About a year ago we started giving our girls allowance for some of the chores they do around the house. I did a lot of reading about the pros and cons of giving kids an allowance for doing chores, and I found out there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding the subject.
We even had some heated discussions about it in my house. Peanut Head argued, and I don't disagree, that they should be doing chores as members of this family and not expecting to get something for everything they do. After all, as adults we don't get paid to do our own housework, right?
On the other hand, I want the girls to have an allowance so they learn how to manage money, and I want them to develop a good work ethic and know what it's like to work and save for something they want. I want to use it as a teaching tool.
In the end, we agreed to give them a small allowance, but they still have to do whatever we tell them to do because we're bigger and we're the parents. I think the girls like having the responsibility, and I know it has helped me in my own housework.
Anyway, I also knew that I wanted them to save a portion of their money and to give a portion of their money to charity. That's where these little jars come in. They each get $1.75 a week of which they get to spend $.75, they have to save $.75, and they have to put aside $.25 for charity. When they get enough in their jars to make a bank deposit or a donation, we take the money out for that purpose.
They are free to spend their money in their spend jars on whatever crap they want. And believe me, that's exactly what they buy. I cringe when I see them feeding quarters into the little machines at the grocery store. I shudder when they beg me to take them to the dollar store. It's like paying good money to bring Happy Meal toys into the house, and I cannot stand Happy Meal toys. They breed clutter. The kids love them though, so I try, once in awhile, to indulge them and just look the other way.
The jars are just one idea. I've seen other people use envelopes, and I actually think that would be more convenient, so why not decorate some little envelopes instead? I would do it, but I made these things and we're going to use them dang it. At least until one of them falls to the floor and shatters.
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