I’ve started a monthly allowance for the kids. I think it’s about time we start teaching them about money. Anya is five and Jamison is three. At first I was going to only start it with Anya but those two are practically joined at the hip and you don’t do much with one without involving the other. And that’s OK. He can start at three and a half. For now their “allowance” is a dollar per month for each year of age so Jamison gets three dollars and Anya gets five. And when they have a birthday month (Anya turns six in September and Jamison four in February) then they’ll get another dollar. I think that’s about right for their age. They don’t need a lot of money or even money each week. Monthly and a fairly low amount is good for now.
I’m trying to use this as a teaching tool though so last week we did a little project. I got out three glass jars with lids and labeled one “spending”, one “saving” and one “giving.” Each month they have to put one dollar in each jar. Since Jamison only gets three, that’s where all his money goes currently. With their “extra” dollars they can choose which jar they want to put those dollars in. Basically it’s about balance. They have to save (and we’ll make some “goals” for their saving like maybe a “big” toy they want or something) and they have to give (we’ll figure out where their giving money goes when it has more than just a couple dollars in the jar). And you have to spend. When we go to Target or something they can bring their spend money with them and we can have them practice picking out things to buy and purchasing them with the cashier.
We started this in July and Jamison put his three dollars, one in each jar. Anya put three of her dollars, one in each jar and then I told her she could decide where she wanted her other two to go. She immediately put one in the spending jar and then she contemplated for a few minutes between spending and saving but ended up putting it in the spending jar. So, she has three dollars to spend and Jamison has one. She also has an additional five dollars from my father and his fiancé. They bought her a new cute little purse and put five dollars in it so she could buy things to put in it. Aren’t they sweet? Maybe after their August allowance is added to the jar we can do a special shopping trip so they can have a little fun picking out something to buy. Target has those nifty $1 bins at the entrances now. I think we’ll go their first.
Their first purchasing experience can also be their first exposure to sales tax. How exciting for them! Ha!
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3 comments:
Nice! Dave Ramsey would approve! :)
Sounds great at their ages. They really don't need to learn deeper money lessons till they are a couple years older. My kids get an allowance too, and have jars. My kids are a bit older than yours - 10, 8, 5. They get their allowance twice a month on the 13th and 28th of each month to match the dates we re-fill our own jars. The older two get a lot, but they are responsible for all their own shopping and budget planning. They have learned a ton about money management in the last 8-9 months since we started their allowance/budget. Definitely a great thing, and a lot less stress on my budget since all the kids' expenses are come from their own jars, not mine. They've learned that they can't buy that new *whatever* if they've been invited to a friend's birthday party because that $25 needs to buy the gift and card for their friend, alternatively, they could skip the party and go shopping for themselves, but it's a lesson in prioritizing and waiting. All good stuff to teach the lessons that will help them manage their money well as adults!
I absolutely agree with your saving jar lesson my kids are 9 and 5 and when they receive their allowance they want to spend it so I take them to garage sales on Sat morning a couple bucks can go a long way but then we end up with a bunch of JUNK so I am excited to borrow your lesson and implement. Thanks!
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