20 FAQs about our Family Economy
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Editorial Note: This article is based on the fabulous work of the Eyre Family. The Entitlement Trap, the premise of this idea, was originally written by Richard and Linda Eyre. (You can find more of their great work at ValuesParenting.com.) Now, their daughters are also teaching about family economies. You can find out how their daughter Shawni at 71 Toes
implements this system, and if you’d like a complete course that will
help you set up your own family economy, daughter Saren Eyre Loosli has
developed a great way to do this (and more!) at Power of Families.
This article details how the author has used the ideas from the Entitlement Trap in her home.
By Ralphie Jacobs
Every time I teach the principle of a Family Economy, parents can hardly contain themselves. Questions begin to fly, phones come out taking pictures of everything that I have on the board, and they’re on the edge of their seats dying to take the ideas home in their pocket.
Why? Because a family economy is the answer! To so many questions! How can I teach my child true gratitude? What do I do to get her motivated enough to pitch in? Am I always going to have whining, needy kids at the grocery store?
If you want a one stop shop, here it is.
1. First of all, what is a family economy?
A family economy is a work and pay system. The best family economies are built by
2. Why is a family economy important?
Children thrive on responsibility because it leads to ownership. Ownership not only gives your child choice and a feeling of empowerment, but it’s also the antidote to entitlement (can I get a hallelujah?). Lots of mini life’s lessons are learned in a loving, supportive environment where the stakes are low and the timing is perfect. Plus, you get to be the parent that says yes. “Yes, you can have that! Did you bring your money?”
Don’t be mistaken though! A family economy is not just about money. Money becomes the vehicle for lots of character building and value teaching. Values such as true gratitude, goal setting, honesty, self-reliance, dependability, delayed gratification, and on and on.
3. How much maintenance does it take to keep the economy going?
Once the family economy is implemented it only takes about 15 minutes per week to keep it going.
4. How old should our children be to start the family economy?
It’s best to start the economy when your child is about 5 years old. Keep it simple and add elements as you go. Elementary is the perfect age because they are still thrilled with adult-like responsibility and they have the ability to do it. Before they are 5, try simple things like quarters in a jar for tasks accomplished.
5. How do we introduce the economy to our children
A family meeting is the best place to introduce the economy. Make it special by having treats and showing how excited you are for them to be a part of something so neat.
6. When do you do payday?
The work week for our children is Monday through Friday and they are paid on Saturday.
7. Do you pay for all the chores you ask your children to do?
No, the family economy applies to a limited number of things. There are many things that our children do in our home that they are not paid for such as Saturday morning chores and after dinner jobs.
8. Is the economy optional for your children?
Yes, it is always optional. I have had a child too stressed with life to “come to work”. She need
9. What are the chores that you pay for?
Morning: Make their bed. Get ready for school. Clean up breakfast. Come to scripture study on time.
Afternoon: Get ready for the next day, Piano, Homework
Zone: The home is split into 4 sections and each section has a specific daily job.
Reading: Read 30 minutes
10. What are some examples of zone chores?
Front room: sweep the
Kitchen: set the table
Family Room: vacuum
Toy Room: pick up anything out of place
* Be careful that the chores you assign for zones are something that won’t
11. How do you make sure they are accountable day by day?
We ask them to check each box on their weekly log that they have completed and have me sign it within 24 hours.
12. How do you determine how much they get paid?
Our children are paid their age. This works really well because as they age, they are asked to have more responsibility in the form of expenses.
The
children have a possible of 20 points to earn each week (4 per day).
If they get 18 and above they get the full amount. If they get 16-17
they need to memorize a quote or poem before they can get the full
amount. If they get 15 and below they can still get a dollar for each
day that they complete all 4. We do the last one because we want our
children to always feel like they can redeem themselves and finish
strong.
13. What form of payment do you give?
Because our we didn’t want our children losing their cash, we add their increase to a (virtual) checking account balance. They use check registers to keep track of deposits and withdrawals and write fake checks if they want something at the store. I then pay for the item with my credit card.
14. Where do you get printable checks?
If you go to the site called Activities For Kids and click on “Personalized Print Outs” and then to “Blank Checks Template” you can download for free customizable checks.
15. Do your children miss having cash?
No. They love having their purses with their checkbooks in them. If they ever want cash, they can write a check to cash.
16. How do you increase their responsibility as they get older?
We ask our children to pay for all of their wants excluding clothing once they turn 5. This may sound crazy, but remember that the wants of a 5-7 year old are usually very simple, and truly they love that control! At 8, they pay for half of their clothes, and at 12 they pay for everything, excluding underclothes and family sponsored outings. Once our children are 15, they will open a real checking account with a debit card.
Again,
if this is new, it sounds crazy. But I can’t tell you how grateful my
children are for a birthday present of new shoes, how good they are at
delayed gratification because they have to save up for things, and how
eager they are to buy something for someone else because they get how
wonderful it feels to give and be given to.
17. How do you encourage them to put money into savings?
We do the 10, 30, 60 rule. 10% goes to charity, 30% to savings, and 60% to checking. They are asked to put AT LEAST 30% into savings but often do more. The reason being that we pay 10% interest quarterly. Best. Bank. Ever. They understand that savings money is untouchable until they have graduated for high school.
18. Do you have ways for your children to earn more money?
No, we let them use their amazing talents and skills to come up with ways on their own. And believe me, they are far better. For example, the girls decided to. organize and run day camps to meet a financial goal.
19. How do you encourage them to take ownership of their accounts?
We ask our kids to sit down on payday and do all of the math on paper, ask “the banker” if it’s correct and then write it all down in their registers. They also have wish lists that they put in their checkbooks to help them set goals and think things through when they are at the store.
20. How can I learn more about the family economy and parenting with purpose?
Be sure to read the book The Entitlement Trap (
***If you would like help from the Eyres’ to implement your own system, you can sign up here for a free webinar to learn more.***
Do you have a family economy system in your home?
Tell us about it in the comments!
Ralphie writes all about motherhood, parenting, and living with purpose on her Instagram feed: @simplyonpurpose. Come follow along!
I LOVE the virtual aspect of this idea! Juggling cash and trying to get the correct amount of change for charity, savings and spending money is SUCH a pain- especially when you have multiple children. This is a really streamlined system and I am excited to try it!
Thank you Jen! I can’t wait to hear how things go!
Love the idea for the check register. We do a similar system but all the figures are just kept on my phone, the registers and checks would make it all feel more real and tangible for them .
Changing over to tangible things does make a difference. Kiddos LOVE propts. They are self motivating and applicable. Thanks KBASS for commenting!
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful ideas. We can’t wait to start this!
I’m so glad! Please tell me how it goes. I love to hear!
Hi Ralphie! This was very interesting for me to read, thank you for sharing. We have been doing a much “lesser” system of a chore chart and paying commission in cash every Saturday. They also do have to split money into giving, saving and spending. I really like the idea of paying interest on their savings, a great motivator to save even more! The part I struggle with most is figuring out what is an appropriate amount to pay. I definitely do not over pay, but I’m thinking I may be shortchanging them. When you say you pay their age do you mean a 5-year old has the opportunity to earn $5/week and a 12-year old $12/week? I am definitely going to mull over this post and hopefully present a newly-formed Family Economy over the summer!
Hi Kate!
Yes, you got it exactly right. My 7 year old is paid $7. We are always tweaking our economy and I think it’s great to go in knowing that things are super flexible. Best of luck!
This is $7 weekly, correct? We have been doing monthly, with an opportunity to earn double…but I feel like they need more frequent opportunities to earn money, to see the connection between their efforts and the reward. Now this has me thinking that I should pay weekly.
This is so great. We are going to give this a try with our girls! Can you explain what their registers look like? Also, what do you think are age-appropriate chores for a five year old. Thanks!
Hello Jessica!
Their registers look just like a check register that you would get at a bank, in fact they are! We went to our local back and asked for 2 for each girl, one for their checking and one for their savings.
I am always pretty amazed at how capable a 5 year old is! They can unload the dishwasher, run a vacuum, sweep a hall way, dust, set the table, make their bed, etc. And don’t forget about valuing personal management such as getting ready for school on time. That really helps the home run more smoothly as well. I hope that helps!
That’s very helpful. Thank you!
We have been doing this system for 5 years now! Shawni at 71toes.com does this system and of course we tweaked it to meet our needs.
One thing we do in addition, is a ‘family vacation fund’ where the kids choose how much they’d like to contribute each payday. This has been really neat because they have ownership in our vacations and I feel a little better about having that savings to use!
I love having a functioning family economy. We began when my kids were 7, 5, and 3. It took about 6 months to really get the routine down but it’s not even something we think twice about now. Stick with it!
I try to encourage a lot of young families to implement this in their homes and there is one more reason why…a lot of people say they don’t have the money to pay their kids this much. Look at it as somewhat of a savings account and merely re-routing your money. You are not just throwing the money away–you’d spend the money to buy their clothes anyway, but now you are giving them ownership in the purchase of the clothes! Also, a lot of this money is actually going into savings for the future!
Sorry so long, just felt like this has been a huge success in our home and want others to have the same success!! I had no idea you’d started this Ralphie and I look forward to hearing more helpful advice!!
I love your comment! Thank you! What a great idea to have kiddos contribute to a vacation fund. One thing that’s so wonderful about the economy how adaptable it is. I have a lot of fun hearing how others are doing theirs. And yes to thinking that you’re re-routing money, not spending more! So glad you are teaching others as well.
You might want to link to “The Entitlement Trap” for your readers. If anyone wants to read more in depth about the family economy it’s nice to know there’s a whole book about it.
Great comment, Cheri! I don’t want to take away from Ralphie’s original post, but I’ll put the link for readers right here: http://amzn.to/2pqLeH2
Where do you get your checks for your kids? Do you order real checks or print your own fake checks?
Yes, where do you get the checks? This is the last piece of the puzzle I’m trying to figure out so I can implement this family economy system. So excited!
Amber,
I looked around and found some free printables on Pinterest and then I also orders a box of real checks from Amazon that I put fake information on for the address and account numbers.
Hi Amber!
I printed the checks off of a site called Activities For Kids. Their checks are free and customizable!
I’m excited for you!
Here is the link:
http://activitiesforkids.com/blank-checks-template/
Vanessa,
I grabbed the checks from a site called Activities For Kids. The checks are customizable which makes things super fun!
Good luck with everything!
My husband and I were JUST talking about figuring something out like this yesterday! So glad I found you on Instagram through Merrick!
So glad you are here too Lauren!
I wish you the best of luck on setting one up. You’ll love what it teaches your children.
I love this post. As far as your children’s savings account, is this a virtual account as well? Or do you deposit money into an actual savings account for each child?
Hi Haley,
Yes, the savings account is virtual as well. When they turn 15 we’ll put all of their money both savings and checking into real bank accounts so they get experience there before leaving home.
Hi Ralphie! Just another follow-up question…. do you anticipate having all that money in your account to deposit into theirs when they turn 15? Or do you physically set money aside for when that time comes? We’re going to start this in our family (yay!) and I’m trying to figure out the logistics and where the physical money is going to be.
Hi! Loved the book The Entitlement Trap and we also implemented Dave Ramsey’s family bank system for our boys a few years ago and kind of fell out of the habit, so I’m raring to get going again and stick with it! We were doing cash envelopes & a flat fee each week (give/save/spend), but I like the virtual idea. I’m interested in details about that portion (the inside scoop on the back end of things). How does it work & what does it look like for the accounting and recording portion. Where does the virtual money turn to physical and how do you keep track? You mentioned transferring it all at age 15-do you keep it somewhere else physically until then or are just prepared to pay a large lump sum at that time?
I’d love more info or a post or video about this! Thanks much!
Karli
What are your zone responsibilities? I’m really interested in implementing this system once school is out! I love how this teaches kids the skills they would need once out of the house. Also, in summer do you have your kids pay for their own activities & treats that the family gets together?
An example of a zone responsibility for the kitchen is setting the table. Do what works best for your family but keep in mind that they need to be jobs that won’t put your family at a haunting stop if your child decides not to do the economy that week.
For the most part of we are together as a family and doing an activity we as parents will sponsor it. Sometimes we’ll say something like “We’ll pay for the popcorn. If you want anything beyond that feel free to choose whatever you’d like.” And they know that’s code for: that portion is on you.
I know you said age 5 is a good time to start this program. Do you have a modified program for your 3 year old? I noticed on your summer activities chart for her, she could earn 25 cents per day. I’m trying to replicate something similar with a chart for my 2.5 yr old and I’m wondering how your payment process works. Does she just earn money for the mom store?
I’m also wondering if this type of program is good for additional incentives, like working on a behavior change. I struggle keeping my daughter in bed at night and I’m wondering if something like this would help with that. And last question, do you ever give bonus points for extra good behavior/deduct for bad?
Hi Christine!
At 2.5 your main goal is to teach behavioral skills and boundaries to your child so I wouldn’t attach money to chores yet unless they have an older sibling who is doing the economy and is modeling the value of money and work. Because your mostly focusing on teaching find something that is a motivator like a sticker chart or puff balls in a jar and yes, if they get 10 they can go to the Mom Store and “buy” something. Make sure it’s not negative and you avoid taking any away. Use other consequences. Wait about a year or so and you can start with quaters and a very simple economy. I hope that helps!!!
This is somewhat random but I remember reading a comment thread on a similar idea for the family economy.
For clothes/shoes etc A mom said that she still wanted to shop for her kids because she can find deals at places online and TJmaxx etc. for brands and styles her kids like.
Basically she changed a few things to fit their family. She has made her kids shop some of the time so they know how, in store or online. She still does at least half of the shopping BUT has them buy stuff from her if they like it and think it’s worth buying. The rest she returns to the store. She also has toys in a present bin they can shop from for friends birthday presents that way they spent $5-7 vs $15-20. It’s kind of a middle ground and maybe takes away some of the sticker shock but I thought I’d share because I felt like it was a similar road block for my family and a good solution to think about.
Hi Tracy!
I actually do that as well some of the time. If I see something that is a great deal and/or I know a daughter will love I’ll buy it and then give her the option to pay for it or return it. It’s works great!
This system is brilliant!
One question: what do you tell grandparents (or other extended family) who spoil the heck out of your kids? I can see my 8 year old saying, “well, I’m not going to use my money, I’ll just ask grandma/grandpa.”
Have you come across this issue with extended family? Do you directly ask that they not buy “wants” for your children anymore?
Hello Keilah!
We are separated from frequent grandparent influences because they live far away so when they come my kids know that is an opportunity to be enjoyed and then it’s over. But I could see how if it’s more often it would be hard. What about suggesting experiences vrs stuff? That’s harder to quantify in terms of money. And sit down with them and tell them what you are doing and why. They should have this and long term goals as you do when it comes to your child’s success in life.
Hi Ralphie,
I just want to say thank you for all of your insight and ideas! It is so refreshing to hear from a fellow mom who is a bit old-fashioned. I have 3 kids, with my oldest turning 5 in a few weeks. I’m wanting to start up the family economy and had a few questions.
In regards to kids buying their own clothes, how do you deal with them buying clothes that you don’t approve of? My mom always said she felt like she could have more control when she was the one purchasing the clothes.
During the school year, you had the 4 sets of responsibilities for them to work on each day. Are there still 4 during the summer, or how does your summer schedule transfer over in terms of payment? (Hopefully that makes sense.)
Thanks again!!
Hello Christie!
It’s funny I just go this same question today on my instagram feed. Our children pay for all of the wants starting at age 5 excluding clothing. Once they are 8 they pay for half of their clothing and then at 12 they pay for all of it.
In our home we talk about values ALOT and state that only things that meet our standards are allow within our home. Because your children so young you have plenty of time to invest in that relationship of trust and once they get the clothing buy age they will seek you out for advice on what to buy. The rule that we have for ages 8-11 is that we both need to agree on the cloths (because I’m still paying for half). It just gives them a taste of control until they are ready for the full thing.
I hope that helps you!
As for our summer economy it looks pretty different from the regular one. My kids are so use to trying really hard to loose no more that 2 slots in a week that they don’t really miss opportunities to get paid. Plus they have lots of extra time to make sure it gets done.
This is awesome, thanks for sharing! Would love to hear more about your house zone cleaning routine 🙂
My husband and I both grew up in homes doing very similar economies as this- however we started paying for all our clothing at 12 and didn’t do the half at 8 stage. I really like that gradual way of introducing it. My question is how do you determine what is half? Do you set a price? Or look at specific needs?
Hi Andrea
When we say that a child pays half it means if we are at a store and she wants a new jean jacket that is $30, we pay $15 and she pays $15.
She only pays half for clothes and pays full amount for other wants, like a bag of chips.
I am curious as to how you can approach buying clothes with boys. I have a 10 year old daughter who it works great with to have her pay half of her clothing because she WANTS the items. My 8 year old son on the other hand could care less about buying clothes even though he needs new ones. He would wear clothes that are worn out rather than spend some of his money. How do you handle this? Should I force him to pay half for clothes he needs but doesn’t want?
Well, here in are the lessons to be learned. You can decide how to encourage him along the right path. Something that I have done is that if I see something is on sale I’ll grab it and make sure I keep track of the receipt. If my daughter likes it (and understands the value of a good deal) she’ll pay me back for half. If not, I return it to the store. That works sometimes but I wouldn’t fall into the pattern all the time. Things like shoes can fall apart especially if they are treated ruffly. Taking care of yourself and your stuff is a lesson that is great for an 8 year old to learn when the stakes are really low.
Hi Ralphie,
Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom. As a mom of three little boys (oldest is almost 5), I need all the systems I can get. 🙂
What do you think about behaviors being rewarded through this system? My mind is full of ideas for chores, of course, (and my oldest already has daily chores we don’t pay for) but I have been wanting to also find a way to reinforce things like kindness toward his little brothers, first-time obedience, cheerfulness, sharing during playtime, exercising self-control, etc.
I’d value your opinion on this. Thank you!
Molly Lockwood
Hello Molly,
I would recommend keeping behaviors separate. This is just their work effort. If they decide to be grumpy and complain and don’t do the economy the consequence is already set in place (no paycheck).
The best way to reinforce kindness is to have positive interactions with your child. In other words, give them attention. Say something, smile, wink, pat them on the back. It goes along way.
Hi! My oldest is just about to start kindergarten and this system seems really great and exactly what I need to keep my kids motivated but also back off and let them do it themselves.
I have a question about your zones. What types of jobs do you have in each zone?
Also my oldest is 5 and next is 3 almost 4 are there things age appropriate for him so he has a chance to earn money too?
Hi Frances!
If you look in my article on questions 10 it will give you some examples of what our zones look like. Best of luck!
I just finished watching you videos and am excited to get a family economy set up for my family. I had a couple questions. Have you ever talked to families who have a child with special needs? I have a daughter with Down Syndrome and am looking for ideas on how to adapt this for her. I know my husband and I will ultimately be the ones to decide how to help her, but it’s nice to have ideas from other parents with special needs kids.
Does your older daughter have a cell phone? How do you handle that if she does? I would love your ideas and thoughts on that.
Thanks!
Kanien,
I am so excited for you to start the economy! And my best friend growing up had Down Syndrome, you are so lucky!
I would adapt it to her mental age. If she’s at about 5 years old I’d do something simple like a couple of chores and help her learn counting by 5s with pinto beans. Then she can choose something to buy in a box full of surprises. What ever skill you would like her to learn, focus on that. Counting by 25 or by 5s. Or learning the value of things so giving her money to take to the store. It’s up to you and your goals for her at this time.
My 14 year old daughter does not have a cellphone at this time. We are however noticing since she is in high school that she is starting to be academically disadvantaged without one. We plan to give her an old phone of mine that only can used with WIFI. If she decides she want to do a pay as you go plan she will pay for that monthly bill. I also just drafted a contract for her to sign this weekend which details out expectations regarding the phone. I want those to be super clear walking into it.
Best of luck to you and give your daughter a huge hug for me.
Hi Ralphie,
Love your message and ideas and I’m so glad you are clear and forthcoming about your responses. Thought you might find this useful. I heard Dr. Heitner speak at our children’s school recently. She has some great tips for us as we raise our “digital natives”. A whole new territory to help children navigate (even as we still work out our own navigation!). https://www.raisingdigitalnatives.com/
One more question. Do you pay your daughter’s to babysit for you? You mentioned they don’t get paid for extra jobs, and want them to get creative for earning money, so I wondered how you worked that out.
Thanks so much!
I don’t pay my girls to babysit. We just see it as them being together and hanging out and it would be confusing for me to label that a “job”.
But they do get babysitting jobs outside of our home and we try to not leave them all too often because we don’t want them to feel overused.
We have had something very similar set up for our oldest (13) for several years now. He pays for all his wants but I am now interested in moving towards having him pay for more of his needs. I am not sure how this will work but I look forward to discussing it with him and coming up with something that we both agree on.
My next child is six. He wasn’t that interested in money at five, but as he got closer to six he started realizing that his older brother was able to save for and buy legos and other fun things. We set him up on our version for his six birthday and he loves it. He’s so generous, always offering to help me pay for things or buying things for his younger sister. He has hardly spent any money on himself because he’s always looking for a way to make someone else happy. My favorite part is that he was always my ‘can you buy me this?’ child but once he got control and realized he could buy it if he wanted he never asks for anything!
I love hearing stories like this! It’s exactly why we go to the trouble of setting up an economy. Thank you for sharing!
Do you have a separate chart for chores they don’t get paid for? We have a family economy but I need a way to track chores and responsibilities that we don’t pay them for. I am trying to keep the process as simple as I can.
I don’t keep a chart for those. We do them at the same time. I am going to talk more about family chores this week if you want to tune in to my instagram feed @simplyonpurpose
I was so excited to come across your videos on FB. My husband has always said no to “allowance” for things that they need to do around the house anyway but this is a very different approach and mindset. Now he is completely on board! Yay!
My question is, how do you do birthdays and holidays? I tend to over spend on both gifts that I know they will love and birthday parties (when we have them.) I know this will be a mindset shift for me as well….. What do you think is an appropriate limit to set? I feel even when they are gifts for their birthdays or christmas, they aren’t as appreciative. I am aware I am setting them up for entitlement and Im ready for a change.
Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful ideas!
Hello Tiffany!
I am really excited for you to start a family economy. About birthday gifts, we usually give our children 4 gifts. If you want to know more about how we simplify birthday I wrote an article here called “A Birthday Party With Meaning”.
For Christmas my husband and I purchase 3 gifts and they having a sibling swap where they purchase gifts for each other.
I think you will see as you scale back and use the economy that gratitude for gifts will greatly increase. Best of luck to you!
This is a fantastic idea. I can’t wait to implement this with my three children they love having their own money to spend. Thank you for sharing
Thank you Grace! All my best to you and your family as you incorporate the economy into your home!
How do you handle the child who wants to spend 100% of his funds on candy/soda? Is that just not an acceptable spending choice? Wonderjng how much freedom you allow.
Somethings that the economy teaches is self moderation and discipline. If your child wants candy candy candy you can start secretly tracking how much he is spending on it and then show him at the end of the month, suggesting all the other things he could possibly have saved up for instead.
Also, they have a choice to buy if but it’s still your home so you can decide when it’s okay to eat it.
Last, help him learn delayed gratification by working on a wish list. Talk about long term goals, what can he save up for? And then keep that list in his wallet so that he can see it each time he wants to buy something.
I hope that helps!
How do you tithing for them? They can’t give a fake check to the bishop – do you pay it for them and they deduct it? Or is there a better system?
Thanks!
I was thinking the same thing. I think a good way so they understand the tangible part of it is have them write you a check for cash for their tithing then they can put that cash in the tithing envelope to give to the bishop.
Do you have them set money aside for clothing? I can see my 9 year old wanting to spend all his money and then not having enough for new shoes. How much would you say is a good amount to have set aside for clothing?
With your oldest, is she involved in activities (sports, dance, etc)? Do you pay for those items? For a $14 to pay for all wants that wouldn’t be enough money to also cover extracurricular activities. How do you handle that?
Two questions:
How does the check to suddenly debit card changeover work? Do kids understand that the system is still the same. I just wonder since checks are such a thing of the past if there’s a way to teach more about ‘paying with plastic’ in this same system…
Also, I know you touched on your zones but i’d love to know more. Is each kid assigned to a zone for a whole week and then you assign a certain daily job in that zone? Or is it always the same jobs and you just rotate per kid each day a different zone?
Thanks!
I had the same question – I’m getting ready to set this up and I’m wondering if I should give them a daily zone area depending on what needs work or if it’s clearer to them what is required if they have one specific zone they do the whole week/month?
Hi, I’m very interested in this idea and want to implement it although our children are still very little (2 and 1) but hour do you help your children at 12 to choose to spend their money on clothing and especially appropriate clothing (appropriate for a variety of occasions and that your family is ok with)?
I’m also curious about how you handle extra curricular activities. Do they pay for any or all of those?
My husband and I have joint custody with our exes (me: 6 year old, him: 11 year old and 9 year old) but we only have them a couple nights a week during the week and every other weekend.
We are really struggling with the amount of screen time kids want and the amount of “stuff” they want us to buy. I’d love to introduce a family economy to them, but struggle with making it fair and even (ie. my son is with us more so he would have more morning chores and my husband’s kids don’t spend the night on school nights so they wouldn’t have morning chores.)
Would you recommend still introducing it but doing a modified version? My husband also feels bad asking his kids to do house chores when they aren’t at our house very often.
Hi! My question is similar to one asked earlier. When do you plan on depositing “real money” to an actual savings account? For instance, my children are 5 and 3. I want to implement this plan, but if your kids are “saving” until college do you put a lump sum in their savings for them yearly or monthly? What is the plan for this if you are using virtual money?
Hello – I love the idea of the family economy and would love to start using it. Can you share your link for the chore chart?
Thank you,
Jen
Love this! How can you start some form of family economy with a 3 and 4 year old? My girls are always asking if they can buy things while we’re out, and I have them earn money by doing chores, but it’s not a consistent system yet!
I have two girls 22 months apart. The oldest is really good to her clothes and I pass them all on to her younger sister. It’s rare that I have to buy my younger daughter clothes. I’m trying to decide how this would be fair for my oldest daughter (if she’s paying for the clothes and then my younger daughter doesn’t have to pay for her clothes passed down to her). Do you have any advice for this situation?
Hi, I am curious about the other “non-paid” tasks around the house. Are there consequences associated with not doing those or rewards as well? How is that structured? I can just see my 12 year old giving push back.
How do you handle situations where the child has not completed the task up to standard? I would like to promote high cleaning standards in our home, so I think I would say that there is no partial payment: either the cleaning is up to standard or it isn’t; however I wanted to get some thoughts from you. I do think I would impement a second chance to do things correctly after giving feedback and help.
Also, my hope is that I will have trained my girls on cleaning and how things are supposed to look when done correctly, so that the expectation is understood in advance. My girls are 2 and 1 right now, so this is all hypothetical haha.
MATH WARNING!!! MATH WARNING!!! DO THE MATH BEFORE IMPLEMENTING POINT 17 VERBATIM.
Point 17 says you do 10% charity, 30% savings, 60% checking. I love it. But then you say that you pay 10% interest QUARTERLY. Do you mean you pay 10% annual interest compounded quarterly? I know you said “Best. Bank. Ever.” and it certainly would be because I ran the numbers and if your kid hits the target of earning their age in dollars each week and contributes 30% to savings, the bank will pay out $5,720.42 in interest during the 4th quarter of the year they turn 18. YIKES! And the total savings account would be worth $62,924.
If you mean you pay 10% annually and compound it quarterly, that final interest payment would be a much more manageable $115.80 and the total savings account value would be $4,747.94
The power of compounding interest is no joke, and it’s probably the best math lesson you can teach your kids, but I think the 10% annual compounded quarterly method is the best way to teach this lesson.