Budgets and allowance
griesellists
We're on a very tight budget, and I'm finding myself needing to elicit the assistance of my children in making sure that ends meet. I've also realized that my husband and I are feeling frustrated at never having any spending money at all, even for a soda at work or a rolling pin. All of our money has had this guilt attached to it, that it all ought to go to savings or debt payments.
So, I've got a plan I've discussed with my oldest. This month, I put all of the numbers into the budget, and told him and his dad that if we came out under budget, the leftover money would go half into savings, and the other half divided evenly three ways so we would each have our own spending money.
I figured that would be somewhat more democratic than just handing out an allowance, and it could give us all an incentive to find ways to spend less where we can.
Two questions: How do you allocate spending money for your kids and yourselves? And second, what about the three year old? Should she be included yet, given that she doesn't really seem to grasp money at all?
Tamara
So, I've got a plan I've discussed with my oldest. This month, I put all of the numbers into the budget, and told him and his dad that if we came out under budget, the leftover money would go half into savings, and the other half divided evenly three ways so we would each have our own spending money.
I figured that would be somewhat more democratic than just handing out an allowance, and it could give us all an incentive to find ways to spend less where we can.
Two questions: How do you allocate spending money for your kids and yourselves? And second, what about the three year old? Should she be included yet, given that she doesn't really seem to grasp money at all?
Tamara
Debra Rossing
DS gets $5 per week payable twice per month when I get paid. I recently
asked him if he was good with that number (it's been the same amount
since he was about 5 or 6). He pondered a bit and decided that it was
fine but he'd let me know if it wasn't enough at some point :-)
As far as a your littlest, I think I'd set the 'share' of money aside
but just keep it in my pocket so it's available for her - that is,
instead of dividing the funds 3 ways, divide it 4 ways but don't
necessarily hand it over to her. Depending on her (since all kids are
different), you might explain to her that everybody in the family gets x
amount of money for their own 'stuff' - perhaps put it into an
equivalence she understands ... for DS, comparing monetary values/cost
of something to Burger King kid's meals worked well - he didn't know the
dollars and cents but he could evaluate "do I want/value Z as much as a
kid's meal?" But, in the end, you'll have to judge whether she's at a
point where it even connects with her or if you can just have it on hand
for if she wants something. However, given that there'll be discussion
of funds and all going on with the family, she might want 'her' money
tucked into her bag or pig bank.
Deb R
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asked him if he was good with that number (it's been the same amount
since he was about 5 or 6). He pondered a bit and decided that it was
fine but he'd let me know if it wasn't enough at some point :-)
As far as a your littlest, I think I'd set the 'share' of money aside
but just keep it in my pocket so it's available for her - that is,
instead of dividing the funds 3 ways, divide it 4 ways but don't
necessarily hand it over to her. Depending on her (since all kids are
different), you might explain to her that everybody in the family gets x
amount of money for their own 'stuff' - perhaps put it into an
equivalence she understands ... for DS, comparing monetary values/cost
of something to Burger King kid's meals worked well - he didn't know the
dollars and cents but he could evaluate "do I want/value Z as much as a
kid's meal?" But, in the end, you'll have to judge whether she's at a
point where it even connects with her or if you can just have it on hand
for if she wants something. However, given that there'll be discussion
of funds and all going on with the family, she might want 'her' money
tucked into her bag or pig bank.
Deb R
**********************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
the system manager.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.
www.mastercam.com
**********************************************************************
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Tammy Curry
Tamara,
We have been there and just recently were able to remember what spending money is. It is a very hard and worrisome situation. My husband and I would make a list of things that were needed and things that were wanted for ourselves and for our son and daughter. Our son is 4 yrs old but he does understand that you need money to get things. We helped our daughter with her list and told her that it was her choice to get wants over needs and she learned that needs came first and if there was money left from that it went to wants or was saved up over a period of time to get the want item(s). We helped our son decide by explaining to him that if he needed new shoes and wanted something that if he got the fun thing he sometimes wouldn't have enough to get the need thing. I got extra check registers from the bank and set one up for each of the kids so they could keep track and they each have their own piggy bank. It has taken some time but they did learn to make
good choices. It took a few times of mommy and daddy getting kiddo needs instead so that they would have what they needed.
We did divide the money equally between the 4 of us. The kids have learned fiscal responsibility. Now even when we go to the store for a regular grocery shopping or to get things for the garden or art supplies or whatever. They know we have to look carefully at prices and determine things that have to be bought before we get things that we simply just want. We are still dividing up the left over money and keeping the amounts that we all have the same as when we were on a very tight budget. We did ours weekly so the kids are getting $10 per week. Right now most of it is going into their own banks because there are some big ticket items that they would like. We are covering their needs as part of our budget since there really are so many things.
I am proud of them both for learning frugality (not penny pinch misers) and fiscal responsibility. This weekend my son should have enough for his spiderman bike and new helmet. My daughter has decided that she wants a small sewing machine and should be able to get that this weekend as well. Since they have had to save for their wants we have also noticed that they take better care of their things. We weren't at first but we learned quickly that we needed to be honest with them about finances. It is very hard for children at first to understand why we can't just go out and buy everything we see. We didn't do it in a OMG we are so broke kind of way. We simply sat down and said we have X amount of dollars and X amount of expenses. These expenses need to be covered before we can do anything else. So there were some weeks where spending money was not available. But it was ok because the expenses were covered and we were able to at least relax and know that
all was well even if there wasn't any extra.
Tammy Curry, Director of Chaos
http://tammycurry.blogspot.com/
http://crazy-homeschool-adventures.blogspot.com/
http://myspace.com/mamabeart00
________________________________
From: griesellists <griesellists@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 12:17:53 AM
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Budgets and allowance
We're on a very tight budget, and I'm finding myself needing to elicit the assistance of my children in making sure that ends meet. I've also realized that my husband and I are feeling frustrated at never having any spending money at all, even for a soda at work or a rolling pin. All of our money has had this guilt attached to it, that it all ought to go to savings or debt payments.
So, I've got a plan I've discussed with my oldest. This month, I put all of the numbers into the budget, and told him and his dad that if we came out under budget, the leftover money would go half into savings, and the other half divided evenly three ways so we would each have our own spending money.
I figured that would be somewhat more democratic than just handing out an allowance, and it could give us all an incentive to find ways to spend less where we can.
Two questions: How do you allocate spending money for your kids and yourselves? And second, what about the three year old? Should she be included yet, given that she doesn't really seem to grasp money at all?
Tamara
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
We have been there and just recently were able to remember what spending money is. It is a very hard and worrisome situation. My husband and I would make a list of things that were needed and things that were wanted for ourselves and for our son and daughter. Our son is 4 yrs old but he does understand that you need money to get things. We helped our daughter with her list and told her that it was her choice to get wants over needs and she learned that needs came first and if there was money left from that it went to wants or was saved up over a period of time to get the want item(s). We helped our son decide by explaining to him that if he needed new shoes and wanted something that if he got the fun thing he sometimes wouldn't have enough to get the need thing. I got extra check registers from the bank and set one up for each of the kids so they could keep track and they each have their own piggy bank. It has taken some time but they did learn to make
good choices. It took a few times of mommy and daddy getting kiddo needs instead so that they would have what they needed.
We did divide the money equally between the 4 of us. The kids have learned fiscal responsibility. Now even when we go to the store for a regular grocery shopping or to get things for the garden or art supplies or whatever. They know we have to look carefully at prices and determine things that have to be bought before we get things that we simply just want. We are still dividing up the left over money and keeping the amounts that we all have the same as when we were on a very tight budget. We did ours weekly so the kids are getting $10 per week. Right now most of it is going into their own banks because there are some big ticket items that they would like. We are covering their needs as part of our budget since there really are so many things.
I am proud of them both for learning frugality (not penny pinch misers) and fiscal responsibility. This weekend my son should have enough for his spiderman bike and new helmet. My daughter has decided that she wants a small sewing machine and should be able to get that this weekend as well. Since they have had to save for their wants we have also noticed that they take better care of their things. We weren't at first but we learned quickly that we needed to be honest with them about finances. It is very hard for children at first to understand why we can't just go out and buy everything we see. We didn't do it in a OMG we are so broke kind of way. We simply sat down and said we have X amount of dollars and X amount of expenses. These expenses need to be covered before we can do anything else. So there were some weeks where spending money was not available. But it was ok because the expenses were covered and we were able to at least relax and know that
all was well even if there wasn't any extra.
Tammy Curry, Director of Chaos
http://tammycurry.blogspot.com/
http://crazy-homeschool-adventures.blogspot.com/
http://myspace.com/mamabeart00
________________________________
From: griesellists <griesellists@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 12:17:53 AM
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Budgets and allowance
We're on a very tight budget, and I'm finding myself needing to elicit the assistance of my children in making sure that ends meet. I've also realized that my husband and I are feeling frustrated at never having any spending money at all, even for a soda at work or a rolling pin. All of our money has had this guilt attached to it, that it all ought to go to savings or debt payments.
So, I've got a plan I've discussed with my oldest. This month, I put all of the numbers into the budget, and told him and his dad that if we came out under budget, the leftover money would go half into savings, and the other half divided evenly three ways so we would each have our own spending money.
I figured that would be somewhat more democratic than just handing out an allowance, and it could give us all an incentive to find ways to spend less where we can.
Two questions: How do you allocate spending money for your kids and yourselves? And second, what about the three year old? Should she be included yet, given that she doesn't really seem to grasp money at all?
Tamara
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
stephanie_marshall_ward
Tamara, I really don't have any advice. I just wanted to say that I love this idea. I may steal it -- it seems like a more natural way to learn about money than having me hand out an arbitrarily chosen amount each month. FWIW -- My 14- and 10-year old each ger $10/week, and we haven't made a decision about giving an allowance to our 5 y/o yet. She's just now starting to "get" money. :-) As a matter of fact, she's been collecting spare change around the house, having me help her count it, and asking what she can buy with it. :-)
Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing what others have to say.
Stephanie
Sarah(14), James(10), Trishy(5)
Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing what others have to say.
Stephanie
Sarah(14), James(10), Trishy(5)
>
> Two questions: How do you allocate spending money for your kids and yourselves? And second, what about the three year old? Should she be included yet, given that she doesn't really seem to grasp money at all?
>
> Tamara
>
Tamara Griesel
As far as a your littlest, I think I'd set the 'share' of money aside
but just keep it in my pocket so it's available for her - that is,
instead of dividing the funds 3 ways, divide it 4 ways but don't
necessarily hand it over to her.
A good idea, given that she still thinks of money as something to try out her new scissors skills on.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
but just keep it in my pocket so it's available for her - that is,
instead of dividing the funds 3 ways, divide it 4 ways but don't
necessarily hand it over to her.
A good idea, given that she still thinks of money as something to try out her new scissors skills on.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Tamara Griesel
I think it will work better with my income, which can vary 300% or more between pay periods, and cannot be easily predicted. I wish I could figure out a good way to make the spending money payday come more often, but I haven't been able to make my budget work on shorter time scales. Expenses are just too lumpy.
Tamara
Tamara
--- On Thu, 3/12/09, stephanie_marshall_ward <momofmonkeys66@...> wrote:
From: stephanie_marshall_ward <momofmonkeys66@...>
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Re: Budgets and allowance
To: [email protected]
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2009, 10:25 AM
Tamara, I really don't have any advice. I just wanted to say that I love this idea. I may steal it -- it seems like a more natural way to learn about money than having me hand out an arbitrarily chosen amount each month. FWIW -- My 14- and 10-year old each ger $10/week, and we haven't made a decision about giving an allowance to our 5 y/o yet. She's just now starting to "get" money. :-) As a matter of fact, she's been collecting spare change around the house, having me help her count it, and asking what she can buy with it. :-)
Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing what others have to say.
Stephanie
Sarah(14), James(10), Trishy(5)
>
> Two questions: How do you allocate spending money for your kids and yourselves? And second, what about the three year old? Should she be included yet, given that she doesn't really seem to grasp money at all?
>
> Tamara
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Betj
I'm loving this. I know a girl who's 20 and her parents didn't even buy her clothes when she was in high school. I think it's terrible. Their excuses were that they had just gotten out of a bankruptcy and her mom was on so many meds she "forgot" her daughter NEEDED clothes. What's worse is they live and lived at that time on the lake in our town. I'm glad there are parents like me who will give their last dollar to their child. I was proud of my son today. He used my debit card and got 2 manga books. (I was out of cash and he left his money at home.) He didn't even ask but it's been a while since he got any and was going to the book store with my BF's daughter. I hate having to say "no" because of lack of money. This has helped me realize I'm not "spoiling" my son as so many people say.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----Original Message-----
From: Tamara Griesel <griesellists@...>
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:21:35
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Re:Budgets and allowance
As far as a your littlest, I think I'd set the 'share' of money aside
but just keep it in my pocket so it's available for her - that is,
instead of dividing the funds 3 ways, divide it 4 ways but don't
necessarily hand it over to her.
�
A good idea, given that she still thinks of money as something to try out her new scissors skills on.� �
�
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----Original Message-----
From: Tamara Griesel <griesellists@...>
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:21:35
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Re:Budgets and allowance
As far as a your littlest, I think I'd set the 'share' of money aside
but just keep it in my pocket so it's available for her - that is,
instead of dividing the funds 3 ways, divide it 4 ways but don't
necessarily hand it over to her.
�
A good idea, given that she still thinks of money as something to try out her new scissors skills on.� �
�
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Verna
> I'm loving this. I know a girl who's 20 and her parents didn't even buy her clothes when she was in high school. I think it's terrible. Their excuses were that they had just gotten out of a bankruptcy and her mom was on so many meds she "forgot" her daughter NEEDED clothes. What's worse is they live and lived at that time on the lake in our town. I'm glad there are parents like me who will give their last dollarwhen i was in high school my parents told me I should buy my own clothes, since i had a job. they felt it was part of learning to be responsible i guess.
i wasnt the type of kid who cared about what i wore so after along time with no new clothes my mom took me shopping. she couldnt stand it anymore.