Get Financially Fit: Jr Edition

A year and a half ago, we took Dave Ramsey's financial peace class at church. One of the many, many, many things we learned from this class is that being financially responsible is not inherent. It must be learned and practiced. One of Dave's tips in teaching your children how to manage money well is to pay them, not an allowance, but a "commission" for extra work done. I wrestled with this initially. I want my son to help around the house because he's a benefiting member of the household. He should be a contributor. But Dave does make a distinction between HOUSEHOLD chores, such as keeping your room clean, putting away your laundry, and helping clear the dinner dishes, and EXTRA chores - those that are not a part of the child's daily routine.

We decided to try this at our house. Our son is five, and he is old enough, big enough, and strong enough to help with many things, actually. I was surprised at the number of things he could do once we got the ball rolling on this. The way we got the ball rolling was:

1. We talk to him about money. Just like every kid, when we go to the store, he asks for things. My response is always the same. "No Charlie, that costs extra money." And because my child asks 5 million questions about everything, he's been told many times that one of the reasons Mommy and Daddy go to work is so that we can earn money to pay for things like our house, our cars, our food, his bed, his blankets, his clothes - everything cost money.

2. He does the transactions. When we go to a store, or a restaurant, Charlie talks to the clerk or waitress and we have him handle the money. We give him the correct amount, but he makes the transaction and receives the change. Often, we will give him the coins for his own "money collection."

So by the time he was ready to start doing chores and making commissions, he had a working understanding of money. Dad and I decided ahead of time that we would invite Charlie to help us with our chores at a rate of $.25 per chore. Charlie loves to stop by the donut store on the way to school, so I explained that in order to buy one doughnut, he would have to do three chores to have enough. We started a few weeks ago, and here are some of the chores he's been doing to make his quarter:

-sorting laundry

-putting laundry in the machine/taking laundry out

-putting laundry that isn't his away

-helping empty the dishwasher

-helping load the dishwasher and starting the dishwasher

-helping get gas at the pump

-helping clean out the car

-helping Dad in the yard

-taking out the trash

So far, every time I've suggested he do an extra chore, he's jumped at it. He's even brought along a little stuffed animal to help him a few times. Last night, we decided to total up all the money in his money collection. I saw a used coin sorter for three dollars online, so Rick picked it up and we went about transferring the coins from his baby piggy bank to his big boy piggy bank.

He had quite a bit to begin with… it had $10 in it when he received it, and we have added change here and there. It took quite a long time to sort it all! When I was said and done, his total was:

Not bad at all. And the boy was excited. And Mom and Dad were a little bit excited too.