fitty cent.

 

teaching little ones about money can be rather exhausting.

this family is composed of spenders, givers and savers.

some of my kids love to save their money.

some love to spend it.

and some love to give it (but not very often).

mr. anderson is a saver.

and i'm a, well, let's just say it's hard for me to pass up anything at target.  call it what you will.

 

we had a baggie system set up for the kids, but people were losing their baggies, or moving them---they were all over the place, much like my scattered mind.

so, davi had posted a picture that had her kids money in jars and i thought "well duh, that is a perfect "bank" for their money"

so, i grabbed a pack of mason jars from the wal-marts (an S on the end, in honor of kohen...he loves to add an S to his words).

and made the kids "spending" and "giving" jars.

(they each have a real piggy bank in their rooms---that holds their savings)

 

as you can see, elsa is still saving those dolla dolla bills.

 

i just hot glued some fabric to the tops of the jars and tied some twine to them.

labeled each of them by printing labels on the computer and voila.

 

our hope for our kids is that they will be responsible with their money.

that we can teach them at an early age, that giving to others is one of the most important things we can do as believers.

that saving is great when we have a big purchase we'd like to make (ahem, i'm still learning this).

and that it's okay to spend a little on yourself, when you've given to others first.

 

how do our little chickens earn money, you might ask?

we have a daily chore chart, that the kids do everyday---it's a clothespin chart (my fave!) and i move them over each night.  the kids do not get paid for these chores.  if they want to get paid, i have a list of chores up, with a price next to them---they can earn money by doing any of the chores listed.

-dust living room - .50

-clean a bathroom - $1.00

-sweep front porch - .50

-clean your room - $1.00

-help fold laundry - .50

-vacuum laundry room - .50

-help with olive - .25

 

those are the chores they can earn money by doing.

 

they have daily chores that look like this:

1 person:

vacuum kitchen, vacuum entryway

1 person:

clean up living room, clean off stairs

1 person:

clean the loft, take out trash/recycling

1 person:

empty dishwasher, put shoes away

1 person:

clean off kitchen table, pick up toys in backyard

 

those are all chores in our house, that need to be done everyday.  we usually always do our chores after dinner, but it can be hit or miss, depending on the day/night.

look, this is what i strive for my kids to do, but we aren't perfect.

kids complain about chores.

they don't do a great job, and have to do it again.

some days it's easier to just forget about it than to fight with someone about it.

we are normal.

but, with that said, teaching them responsibility is a big deal to us.

with chores, and with money.

my kids will go weeks without even looking at the PAID chore chart...and then the LEGO catalog comes in the mail and all of a sudden i have a super clean house.

hey, whatever motivates.

 

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have a great weekend.