Monday, April 28, 2008

Ideas Please?!

I have been telling my dear daughter for what seems like ages now that she needs to earn some of her own money to be able to buy things! Without fail, she will see something at a store that she desires and then ask me if I can buy it for her and she can pay me back... I gave in a couple times and then thought, this is not a good money ethic I'm teaching her.

I have thought of a couple of jobs that she can do to earn some money, above and beyond normal duties:
~ Pulling weeds (maybe get paid a dollar per small bucket worth?)
~ Cleaning out the van
~ Dusting

But, that's all, folks! I could really use some feedback here, Mommies!
How do you help your kids earn money, how much money do you give, etc., etc.

Thank you, kindly,

~christa jean

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

She can have a lemonade stand! Those make for really cute pictures, too.

Sarah Vertner said...

I have my kids pull weeds - but they get a quarter for a big bucket - so make sure your dd doesn't talk to my ds about it - kay?

I'm torn, and we have yet to establish allowances, and we don't get out shopping as much as we used to (which helps with this subject) but my kids are great at finding money - any amount and stashing it away...Noah once found a quarter under a rack near a register at Kohl's, all 3 kids still get on their hands and knees when we are at registers at most stores, just hoping someone has dropped some small coin! (a little cute, and mostly embarrassing)

Anyway...

maybe see if there are jobs that she could do for Grandma or Grandpa for a buck or two. That way it isn't establishing a pattern of getting paid for what should be normal chores (contributing member of the family - and all) and they could find special bonding time with G&G in their garden / kitchen / garage, etc.

christa jean said...

That's a great idea, Sarah, to have it be special at G&G's house!

I know, I know, dusting should be in with normal chores right? Well... we almost never do it, until that guest is practically walking up to the door and I realize that I haven't dusted since Christmas! HA HA!

Sarah Vertner said...

I try to keep the lights off and call it ambiance...

Dusting is always the LAST thing I do... right before polishing the silver ;-)

Anonymous said...

Dusting? Who dusts anymore? No,huh, just kidding. Where we live, it would need to be a daily occurance if I were to be picky about it.

For extra chores, my favorite is probably putting a bounty on slugs. It gets the kids working, gets them outside and is fun in a thrill-of-the-hunt kind of a way. Fun, yet helpful when garden time comes! Now that we have so much free range pultry, we don't have as many though. I pay 5 cents per slug. After I have double checked their counting, they go feed them to the ducks. If you don't have ducks, maybe Sarah could whip up some kind of lasagne with them:)Local and sustainable for sure!

Anonymous said...

ah-hem, POULTRY is what I meant:) I am not a very good typist!

Danielle Renee said...

you could do what mom did with me. Whenever I helped out with CALFAB she would pay me. my job was mainly vacuuming out her boxes.Anyways, you could see what little things need to be done for your etsy shop and let grace do it.

Sarah Vertner said...

I love the slug-killing idea Tiffany- I'm on that one for sure!

christa jean said...

UGH, SLUGS! I have bad memories from helping out in my Grandmas garden and she made us cut the slugs in half... EW! Sometimes when she wasn't looking, I'd just toss them over the fence, clever right?! Nope, I'm sure they just slimed their way back into the garden.

Grace already has 3 jars set aside for money: Jesus, Spending, Saving, but because she doesn't get an allowance nor started earning money, those jars are mostly empty. They get full after a birthday... and slowly disappear!

Since I told her she could earn money, that is ALL she talks about! And she questions me numerous times during the day about earning money and can she go to the store immediately to spend it. Uh Oh. Not sure what I started here.

Sarah Vertner said...

I remember a friend (who used to work at a bank) said that they gave their kids $10 a month and $1 tithe, $1 save for themselves, 1$ saved for each of their siblings - so that with in a year they would have $12 to spend on their siblings for their birthday and about $3-4 to spend each month (depending on the # of kids). Neat idea, I have yet to implement allowances, but when we do I'll probably do something like that.

Anonymous said...

Hi Christa!

We are not very faithful with the earning money thing. We did Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey and I really like the Financial Peace Junior stuff they teach for the kids. Saving, giving, spending like it sounds like you've been doing.

I personally think kids should do a lot of good and worthwhile chores as part of a needed member of the family... so they understand they don't get paid for just being a part of the family but then you could also have a little itemized chart of extra jobs posted on the fridge perhaps that she could choose from with different amounts on it? We're pretty cheap here...a quarter or so... depending on the job, the kid, etc....

:)

Good luck!

~Liz

Anonymous said...

uh bluh bluh bluh... (it's late)