pay your kids wages

This is a concept from Dave Ramsey in Financial Peace University & it has saved us a lot of money. His concept is associating money with work, and he's against the word "allowance." We implemented it with our daughter when she was 4, which felt wierd, but it kicked in soon enough. She has to earn her "fun money" by doing her chores - putting clean silverware away, helping feed the dogs, putting her clean laundry away & pairing our clean socks, etc. We also added being a good citizen when there were attitude issues. Every other week, she gets a payday, the day after her Dad's payday. We pay her in $1's and she puts 10% into the church offering, 20% into savings (a big canning jar in her room, then a savings account when it gets full), and the rest goes into her wallet. An Aunt and Uncle and cousins got her a pink leather wallet the year we introduced it, and even put some cash in it for her :-) She is even more interested in coupons when it means it takes less time to save up for things. When she decides she wants something, we offer to put it on her amazon wishlist (so she doesn't forget about it LOL!) or she can save up for it. She has become much more selective about things that she buys & the ones we buy for her, and pays attention to prices already - a great life skill as well as savings now. She ends up removing many things from her wish list because she lost interest without getting it. When she asks for McDonalds when we're on our way home, we tell her she can choose to spend her fun money on it or eat at home. It's amazing to see how she's changed, and we have a lot less of the "want" pressure from her now. We don't use a chart, but know many who do - Dave Ramsey has ideas on this, and I know there are charts available all over - sticker charts or dry erase or whatever . . . give it a try, especially with the holidays coming.