A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

Chores.  The idea of having a few extra hands help out with some of the household tasks on a regular basis sounds so appealing to me.  I can just imagine myself sipping a cup of tea while my dear little ones do the dishes, scrub the toilets and do all of the yardwork.  Well, kind of.  At this point in life -having two preschoolers in the house - I'm not putting down my Swiffer just yet.  I know that Andrew and I are the ones who will do the majority of the household and yard chores.  However, instilling a sense of responsibility and helpfulness in our 5 and 3 year olds is something that we feel very strongly about.  We want to get them used to the idea that in our house, we all help out.  Likewise, we want to get them accustomed to having a small allowance and  understanding how their money is to be used.

I have pored over various pre-made chore charts and ideas on how to instill a working chore schedule at home.  Some of them looked better than others and many of them have components we wanted to incorporate.  So, I took some ideas I had heard or read about and combined them with my own ideas to come up with our own custom Martin Chore Chart.  Voila!

At our house, every chore on the chart is mandatory.  We want the kids to realize that certain tasks are an inherent part of being in our family.  They do not have a choice as to whether or not they will complete them.  They are not optional.  Likewise, they know that as long as they do their chores, they will get their allowance for the week.  No exceptions, no breaks.  The chores get done each day and at the end of the week they get their allowance for being obedient.

The chart that I created is done on a standard piece of poster board.  I made 9 columns - 1 for the chore headings, 1 to indicate a weekly activity and 7 columns representing each day of the week for daily chores.  I have blank spaces to add additional chores as the children mature and can take on more responsibility.  Each child has a different color button, which is represented in the key at the bottom of the chart.  The buttons are affixed with a square of Velcro and a strip of Velcro is placed in each relevant row on the chart.  When the chore is completed throughout the week, a button is Velcroed to the proper spot.  Mentally, I know which chores each child is responsible for but this can always be documented in a notebook as well.  As you can see, our green-buttoned 3 year-old only is responsible for two chores - cleaning his toys and wiping down the table at the end of dinner.  Our 5 year-old is responsible for many more, merely based on his age.  At the end of the week, the buttons are un-Velcroed and we start again for the next week.

 Our banking system is not very advanced, but it definitely works.  Each child has a covered square storage box.  I bought these at Target for about $3 each.  I painted their names on the outside of the box and inside are 4 cups, snugly fitted next to each other.  Each cup represents an area in our "bank" where a portion of the allowance will go.  Each week, the boys' $1 alowance is split up as follows. 

$0.10 - Tithe to church.  We want the kids to realize the importance of giving the first 10% of our income back to God.

$0.30 - Savings.  This money is collected for future savings.

$0.30 - Gifts.  This money is collected and will be used to buy birthday and Christmas gifts for their siblings.

$0.30 - Spending.  This money may be saved up for a special purchase.

The kids are young enough where the actual monetary value of the allowance is not yet relevant and the true lesson is basically to get used to the idea of being given money and having to manage it responsibly.  As they get older, we can increase the dollar amount of the allowance, if desired.

So far, this method has been the best yet for our family in organizing the chore responsibilities and equating their tasks with their allowance.  The boys eagerly do their chores so that they can put one of their colored buttons onto the chart. They encourage eachother to get their own chores done and never let me forget when it is time to dole out the buttons or, specifically, if it is pay day!  I think we will be keeping this up for quite some time and God-willing, it will be a valuable lesson in responsibility and financial management for our two little men. 

Write me some comments if you have any other solutions that may have worked for your family when implementing a chore chart.  I look forward to hearing your ideas!