Kids Allowance

A big stressor in my house and I am sure yours if you have school aged kids is the toys they want.  We all know that toys are not a "need" the way the kids whine it is.  And if you keep giving in and buying just 1-2 toys per month, plus some ice cream from the ice cream truck, an ice when you stop for gas or candy at the grocery store so you can get out without a big tantrum then you are secretly spending tons of money on your kids.  I know I was.  It was an expensive way to go.

If you have babies and have never encountered this problem of "I need" coming from your child's mouth you will as soon as they can say it.  The "I need" problem is much worse when you have cable or let your kids watch weekend cartoons on broadcast tv.  The kids see commercials and instantly they Need what ever it is.  It has always been this way.  My kids are not special, I am certain I did the same thing to my parents.

Now I am older, a tiny bit wiser?  I never learned the value while I was a child or the value of saving my money and did not even Know how to manage money.  Yes I can add and subtract, and I even had a calculator when I was younger to check the math, but never understood the value of money.  If you read that statement and it did not make sense to you, you also do not know the value of money.

On the stressor of "I need".  I tried chore charts.  You know the kind where your kids check off the things they did like setting the dinner table, making their bed, ect.  I found the problem with this was my own problems with ADHD.  It was simply complicated to remember to ask the kids to do a daily chore and then remind them to check off that it was done.  Lord knows I won't remember how many chores they did that week without a list.  When I did the chore chart, I paid ten cents a chore.  I know it does not sound like a lot of money, but just having your kid make their bed 7 days a week is $.070, add a few other chores and it could add up to a whole bunch of cash.

After several weeks of forgetting to pay my son's allowance on time we discontinued the whole paid for chores thing because little kids can't keep up the list and Mommy simply doesn't remember to remind them to do it every time.  While my kids liked the money they got for doing their chores, they did not like the hassle of checking things off everytime.  I did not like seeing the disappointment in their eyes after not getting paid for the things they did but forgot to check off.

So we went months without a good answer to the "I need" problem.  And about a month ago my husband okayed a new allowance plan, just give them each $5.00 each week.  Before you go say that is stupid, it comes with one rule: For every dollar they recieve, they must put twenty-five cents into their bank account.  That rule goes for when my oldest gets extra money from his Nana and Tata for good grades on his spelling test or helping with something at their house.  This rule also applies to gift money. Don't get mad, cause if you are you don't see the point and you are probably dead broke too.

Why this rule?  I am not trying to teach charity, that comes later and out of the goodness of their hearts and pockets.  This rule teaches the one thing I did not get about money, saving is critically important!  It must be automatic by the time they are in high school otherwise they will make the same unwise choices we did.  This savings account will be their money when they are old enough, that could be 16 for a car, or when they go to college or buy their first house, or they may never need it and someday retire billionaires! (That is not a joke, if inflation continues it will take billions to retire in 80-90 years. )

So what happen when we took AJ to the bank for the first time.... Wow, what a tantrum!  He kicked and screamed, said it wasn't fair, he wanted to go to the store and buy a toy!  Oh, how angry he was when he did the math and realized that if he put twenty-five cents from all his 4 weeks worth of $5.00 bills that he would not have enough for his toy.  He pouted all the way to the bank.  He pouted while he stood in the long line with Nana.  He grudgingly gave the $5.00 to the bank teller, who gave him a reciept.  His tears of anger turned to tears of joy with the sudden realization that he had $517 in the bank.    He suddenly wanted to put more in the bank, but we reminded him that he could not take this money out until he was much older.

So what happens when you take the younger brothers Nicky who is just 4 and Danny who is only one.  It turns out they don't care that they are giving their money to a strange man at the bank.  They like the sticker.

The lesson I learned... Nearly 8 years old is too late to start teaching the lessons of saving money in the bank for later, but just right for teaching kids to save their money for toys.  At 4 years old, Nicky doesn't know anything, money is something you give the ice cream man and you get something.  Maybe when he is older and can save money to buy the new it toy he will throw a tantrum when putting some into the bank.

The lesson I hope they learn, that saving money should not be an after thought and it should be nearly automatic.  I hope that they see us put a little money aside from each paycheck into savings and learn its going to save their life or at least cushion some hard knocks along the way.