Ok, so I've decided to give my kids a small allowance, and we've decorated 3 banks for each of them, one to spend, one to save, and one to give. I started out with $1 a week, given in quarters. Two go in their spend bank, 1 in charity, and 1 in savings. But... how much do you give your children, and at what age? I am starting to think $1 is low, but the important thing to me is that they learn the importance of money management and giving to charity. So, any suggestions are welcome. Oh, and the allowance is not linked to chores, because everyone in the house has to help, but I may "charge" them if they don't do their chores, and I have to do them instead.

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, January 6, 2008 - 09:41 am:

I bookmarked this article about allowances some time ago, because it made a great deal of sense to me.
allowances

I agree, money management is an important thing to learn. As to how much, it depends, as the article says, on what you expect them to do with the allowance. Basically, you are allowing each child $.50 a week for spending. What can a child buy for 50 cents?

Read the article, Crystal, because I think it will help answer some of your questions. I do agree, chores are something you do because you are part of this family. Allowance is so you have some money of your own so you don't need to ask me for every little thing you want. And yes, for penalties. Though, I would simply add another chore for the chore not done, and would *not* do the chore for the child unless it was something that absolutely could not wait until the child got home from school, daycare, or whatever.

By Emily7 on Sunday, January 6, 2008 - 11:28 am:

I hadn't started giving allowances to my kids yet & your 2 are just a little younger than Joe. I like the idea of the 3 different banks & will probably use it.
That was a good article Ginny, thanks for posting it.

By Tunnia on Sunday, January 6, 2008 - 04:07 pm:

Our children get $.50 per year of age per week. So dd gets $5.50 a week at age 11 and ds gets $3.50 a week at age 7. We require that half go into their savings and the rest is theirs to do with as they wish. We do not have a designated amount for them to give to charity, but we do allow them to give when they they feel moved to do so. We actually encourage them to donate their time more than we encourage the donation of money.

We do not tie the allowances to chores. We feel that chores are something they need to do to be a contributing part of our family. We can, however, dock their allowance if they do not do their chores or for non-compliance of rules as a consequence.

I know that $1.75 for our 7yo and $2.75 for our 11yo per week isn't much money for spending, but that's where we teach them to save for what they want. On occasion one of our dks may have a special purchase they want to make and we have suspended the savings so that they can save up for an item even faster, but that is a very rare occasion and we have to feel that it is a worthy purchase.

By Crystal915 on Sunday, January 6, 2008 - 05:40 pm:

Thanks, Ginny!!
Tunnia, $0.50 a week per year of age, wouldn't that be $3.50 for the 7 year old? I like the idea, which gives my children $2.50, but I think I will just go with $2/week.

By Tunnia on Sunday, January 6, 2008 - 09:47 pm:

Yes, my 7yo gets $3.50 a week which, after putting half in savings leaves $1.75 he can spend. Honestly, at his age, he isn't really buying that much stuff and what he does buy is usually things like Hot Wheels and Silly Putty. We pretty much let the dks buy whatever they want with their spending allowance, but we still try to give them guidance and let them know if we think it is not a good deal. We also give the dks the option of doing extra chores that are above and beyond their normal chores (such as cleaning base boards, cleaning the finger prints off of the door frames, pulling weeds in the garden, etc) if they want to earn extra money. They have to ask for them though.

My 11yo has really learned the value of sales, the clearance racks, and Goodwill because she knows that she can get more for her money buy shopping in a thrifty way. Ds's not there yet, but he is learning that he has to save his weekly allowance rather than spend it if he wants something that costs a little more than a Hot Wheels. All-in-all, this system has been a good teaching tool.

I think that $2 for your children is a great place to start because, like my 7yo, they won't really have much to spend it on.

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, January 7, 2008 - 02:20 pm:

Crystal, my sons each got a different amount - that is, at each birthday, the son got a raise in his allowance. And, it is nice to show that while being older has greater responsibilities, it also has some advantages. Otherwise, all the kid gets is more responsibilities.

By Crystal915 on Monday, January 7, 2008 - 02:29 pm:

Oh, gotcha... I was so confused by your post! That is exactly what I hope to do with the kids.

Ginny, that wouldn't help us too much, them being twins, but I do reward them individually for showing responsibility. For example, Shane is the more responsible one right now, and because he proved he can handle helping out with the pets, we got the dog he has been wanting. He is responsible for caring for the dog, and Mads has been put in charge of feeding the cats. Obviously, the dog is more work, but he's happy and proud. I also plan on giving them raises on their birthday, and matching their savings.

By My2girlygirls on Friday, January 11, 2008 - 07:20 am:

Both of my girls 9 and 12 get $5 per week. Not tied to chores. The first .50 goes to tithe, then $1.50 goes to savings and the other $3.00 they can spend however they wish. They do save up for stuff they want and sometimes they even pool their money to buy something bigger. My 12 year old babysits so she has money of her own anyway. They can earn more if they do extra chores, it's up to them.