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Do You Give Your Children An Allowance?

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For years we've struggled with giving our children an allowance (or “commission” as some parents call it.)  We were horrible about remembering to give pay them, and struggled deciding whether or not they even needed an allowance (as all of their needs are pretty well provided for!)

 

But as our eleven-year old is getting older, we decided that there is value in teaching our children how to wisely handle money while they're at home, so we started the “quarter system”.  Basically, certain chores in our home earn our children a quarter.  We keep three jars – one per child – on the kitchen counter where quarters are added as the chore is completed. (The larger jar holds loose changes that gets collected throughout the week to add to their jars as they earn!)

 

Here are the chores that earn them a quarter:

  1. Making their beds each morning.
  2. Unloading the dishwasher (each child is assigned a separate part of the dishwasher).
  3. Helping with complete other cleaning chores or yard work as needed.
Here are jobs they're required to do (just because we let them live here!) 😉
  1. Hang up bookbags and put shoes away each day.
  2. Put folded laundry away in dressers.
  3. Set the dinner table.
  4. Help clean up after dinner.
Our son is eleven, so he can do extra jobs that the girls can't do quite yet to earn extra money. (He's working on learning how to mow the lawn right now.)  My eight-year old is by far the worker-bee in our family, so she sometimes earns extra money by cleaning out rooms in our home.  (This weekend she took on the garage, which is why you see a dollar in her jar!)  And, my four year old has just about mastered making her bed. 🙂

 

Do you pay your children an allowance?  What other chores do your children help with at home?  I'd love to hear your tips on this one, because we're still deciding the best ways to manage allowance in our home.