We had lots of fun and this is what we ended up with....
These cute little jars are actually money/coin jars. You see....we are starting our allowance program!!!I'm excited to try this and REALLY hope it sticks. It's just as much work tracking as it is to actually do the chore, but two weeks into it and it seems to be working. There are plenty of ways to do allowance, but this is what we've decided to do:
Each child gets $1 per year old they are (Megan gets $7/week and Katelyn gets $5). From that they divide their earnings to each jar as follows:
50% savings
30% fun
10% giving
10% tithe
Each girl has their own chore chart and they have magnets for each chore completed. If they miss something, they are deducted. This program is as much for me as it is for them. I was doing too much random spending on them and it was not teaching them the value of money. The idea is that I will no longer purchase "random Target items" such as movies, toys, gum, etc. This will come out of their fun money. When their classroom has fundraisers, they can give from their giving jar. When they want to give the man on the corner with the cardboard money, they can. Savings isn't touched, we are just keeping that in their piggy bank.
Just yesterday, Katelyn and I were at the mall at Build-a-bear with a gift certificiate for $10 and that's all we spent. We looked through all the items and determined what she could purchase and she made her selection. Did she push for more?? Most definitely, but I reminded her that she could save up her fun money and buy whatever outfit she wanted. There was no whining or fussing. She is my "ask for everything under the sun and hope I've caught mom at a weak moment" girl, so I need this structure as much or more than she does. One small step towards financial $mart$!!!
So back to the crafting....I have a LOT to learn, such as a sheet is NOT a great protector of mod podge (called modge podge by yours truly up until quite recently). Thus, our kitchen table is currently being stripped down and restained. The mod podge was the last straw...the table was in bad shape! I won't give up the crafting, hopefully I won't wait 3 more years to attempt something new!
