We give our kids allowances. They receive $1 per week per year of age. So a 10-year-old gets $10 per week and a 15-year-old gets $15 per week.
This has been amazing for our kiddos!
It gives them control over something, it teaches them about impulse, They are proud when they save up for something, it saves me money and begging when we are at a store, and it builds their confidence knowing that they bought it themselves.
Let me tell you how how we split up the money each week.
GIVE
They get $1 per week to give.
Places our kids have chosen to give include:
- balloons were given to a well-behaved child at a store
- $1.07 in an envelope in the toy section at the local dollar store (I added the change)
- Purchased chickens for a family to get fresh eggs
- Donated to a classmate’s cancer fundraiser
SPEND
A little less than 50% they get to spend. A 10-year-old would have $4 in this category.
Things our kids have purchased with their spend money include:
- Gambled that they would actually get a prize out of a claw machine
- Candy at the checkout line
- Indoor pool day pass (I purchase the YMCA membership and the outdoor pool pass)
- Small toy when we were shopping
- Anime or Monster High or Frozen’s latest gimmick
When we are at a store and they ask for something, I say “do you have enough money for that?”
SAVE
The remainder of the weekly allowance goes into a SAVE jar.
Things they have saved for include:
- Large Lego sets
- Bicycle
- Monster High dolls
- Geode rock mining set
- Kids’ golf clubs
- A tiny tabletop pool table
- Nice earrings
This is something they have to put a name on and plan for. So if they say they want to buy a Lego set and they find a remote control car they want instead at the store, we have to go home and plan for it. If they still want the car the next time we go to the store, that is OK.
Do you give your kids an allowance? How do you do it?