Allowance

The girls get an allowance each week. I pay them so that they can very easily pay tithing and put 10% into savings right away. I pay them on Sunday morning to make it easier. I really like the method we use for allowance lately. I also really like the kids having to hold their own money and be responsible for it.

Last Saturday we went shopping at Target. Ever since we got the Wii our favorite place to visit is the Wii game aisle. The girls were discussing buying games and they decided they would really like to buy mario kart. It was funny to see them sit down between the aisle (where it wasn't too busy) and lay all their change and dollars out to count what they had. I liked that Ali could easily do this and she knew exactly how much she needed to buy it. When it was all said and done they were a dollar short.

I really just wanted to give them a dollar but for me giving an allowance isn't about them having money but it is more about them learning to handle the money they have. They simply didn't have enough. I explained that we never borrow money. Ali tried to negotiate us giving next week's allowance a day early but I didn't allow that either. I explained that in the real world checks never come early but they often show up late for no apparent reason. I also explained that we should make sure this was the cheapest price for mario kart around so that we didn't spend more outside. So they didn't buy the mario kart.

I guess we will see if they still want to buy it this week. They haven't said much. Isn't that just like an impluse buy? The next day you really don't need the item anymore. And if that is the case save your money for something that is important.

I also never buy anything for them if they don't have their allowance with them. They are responsible for bringing it and holding on to it. I also don't pay them their allowance if they don't have their wallets. Hopefully my kids can learn from their allowance financial skills that will last into adulthood.