Pocket Money - How we do it in our home
We often find ourselves talking/imagining our boys when they're grown, do you do that too? Because Eli is that much older than the little boys him being able to drive & babysit are frequent daydreams...⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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He (Eli) recently brought his first vehicle, a scooter lol! This is our first year giving him an allowance for his chores & this was the first thing he's saved up for. We've been using an app called Rooster Money to take care of it, he gets a weekly allowance as renumeration for his work & has four money pots that sit in his Rooster Money account read for his to distribute his money;
- Savings Pot
- Donations Pot
- Goal Pot
- Spend Pot
He saves 10%, donates 10% & then he chooses how he wants to split the remaining between his spend & goal pots. We use the free version of the app & it works well for us. Eli knows that 'payday' is at the end of the week so he independently transfers the money he's earned correctly to the right pots (I do check).
My favourite feature is probably the transaction history, it allows you to put in reasons/explanation when moving, removing or adding money so there is no room for inaccuracy or debates. I also like that a picture can be added to the goal pot allowing the child to visualise what they are working for & see the toggle moving upwards as they work towards their purchase.
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Do you do pocket money? We hadn't up until this year but we'd felt that Eli was demonstrating some entitlement, an un-appreciation for our hard work that allows us to pay for the many things he had & a tendency to resist when asked to help other family members. In our home Eli has a set list of chores, he knows what they are, he knows when he is supposed to do them & he knows that there will be consequences for not completing them. In addition to his daily jobs he knows that he will be asked to do other tasks for others, normally his younger brothers who are less capable than him. We're really noticing a positive change.
Rooster Money gives 9 tips for organising your household chores, many hands make light work & it's teach too. We don't have a chore chart per-say but we should so I've whipped up a real basic but universal one that you can print off & even laminate & reuse - Enjoy!
Ren, X.
