I don't actually remember my parents giving me allowance when I was younger. Maybe they did, but I just don't remember it. I remember going to the store with my Dad (and Mom, but mostly Dad unless it's school clothes shopping) and asking for a Candy bar, a toy or something and he would buy it, tell me to "put it on my birthday/Christmas list", or just say "no". When I got old enough to work on the farm, I was paid as a farm hand the same as the guys he hired for summer help. I also babysit and started my first job when I was 15 working for someone else, so I didn't rely on just allowance to have money for things I wanted to do. While I don't remember an allowance, I do remember going to the movies with friends, basketball games, and school activities where Dad would make sure I had money before I left the house. Even after I started working, I remember Dad asking "do you need any money?"
So allowance in the Brown's home has been an on/off, up/down struggle. It started with Kalissa was about 6 and we did the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace and decided we needed to start teaching her about money. We put "commission" in the budget, because we didn't want the kids to think they get money just for being alive. They need to earn their money just like the real world, no one says to a 25 yr old "oh you're cute, so you go play your video games or sleep until noon and here's $$$ to buy a new toy while I do your laundry, clean your home and buy and cook your food, oh and don't forget provide a room for you to sleep in, a vehicle to take you places, and pay for all your sports, schooling and other activities you want to do..." We decided the "rate" would be $0.50 per year of age and that we would deduct money each week for chores not completed or bad behavior. We would "pay" them every Saturday evening and we provided them with 3 envelopes - Spending, Savings, & Charity. They had to put at least so much into Charity each week (we set the amount depending on how much they were earning), then they could decide how much went into the other 2 envelopes, but some had to go into both.
Great plan, isn't it? Too bad the parents in the plan failed! Sometimes we forgot to pay them on Saturday night because we were doing something else and wasn't home. Sometimes we forgot to make it to the bank and didn't have cash. Sometimes finances were tight for us, so we said commission was "on hold" and they wasn't paid because that money was needed for things like food, school expenses, etc.
And then there was the challenges to the plan...you're at the store and the child wants a new toy or a cookie, they "need" this sparkly pencil that is double the price of the plain yellow one beside it. Their best friend has this new "XYZ" and they just have to have it...and you say "do you have your money?" and you hear all the excuses..."I left it at home?", "I didn't know we were going shopping after church?", "You haven't paid me this week?", "I'll pay you when I get home?"....the list could go on...but I think my favorite is "I have some of it, would you buy it and then take it out of my allowance for next week(month/year depending on cost) PLEASE" normally followed by please and puppy dog eyes in the middle of a crowded store with what seems like the entire town standing around waiting for you to move out of the way!
Then there's the follow up...you get home and they forget to bring you the money they had to settle the IOU, or the next PayDay comes and you forget they owe you $5 so you just give them the full amount. You get busy with your life and by time you drive home from the store, put away the purchases, and get into homework, housework, or whatever is the task of the moment you forget the negotiation that took place in the store and IOUs seem to disappear in the cobwebs known as Mommy Brain - a project of not enough sleep, too many irons in the fire, concern for little one's healthy, happiness and the search of clean socks, oh and don't forget trying to be healthy, happy and married yourself.
So then you have a Family Meeting (ours was Monday night this week), and you say <insert the Parent voice here>, "We are going to crack down on chores and you won't get commission/allowance/whatever you want to call it, unless you do your chores." and then if you're really disillusioned as a parent you throw in there "no more IOUs...if you don't have the money in your wallet with you at the time you want something, then there's no credit." I didn't say last part, but what I did say was "I'm tired of picking up random socks, clothes, toys, reeds (Clarinet player), school papers, etc...so from now on, everything I pick up and put away for you is $0.25 an item...and socks/shoes or anything else that comes in pairs counts as 2 items!" [Side note: Thanks Joy for the idea! I love stealing your ideas, and my kids normally roll their eyes and silently curse your ideas which means it's a good idea!]
So now, I'm 2 days into the week and I'm challenged with ...how do I track this? How do I break the failed parent issue of not remembering to pay up, of not tracking when they spend at the store, not collecting the IOUs and such. How do I track each individual deduction when I have to pick up their stuff? What works for you? What doesn't? I really don't think I'm alone with this allowance challenge...I think other parents have the same issue, so how did you solve it or are you still swimming upstream and hoping when your child gets a real job you can finally climb out? I have heard of phone apps and went out today and looked at a couple (Child Allowance Tracker and Virtual Piggy) but either of these seem to strike me as "oh yeah, this is what I need!". The first, Child Allowance Tracker, seems very straight forward and would do what we need, but the reviews sound like there's some bugs in it and I like software/apps that work, bugs annoy me. The second, Virtual Piggy, is designed it seemed for your child to shop online with your credit card based on the allowance they have earned, and so that's not what we need. My kids don't shop online, HECK I don't shop online that much...they see it in the store and want it. I'll keep looking for other apps, but for now it's a piece of paper beside the fridge (which I'm sure will go missing at some point or won't be with us at the store when their balance is needed). What do you use? Do you use an app for your phone? If so, do you love it? hate it? Recommend it?
