Introducing our kids to an Allowance!

Hello sweet friend,

Today I’m writing about why we decided to give our kids an allowance and how we do it.

I’ve searched the internet up and down and there was no method that I was all in for. There was always something that I didn’t like and didn’t want to add to our plan. So I made our own model and picked just the things that work for us and left everything behind.

If you are thinking of starting an allowance plan, I encourage you to add or take down the things that make the plan work best for you and your kiddos. 

We just want to help our kids get a sense of reality on how money works and that sometimes we have to wait and save a long time for what we want. 

We think that teaching kids about money its important because they’ll have to work with/for money when they grow up and teaching them young it’s better than regret it later.

You know how kids always want toys and everything they see at the store? Jason wanted soo many things and he was begging for so many toys all the time! That’s when I felt like we need to give him an allowance and help him understand a little bit on how money works.

He receives his allowance and doesn’t get toys or stuff when we go shopping. Since then he only receives toys on Easter, Christmas, children’s day and his birthday. But he can use his own money to buy toys. Everything else that he needs its more than covered!

Jason got his first allowance when he was about 5 or 6 years old. 

Here is our method:

We have 3 jars for him : money to spend jar, savings jar and tithe jar.

Jason was 6 years old – he got 6 euros /month  plus 25c for every chore that he wanted to do. 

Chores that we felt like he can do and are safe for his age. The amount he receives each month changes accordingly to his age. Now he is 9 years old so he gets 9 euros every month plus everything else he earns through chores. Now he receives 50c /chore because he is capable of doing chores very well and are more age appropriate.

(His age is the amount of money he gets every month regardless if he does chores or not.)

I wrote down every time he did chores and at the end of the month he gets all his money.

Together we then calculated 10% for the tithe jar, 10% for the savings jar and the rest went in the money to spend jar. 

We think its a great amount of money for him because that way he needs to think carefully what he really wants to buy, there’s no mountain of toys coming in every month and he learned to save his money for that special toy he wants so bad. 

These are the first toys he saved up for GraviTrax and Disney Rally. He still plays with them and is still happy with his purchase. He was so proud of himself for buying himself something.

I remember that 8 of our family members from Romania came to visit us and celebrate Jason’s birthday and he prepared a concert and asked money for the entrance ticket  :)) He is not joking around, he knows how to make money :)) 

He also receives from grandparents and other family members money now and then so he always gets excited to add to his jars. 

((Another thing that we realized is that he is a little entrepreneur. Having an allowance made him think how else could he earn money? He started asking to make a Limonade stand in summer in front of the house or hot chocolate stand in the winter. ))  

In the tithe jar goes the money that he’ll give at our church when its full. 

In the savings money jar goes the money that he’ll use in case he’s got an emergency 🙂 We just think this is good habit for him to learn and keep it for when he is older. 

The way I explained this to him is: Jason, imagine you are 18 years old and have a car and your car breaks down. That’s when you go to your savings jar and pay for the reparations. That way you don’t get in debt and you are able to pay with your own money for your car.

The money to spend jar is just what it sounds like.. he can spend it on anything he likes but he still needs our approval because not everything is safe. But you’ll be surprised to see how he calculates how much money he needs for that wanted toy and doesn’t spend his money on junk toys! 

It’s incredible to see him think twice before making a purchase and takes much better care of the toys that he already has. 

Can I just tell you how much easier it is to not get overwhelmed with the amount of toys that would normally come in on the regular? It’s the best!! 

He doesn’t do a lot of chores/ month. Some months he does none! So he also doesn’t buy that many toys :)) that’s a win win situation, right? :))

Do you give your kids an allowance? If yes, would you please tell me your plan in the comments?

Would love to see your point of view!

Have a great day!!

XO Daria