Teaching our kids the value of a dollar

School starts for us next week which means new routines and expectations at our house. I busted out our chore charts and updated them this week. I’d like to say we’ve been consistent and have made our kids do their daily and weekly chores throughout quarantine and this summer, but Jesus doesn’t like lying. I believe the date I erased (okay..scraped and scratched because it had been on there so long) was the middle of January, so I can’t even blame Corona. With our kids getting older and busier, it’s harder to keep up with chores, but I also think it is the most valuable time to do so. There are so many times as an adult that we have to prioritize and do things when we literally have no motivation because it’s been a long day. I think giving kids a little preview (just a small one, I don’t work my kids that hard), is a great learning tool.

In our house, you have daily and weekly chores. Daily chores consist of things like making your bed, putting your clothes in the hamper and clearing your dinner dishes. Weekly chores are larger tasks such as filling the dog’s food bowl, emptying the dishwasher and putting away laundry. My kids are four and six, so the chores they do are age-appropriate. Older kids can take on more responsibility and younger kids may need less (although I would argue my two year old can do most of these things just as well as her older siblings, if not better!). Doing a quick Google search will get you a TON of sample chore lists based on age.

We’ve gone through our fair share of chore charts, mainly because I’m picky. This is the one we have right now (linked below). I like it because it has daily and weekly tasks, plus room for two kiddos. I’ll have to invest in another one when my youngest gets a bit older. We’ve also done magnetic charts in the past. The trouble with that one, if it is close enough for the kids to reach, they can move the magnets around. With the one we have, the kids can put check marks because the markers are in reach, but if they are putting them without me knowing, I can usually spot a check mark made by a kid versus me.

I have found that the more you involve the kids in making and keeping the chore chart up to date, the more ownership and pride they have in completing their tasks. I asked the kids what chores they thought they should do, and they came up with most of these. Each night, after dinner we go to the chore chart and mark what they’ve done for the day. My kids are super competitive by nature, which motivates them to get more points each day than their brother/sister.

Now for the rewards part...and the biggest part of my message today. At the end of each week, the kids get money for each chore they completed. They get a nickel per daily chore and a dime per weekly chore (remember, my kids are young...you may need to up this depending on the age of your kid). We have three jars for the kids to put their money in. Half of the money goes in their “spend” jar, a quarter of their money goes in their “give” jar and a quarter of their money goes in their “save” jar. Right now they use the same jars because, again, they are young and more excited for the change and don't exactly understand that you buy things with it. Eventually I’ll get them each their own set.

Financial wellness and knowledge is a huge priority in our house. My husband works in the financial sector so he sees firsthand what happens when individuals don’t know how to manage their money. We honestly run our household finances like a business. Every expense is accounted for in a Google Drive budget document. We have savings accounts for big ticket items such as a new vehicle, home repairs and our kids’ future vehicles. We even have savings accounts for our two daughters’ weddings already (and have since they were born). My husband is frugal, which can be maddening at times, but it also allows us to plan and live a less anxious life knowing that we are taken care of in times of uncertainty. I tease that he is a doomsday prepper but it’s honestly one of the things I love most about him because I know my family’s needs will always be met.

Our process with the chore charts and spend/save/give jars helps teach these concepts at a lower level. As I said, my kids are still too young to understand fully that money is used to buy things. They know mommy and daddy go to work each day to earn money to buy food, clothes and toys for them, but they don’t understand that those coins they are getting each week can actually buy things, as well. My six year old understands you have to have money, but doesn’t understand the value. She would rather have five one dollar bills than a ten dollar bill.

To help them understand, this fall when we count out their earned coins each week, I am going to talk to them about how much money they are getting and what they could buy with that money. For example, “you earned 38 nickels and 15 dimes, which means you have $3.40. You can spend half of it, which is $1.70. What do you think you could buy with that?” I think coming up with tangible items that they could buy with that amount will help them understand the value of the money they are earning, plus give them incentive to do chores and earn more money if they have a certain toy or game in mind they want to purchase themselves.

For their saving and giving jars, we explain the “why” behind these. Why do we save money? We can save up to buy something big we want. We can save if we don’t have anything we want to buy right now but may want to in the future. We can save so we have money in case something bad happens (this is a harder one to articulate to kids). Why do we give money? We give money to those less fortunate that we are. We give money because God commands us to. We give money to show our appreciation. We give money to show our support. The giving one is a much easier concept to explain as our church reinforces this idea with offering and tithing curriculum.

I used to teach a general education college freshman class and it was astounding how many 18-19 year olds did not know how credit card or student loan interest worked. Many of them didn’t even know how to balance a checkbook. Between that experience and my husband’s career, we prioritize teaching our children financial and economic skills. With classes like consumer’s education being cut across the board, it’s important that we teach these lessons at home. And let’s face it, the better they can manage their money, the less likely they are to live in our basement when they’re 40 :P