Raking Leaves

Here is the way things work in our family: Each person has their own responsibilities - cleaning their own things, doing laundry, helping with dishes, etc. If you do someone else's job you can ask to be paid. We pay if the kids clean toilets, mop floors, scrub the bathtub, etc. So when the kids want to buy something, we ask if they have enough money. Here Sweet Son wanted to earn money by raking leaves. We agreed.

Putting leaves into the can

Raking into piles

School Supply Donation

Last month I wrote about how Sweet Daughter used her own money to buy books for kids that don't have any. This month Sweet Son found something he wanted to donate.

He spent his own money buying these school supplies. We dropped them off at a local drive that was giving filled backpacks to kids in our school district. He picked out what they would need and did his best comparison shopping. I love that my kids love helping and are willingly spending their own money to help others who are less fortunate.

Donating

I have written more than once about how our kids divide their earning into 4 categories - save, spend, invest, and donate. As they get close to $5 in the donate, we start to talk about what they could donate. For the first time, they made different choices. She wanted to donate books to kids who don't have any.

After some quick research, we found that Half Price Books was hosting a book drive. They were also matching so for every book donated, they would donate one of their books. She was able to buy 9 books, so a total of 18 were donated. She picked the books herself, paid, and then put them in the donation box. She also used some of her spend money to take home one book for herself. I am so proud that my kids give to others and understand they are lucky to have so many things that others don't have.

Daily Photos

We do many things that I don't actually get photos of (I know that's shocking). Here are just a couple that Wonderful Husband took when he was working from home. He likes to sneak up on us to get candid photos.

This is us doing pay day. The kids are paid in pennies for jobs they do. I know I've mentioned this before, but the way we do this is they don't get paid for doing their own jobs (putting away their clothes, cleaning their rooms, doing their dishes, etc). They do get paid for doing our jobs (folding towels, folding my clothes, dusting, sweeping, etc). Different jobs are worth different amounts - 1 penny per towel and 5 pennies for sweeping for example. Then on pay day they sit down with their banks. I pay out what they are owed and they put it into their banks one penny at a time. The banks have 4 different sections - save, spend, invest, and donate, in that order. So save always gets the most. After they put their money into the correct sections, we go through each section one at a time to see if they can make any exchanges. They are really good at recognizing how much each coin is worth and how to change them for larger amounts.

One of them loves doing paperwork. This is one of the rare moments when they are both choosing to do it for fun. We have way too many coloring and activity books. Even Grandma was surprised!

First Purchases

I know I've explained how my kids don't get paid for their basic family contributions, but do get paid for doing extra jobs around the house. After saving up, they each had just over $1. I let them pick anything they wanted from the dollar store. (I did take them straight to the toy aisle before letting them look.)

She is holding up her pink maracas. He won't even look up from his blue truck. They were so happy to have something they earned and paid for. They also quickly learned that toys from the dollar store don't hold up to typical wear and tear from preschoolers. They decided next time they will spend more than $1 on a toy.

The best part of this experience from my perspective is when they ask for something. I simply ask if they have enough money to buy it. The answer is always no and they stop asking. I don't have to tell them no. I don't have to explain any more than that. They get it. They understand the value of money. There are times they will find out a toy costs $10 and say it's not worth that much. This is one of the best skills everyone, not just children, needs to have in our society.