It’s not your salary that makes you rich, it’s your spending habits. -Charles A. Jaffe
What a true statement! Today I am writing about how in our home, we are teaching kids the value of money. We live in such a fast paced world-you can order almost anything with a quick tap on your smart phone or the click of a mouse. Not having to carry cash can desensitize you to your spending habits. You may not know how much you are spending. Please tell me I’m not the only one!
Over the years my bad spending habits trickled down to my son. He literally thought that a swipe of my debit card could fix everything. Fortunately, I met Dave Ramsey 
. Not in person, I wish!
I took his Financial Peace University class and it changed my whole perspective on money.
Teaching Kids The Value of Money
Not teaching your children about money is a huge disservice. When I was in my early 20’s I knew nothing about money, except for how to spend it. My bank account was always going in the red, I didn’t know how to meal plan, I did not budget for anything. I had a carefree-spending-attitude with a not-making-enough kind of income. I grew up this way. It’s what I knew.
I look back and see how young, naive and just plain financially dumb I was! After reading Dave Ramsey’s books and taking his course I learned so much. I’m not perfect with money, but now, all of my bills are paid on time. No matter what. I actually have an Emergency Savings account. I paid for my wedding in cash. I budget for everything. And best of all, my husband and I are paying off our debt.
I don’t want my children to ever struggle like I did because of stupid money decisions and spending habits. So I decided to change my family tree! No more broke and in debt.
My oldest child is my son and he is 10. Instead of giving him an allowance and letting him spend it on anything we give him a paycheck.
That’s right. He earns a paycheck. Every Friday is Pay Day and if he missed a day of work, he doesn’t get paid for that day. I set up a Youth Account for him with our bank that makes it easy to transfer money, he has a debit card linked to the account as well.
My son is allowed to spend a predetermined amount each week and he has to save a certain amount too.
This change in “allowance” has made my son more careful about what he spends his money on. I think this is because he knows how long it takes him to earn it!
Teaching kids to handle money is about more than dollar and cents. It’s about character and responsibility. #Momlife #Money
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Creating A Chore Chart:
I do a really simple check off in my Erin Condren planner. My son’s chore is to clean the living room each day. He knows he has to pick up the toys and pillows and then vacuum. Each day he does his chore I put a check mark in my planner. On Friday, I add up how many check marks he has and he gets paid.
My son also does other chores around the home like:
- taking out the garbage and recyclables
- emptying bathroom trash cans
- keeping his room clean
He doesn’t get paid for all the chores. I want him to realize that some chores are done because we are part of a team and the chores are still important even if he is not getting paid to do them.
Here are a few Chore Chart Printables I found for you:
How do you do allowances and chores at your house? Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you!
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Each week I'll send you the latest Resource Page. In it, you'll find
- Handy tips for focusing on positivity throughout your week.
- Tricks for getting your kids to listen to your every word (just kidding,Girl-- I'm still working on getting my kids to listen!) But I will send you fun activity ideas for you and your kids to do together.
- Useful tools that I come across, like meal planning ideas and such!
