long time.
There’s nothing like having NO money to give kids the appreciation for having money.
The real problem is keeping track of it all.
When they were little, and got a dollar or so a month, I paid in cash. Which usually ended up lost in their rooms, and recovered only when they went to college.
But I didn’t often remember. And so they would show up, hands outstretched, expecting to be paid weeks worth of allowance RIGHT NOW.
Unfortunately, since I live in a credit card economy, I rarely had actual MONEY.
Plus, once money is actually handed over, garnishing wages gets a lot harder.
And then some genius invented the spreadsheet, just for ME, so that I could keep track of my kids’ allowance.
My children now also live in the credit card economy. They receive only virtual allowance. I just set up the spreadsheet to dump money in, and enter charge backs by hand. I keep the files in the public drop box on my computer, so the kids can look up their net worth any time they like, and plan purchases accordingly.
As I said, I Excel at allowance.
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14 Comments
The Dental Maven
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 9:11 am
Goth sure can throw one mean marble!!!
The Dental Maven’s last blog post..Licence To Drill
Soonerchick
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 11:55 am
Seriously…I am getting rid of my how-to-raise-kids books and just devoting myself entirely to your advice and example. I cannot wait to try this system out on my three boys.
themother Replies:
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Just be forewarned. My kids keep CPS on speed-dial. I keep waiting for them to show up and arrest me.
ilinap
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 1:22 pm
Sounds like a brilliant idea! Even my 3 year old son has chores…he takes out the recycling, clears his plate from the table, and helps me set the table. Luckily my boys are too young to understand allowance, but I’m using your system when it’s time.
Wendy
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 2:12 pm
Oh, I love it!
Our first foray into allowance consisted of Dolly collecting the same number of dollars as there were kids in her class, then sneaking them to school and passing them out.
The second one ended with her losing it all. I found it about a month later but didn’t give it back. She would have just lost it again.
I love this idea. Maybe because I Excel at everything that can be Excel’d. And I have SO been there with the whole, “MOM, YOU HAVEN’T GIVEN ME ALLOWANCE SINCE LAST OCTOBER! YOU OWE ME…. FORTY DOLLARS!” And I have no defenses because I have NO IDEA when I last gave her money.
Wonder if it would work on a 5-year-old. We would have to figure out a system for them giving dollars to church, too, since we have them do that.
Wendy’s last blog post..I Now Pronounce You Wife & Donkey
themother Replies:
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:21 pm
You’re on your own on the church thing. My kids were supposed to take Tzedakah money to Hebrew school on the weekends, for charity. I never remembered. The kids always felt left out. So once a year or so I just wrote a check, and they got to be the kids with the MOST Tzedakah, just once. I know, bad mommy. I give up.
Tapati
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 3:28 pm
When my kids were teens, I would dock their allowance if they didn’t do chores. I explained that if they failed to do their chores and I had to do their share of housework, my time was worth money and they were going to be paying me for it. That way, I wasn’t paying them to DO their chores, which everyone living in a home should do. But they felt the pain if they didn’t do them.
I’m a grandma now.
Tapati’s last blog post..Father in law in hospital
Drama Queen Jenner
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 4:41 pm
i have basically the same system. Although I call it her bank account. If she makes a purchase ‘with her own money’ I transfer the money out. I’m also evil and make her put half of any birthday/Christmas money in her account. In 4 years, she’s made only 2 purchases.
Drama Queen Jenner’s last blog post..Sisterly Love
Risa
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 5:12 pm
I really like this idea, though I think it might be too abstract for my two as they are young. But something we will switch over too in a few years, cuz yes–we keep forgetting to give the allowance!
Risa’s last blog post..Where I’ve Been—Wanna Play Along?
ck
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 8:32 pm
I never thought about it that way…the virtual allowance…for adults. That’s kind of spooky. We’ve completely put our trust in finances that exist as numbers on a screen.
As for the rest of your post – it’s so cool to read because that’s exactly how I’ve started things with my 4 year-old. She’s doing simple chores that are things she’s responsible for just because she needs to do them. And we’ll deal with allowances later…when she actually cares about money.
ck’s last blog post..sexy
Liz
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 8:44 pm
*applause*
LOVE this.
Liz’s last blog post..The Princesses
the Mayor
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009 at 10:29 pm
You should develop a parenting software system and make some money on your techniques.
the Mayor’s last blog post..Celebrities Run Amuck
The Lawyer Mom
Thursday, 23rd April 2009 at 11:29 am
I’ve got the remembering problem too. A spreadsheet sounds perfect but . . . umm, really hard to figure out. Maybe I’ll put some graph paper up on the fridge. Then again, Mr. M is so in the hole (losing a friend’s Harry Potter book, getting my ipod so wet it is fubarred) he won’t be due an allowance for several years. Hmm.
The Lawyer Mom’s last blog post..Crushes
Maria@Conversations with Moms
Thursday, 23rd April 2009 at 2:24 pm
I love the idea of a virtual net worth.
I agree with chores and the need for everyone in the house to take part in it’s up keeping. Kids need to learn that it’s a part of the everyday responsibility .
Maria@Conversations with Moms’s last blog post..The Date is Set