Allowance Update: The Recession
Last month I posted about my new allowance philosophy. I would give my kids a designated amount, they would have to save half, and could spend the other half as their discretionary spending money. What they would spend it on is up to them, but I would not be buying them any more crap.
The results have been mixed. It's possible that they are staging a coup.
The first thing to go was the "save half" nonsense. Because they claim that I didn't tell them about it in advance. Like they needed a longer advance period to prepare themselves emotionally or something. Whatever, kids. It starts in September. 2009.
My daughter, who has been known to pinch a penny until it screams, is doing very well, thank you. She gets $10 a week and in the past three weeks, she bought some yarn for like $7, so she's practically loaded. She did tell me that she wants to buy The Simpsons Movie DVD, so I am worried that this will bankrupt her. She did explain to me that it would be better for her if things cost less as opposed to more, so we're working on getting that to happen. Any help would be appreciated.
My son is struggling. He gets $20 a month, on the first day of the month, so he already bought $18 worth of Pokemon cards on August 2nd. He has a list as tall as he is of Wii games and Gameboy games that he needs (he doesn't have a Gameboy, but I thought that breaking this news to him would put him over the edge), and the unfairness of it all is starting to get to him. September cannot get here soon enough, except OH NO! That's when school starts. I'm sure that you can understand the moral dilemma that he is wrestling with.
The good news is that now that they know that they are responsible for their purchases, they have stopped whining and asking for things altogether. I did not think that it would be this easy, and I'm sort of expecting a huge backlash, like when we leave for vacation tomorrow, they will spend the week begging for a snow globe or something. But my fingers are crossed. And my wallet is tucked away.
The results have been mixed. It's possible that they are staging a coup.
The first thing to go was the "save half" nonsense. Because they claim that I didn't tell them about it in advance. Like they needed a longer advance period to prepare themselves emotionally or something. Whatever, kids. It starts in September. 2009.
My daughter, who has been known to pinch a penny until it screams, is doing very well, thank you. She gets $10 a week and in the past three weeks, she bought some yarn for like $7, so she's practically loaded. She did tell me that she wants to buy The Simpsons Movie DVD, so I am worried that this will bankrupt her. She did explain to me that it would be better for her if things cost less as opposed to more, so we're working on getting that to happen. Any help would be appreciated.
My son is struggling. He gets $20 a month, on the first day of the month, so he already bought $18 worth of Pokemon cards on August 2nd. He has a list as tall as he is of Wii games and Gameboy games that he needs (he doesn't have a Gameboy, but I thought that breaking this news to him would put him over the edge), and the unfairness of it all is starting to get to him. September cannot get here soon enough, except OH NO! That's when school starts. I'm sure that you can understand the moral dilemma that he is wrestling with.
The good news is that now that they know that they are responsible for their purchases, they have stopped whining and asking for things altogether. I did not think that it would be this easy, and I'm sort of expecting a huge backlash, like when we leave for vacation tomorrow, they will spend the week begging for a snow globe or something. But my fingers are crossed. And my wallet is tucked away.
posted by Marinka at
7:47 AM
7 Comments:
HA! Your kids are lucky - I didn't even get an allowance! And thanks for leaving a comment on my blog ... and for introducing me to yours!! :)
They'll get the hang of it. Mine did. And our vacation was awesome because of it. So much less stressful. In the end, I didn't make them buy everything. I did buy each of them a "gift" which they thought was really cool.
But since things *are* so expensive, I give my guys lots of extra money making opportunities by doing not-so-regular chores. Like cleaning my grout in the kitchen or sweeping ceiling corners for cobwebs. That works really well, since when they want something, they'll ASK for an extra chore. Use this to your advantage. :)
Anything that reduces whining is pure gold as far as I'm concerned.
Ya mean kids are supposed to get an ALLOWANCE? shit. Bob! Get me a drink!!!!
Great method you've adopted to stop the kiddies from asking for stuff. My babe is too small - wait, I take that back. When we stroll the isles in the grocery store he points and requests his favorite things - guess I will be implementing a method similar to yours when he is older.
Tell junior she can get a deal on Simpsons movie - it is only a couple bucks plus shipping on half.com!
Hope you have a great time!
That whole system lasted about five minutes at our house. We did it in thirds, though, like Neale Godfrey suggests--one third for spending, one third for saving, one third for charity. Trying to divide it all up into jars and all...way too complicated. And yet I'm sure it's a very fine idea in its way. Probably helps if you have plenty of money to start with.
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