Chore Chart: Part 2

My previous post covered how to make a chore chart and what chores we have for my 5 year old.  This post is all about the money!  The entire point of the chore chart was the money.  I wanted Lane to learn two things from his chores.  The number one most important thing is that if you don't work you don't get paid.  Laziness is NOT acceptible.  Number two is how to use money wisely.  I want him to be able to handle the sometimes difficult balance of saving and spending.

My hope is that when he grows up, he will be a productive and responsible member of society.  I want him to be independent and hard working.  What I came up with is a mixture of allowance and a Dave Ramsey influenced plan. 

This isn't a typical allowance.  I call it allowance only because I have allotted up to $5.00 a week, but he has to work for it.  Here is how it is broken down:

10% (50 cents) Church
25% ($1.13) Savings
65% ($3.37) Spend

Add it all up and it's a grand total of a possible $5.00 a week!

Here is where it gets more complex.  The church and savings money is paid each week to the appropriate jar.  The spend money is where the chore chart goes to work.  For each incomplete chore, 8 cents is deducted.  So for example, last week he was having a lazy Sunday and the only thing he did was feed the dog.  Four other days, he didn't pick up his toys.  That left a total of 8 chores without flags at the end of the week.  64 cents deducted from the possible $3.37 left him with $2.73 for the spend jar.

Techincally, I do understand that in the real world he wouldn't be paid the money for tithe or savings because it is given out regardless of the amount of work he does.  He is 5 and doesn't know that yet so I'm getting by with it.  I want him to learn that tithe and savings are extremely important and MUST be done.  He is very excited and proud to put his 50 cents in the offering plate every week!

Feeding the dog and online preschool lessons are mandatory.  They are done around the same time every day or Monday-Friday for preschool.  The rest is different.  I remind him once a day that he has certain things he needs to do in order to get his flag, but I don't nag him.  If he chooses not to do something, then he won't get money for it.  Before we started this system, I did make it clear that quitting wasn't an option.  If he continually doesn't complete the entire chart there will be consquences. 

We didn't do anything fancy for a piggy bank.  I spend $2.00 on a roll of ribbon to go with 2 rolls I already had.  I found 3 mason jars around the house, 2 small ones and 1 large.  I let Lane pick what color ribbon went with the church, savings, and spend jar.  Just tie one ribbon of each color onto the jar so you can tell the difference.  Instant piggy bank!  Orange is church.  Red is savings.  Blue is spend.  You can pick whatever size jar you want.  They could all be big or little or various like ours.  Savings won't be spent so that's why it gets the big jar!  Here is the finished product (once again forgive my cell phone quality photo!):

 

 

 

Lane's piggy bank jars stay on top of the fridge mainly because I have a toddler running around who gets into EVERYTHING, but they're also very conveniently located right above the chore chart.  I hope this helps give you some ideas.

Chore Chart: Part 1

My oldest son is 5 years old.  When he turned 3, I started toying with idea of creating a chore chart.  I tried different things, but I wasn't ever really happy.  The one he used for a few months was broken down into morning and night time chores, 4 for each time of day.  The thing I hadn't considered when I made it was there were things on his list he couldn't do by himself.  I either ended up doing it for him or he wasn't able to help enough that I felt he really earned credit for that chore.  Finally one night about 10:30, I decided that I was going to make something that actually functioned for him and me.  This time I did think about things he should be required to do every single day, but that he can do completely by himself or with very little help.  My husband and I agreed on 6 things for every day.  Feed the dog, make bed, get dressed, do preschool lesson, pick up toys, and put dirty clothes away.  Feeding the dog is the only thing he needs a little help with and then he only needs some one to carry the full water bowl to the dog.  I do his preschool with him, but he doesn't usually need any help with his online lessons, and I only require it 5 days a week just like regular school.  For reference, we having been using ABCmouse.com for about a year now.  Making the chart is really easy!

Supplies:
1 piece 11 in. x 14 in. White Poster Board
Glue or Tape
Pencil or Pen
Ruler or some type of straight edge

I googled clip art to match the various chores on my list.  I just copied and pasted the clip art on a Microsoft Word document and wrote the chore name underneath each picture.  That way my son can figure out the chore by the picture until he learns to read or anyone who is babysitting can read the label instead of being left to translate the hieroglyphics that I come up with.  I typed up the days of the week and a title. 

1.  Print and cut out each picture, day of the week, and the title.
2.  Glue or tape the chore pictures on the left side.
3.  Glue or tape the days of the week across the top.
4.  Glue or tape the title at the top.
5.  Use a ruler or straight edge to draw lines across the rows and down to make columns.

That's it!  I didn't have to buy any supplies for this which it even better.  You can decide on what you want to use to fill in the boxes.  We are using Post-it Flags currently.  My clip art icons ended up being large enough that the columns/rows are the right size to fit the flags.  Honestly, the reason we use those is because I had them left over from college so free seemed great!  The flags are sticky enough you can reuse them.  We just stick them on the refrigerator when we clear the chart.  You could even cover the entire chart with contact paper so that stickers would come off easily or possibly even create a dry erase type surface.

Here is the finished product.  (Please forgive my cell phone quality photos.  My camera was broken a while back and I just haven't gotten around to replacing it.)