chores/allowance??

[stellaandcorasmommy]

hi all...
thought some of you might have some good ideas about starting an allowance for our soon-to-be 4 year old.
sidenotes: we have always encouraged giving rather than just receiving - she donates $ to an organization on her birthday each year, and we make a request to help her give to the organization rather than bring her presents (she's not totally denied ...parents and grandparents usually do both...) - so i'm kind of toying with an allowance that includes donation, savings and spending.
anyone have any ideas that work well for you??
do you use charts? how do you decide which chores are appropriate? how do you decide amounts?? if they don't fulfill their chores, do they lose everything or just a portion??

hopefully y'all have some great ideas for me!
jen

[TheWife]

My kids have responsibilities that they do not get paid anything for, these are the things that are expected of them consistently like keeping their own rooms clean and putting away anything they played with or used. Then they have opportunities to earn money by doing housework that is not expected of them, such as emptying the dishwasher, sorting laundry, dusting, etc. I pay them .25 for about 10 minutes of work, so it depends on how big of a job it is. They love it, because they don't "have" to do it, which makes them want to. Whereas the things they have to do, they complain about doing lol.

If they don't do the things that are required of them, like their rooms, then they don't earn privileges like riding bikes outside or going to a friend's house. If they don't do housework that's not required, well, they just don't earn money. I don't take back money they've already earned, that's their money once they've earned. They donate 10% of what they earn, and they choose whether they want to save the rest for a large purchase or spend it on something small. They've done it both ways, just depends on what they want at the time.

They each have a savings account but I'm not going to bother with the long term savings until they have a more consistent earning, not just .25 here and there.

[SeatClutcher]

When I was a kid, my dad paid me by the job. "Hey, Kris - you get $1.50 for each of my shirts you iron."

"Okay! Give me all your shirts!"

We all (all the kids) had our stuff to do around the house, but it was expected. If we needed money to go out, we got it (within reason).

My dad would have run out of the house at the mention of a chart. Ha!

[FilleBelle]

When I was very little, my parents ran my house this same way. There were a very few things I was expected to do as a member of our household. If I chipped in in other ways, I got a quarter or whatever.

When I hit about third grade and started to want to buy things on my own, my parents instituted an allowance policy where I got one dollar for each year of my age every week. I was still expected to do my chores and, if I didn't, I was docked my pay.

When I hit high school, my allowance went up substantially, but my parents also paid for less.

I really love those little battery operated banks that work like ATMs. You get a little plastic card and everything. I think that's such a great idea for kids!

[ccbegay]

we had chores and allowance...our allowance was based on school age...we had daily chores, but because I was always the oldest I had the dirty jobs, sweep/mop, clean dishes...some of the little kids at things like sweep in front of the house, water plants, just extra diddy things...