Hey friends!
I am super excited about this opportunity to teach my daughter about earning and wisely spending money! I think that we have hit the sweet spot with understanding that “things” cost money and as my mama told me, “Money don’t grow on trees”.
Lately, I’ve been finding myself having conversations with my daughter somewhere along the lines of “don’t touch anything or ask me for anything” when we go inside of stores. It has become a little bit stressful on both of our parts because she doesn’t always listen, and then I end up looking at what she is asking me to buy. (I’ll admit here that I do give in sometimes, way more than I would like to.)
Getting Started
I have finally found the solution to the never-ending question: Can you buy me ___________? Now, my daughter is getting a weekly allowance. Since she is 5, we are starting somewhat small with $5/week. I like this number for a few reasons:
1) 5 is her age, so it is an easy number for both of us to remember.
2) 5 is a low enough number that I can take it out of my budget with low impact.
3) $5 is enough to purchase items from the gas station, Dollar 25 Tree, Target dollar spot, etc.
Using allowances to teach money management
Before going into more detail, I need to share this disclaimer. I opted not to tie her allowance to household chores. I feel that we have already established that laundry, cleaning up her playroom, putting up her dishes, etc. are skills that she will need for the rest of her life. To me it doesn’t make sense to reward her for helping around the house knowing that these are tasks that she will be required to do when she is living on her own. I like the idea of intrinsic motivation when it comes to household duties. However, I am opposed to rewarding disrespectful behavior. I don’t expect her to be perfect every single day, but I do expect her to accept re-direction and improve with guidance and support. I will say that it is your decision on what your goal is for the allowance and how that allowance is earned.
Decisions, decisions, decisions!
The first week that I gave my daughter her $5 allowance was interesting! She had great behavior and was being extra sweet. I will say that she didn’t know that this was coming, so her behavior wasn’t with hopes of getting her allowance. So, I gave her the $5 and told her that she would need to save it until we went to the gas station. I also shared with her that whatever she decided to purchase would need to stay under her $5 budget and taxes were not going to make me pay for any excess. She appeared to understand the assignment before going inside the gas station, but having to make the decision on whether she could have the powdered sugar donuts AND the big bag of candy was tough. I will say that her reasoning skills helped her to make the best decision that kept her under budget! She chose the powdered sugar donuts, and she found a 2/$2.25 drink special. I let her keep the change and explained to her that once she received her next $5 that she could add the change to that.
These first few weeks of getting an allowance are brand new because typically she was only getting money for her birthday, holidays, and occasionally the tooth fairy. I realize that this is new territory and am excited about her understanding that she can choose not to spend her money and save up for larger items.
Long-term goal
My long-term goal is to help my daughter keep track of her money and her spending so that way when she gets her first job, she’ll have a pretty good understanding on how money works. I created a monthly budget to help both of us stay focused on her money goals. I hope that you download this free budget worksheet and use it with your own child(ren).
Be sure to leave a comment and let me know how it works for your family!
See you soon- MQ
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