Paying the kiddo for chores and such?

[mjr]

Trying to help my kiddo learn a little more responsibility, and give him the opportunity to earn some money. He's almost 11.

So I'm trying to figure out some things I can have him do to earn some money. I want him to understand that some thing are done just because he's a member of the family. But I want to give him things (like the ever popular "keep your room clean") to do where he can earn some money.

So I'm trying to figure out a few things to "incentivize" him with, and then a way to wean him off of it as he gets older, so it doesn't always become an expectation.

I'm also trying to figure out how much to pay for each task. We've thought about an allowance plus extra for the things he does.

He's not really materialistic, so I don't see him spending a lot of money. But just the idea that he can earn it (if nothing else, to put it in the bank) would be good for him.

Any thoughts or ideas?

[April]

I pay my kids for chores. Even regular household chores. Mainly because I got tired of hearing "Can I have?" and this gives them a way to buy their own stuff. They get a whole 5 dollars a week. They alternate chores each week. The chores are:
Taking out trash (daily)
unloading and loading the dishwasher (daily)
feeding and watering the cats/dog (Daily)
cleaning their room (weekly)
doing their own laundry (Frankly, I don't care if they do this or not. It's up to them if they want to be dirty)
cleaning their bathroom (weekly)
scooping the dog poop from the yard (weekly)
changing the cats litter boxes (weekly)
Picking up their random crap from around the house (Daily. should be hourly)

They are 15 and 12. They complained at the amount, but then their father and I wrote down everything we do to keep the house clean and most of it is a daily chore, so they stopped complaining. I have penalized by keeping some or all of the allowance if they don't do it, or if I have to fight them to do it. This summer, my 15 year old wants a job, so I will probably re-evaluate it then, as I'm not going to continue to pay allowance once they are working.

In the grand scheme of things, 5 bucks is probably pretty low, compared to what a lot of kids get, but it's been a valuable tool to teach them to save for what they want (for instance, my son will blow his immediately on starbucks, or candy, but then get sad in the middle of the week when he wants to buy something) and it was never meant to finance anything they wanted immediately. It's also made them quite inventive in finding ways to make money. They shovel driveways in the winter for 5 dollars, open a lemonade stand in the summer, they will rake leaves for people. It's funny, because they will offer to shovel a driveway for 5 dollars, and often times, the home owner gives them 10 or 15 dollars.

[AnaKhouri]

My 6-year-old has two kinds of chores: the kind he is expected to do just because we all live here and have to work together to keep it straight, and the kind he earns money for.

The expected stuff is cleaning up his own books and toys, making his bed in the morning, and setting/clearing the table after dinner and wiping the table down.

He gets 10 cents for putting away silverware from the dishwasher (he can reach the drawers), feeding the cat and giving her fresh water, helping me do the laundry (sorting and stuffing in the washer, measuring out the soap), changing the sheets on his bed, picking up sticks in the yard before Daddy mows, and helping to wash the car.

He gets 25 cents for helping me clean up his toddler brother's mess at the end of the day. That is worth more because it's usually not a mess he contributed to.

He has a bit of a lazy streak so we made his allowance directly proportionate to the amount of work he wants to do. He can refuse to do a chore, but can kiss the money goodbye. In a good month he can make $10-$12. Since there's always something he wants to save up for, he usually doesn't refuse a chore.

Since your kid is a little older, he can probably do more. Have him help with cooking, or home improvement stuff. It will also be teaching him valuable life skills. You can also use this to teach him how to budget; our son can spend the money he earns, but he has to have a 20% cushion that is still in savings before he spends any of his earnings.

[Kittish]

Start him on learning how to cook, and when he gets proficient in one or two meals, offer him the chance to cook dinner once or twice a week. Pay him a bonus for every meal or dish he learns how to cook correctly. Kitchen cleanup is PART of cooking, remember.

Cleaning and putting away dishes, laundry other than his own (done properly and moderately neatly folded or it doesn't count), sweeping and mopping uncarpeted floors, vacuuming carpeted floors, dusting, tidying up stuff not his own, whatever sort of yardwork you have like raking leaves or mowing or watering, putting trash out for pickup on the appropriate days.

Things like keeping his own room neat and clean (or at least a few steps lower on the total disaster scale) could maybe rate a small bonus, or you could make having the basics done a precondition to being able to earn more with other chores.

[mjr]

One thing I'm having trouble with is a "starting point" dollar amount. $5 seems too little, but $10 seems almost too much.

I do like the idea of giving him a certain amount, and then from there adding/subtracting based on what he does.

I'd like to have him develop good habits, too. I know his methods are controversial to some (and I'm not sure my wife would go for it), but I like the Dave Ramsey idea of give/save/spend. So if he earned, say, $10, I'd like him to have three separate containers. One for "giving" (i.e. charity, food pantry, whatever), one for saving, and one for spending.

I might even consider matching the "saving" one.

We have difficulty getting him to do his homework, too. So we may offer an incentive for that as well. If he starts it on time, and works diligently on it (of course, there will be exceptions), then he can earn money for that. Though this seems like it might set a bad precedent.

[Kittish]

$5 seems like a great starting point if he's going to have the opportunity to earn more.

My dad paid me for my grades. I got $5 for an A, $3 for a B, nothing for a C, I OWED them $3 for a D and owed $5 for an F. This was on top of a regular (though small) allowance. For the all too few years we had this arrangement, I brought home straight A's.

With the give, save, spend setup, by all means match the saved. Into a separate savings account that he can't touch until you hand it over when he moves out or buys a car or whatever major event you decide to designate. His own savings he can spend if he really feels the need, but the match amount just piles up for him. If you're feeling generous, you can even match his give amount (though I'm not sure I'd tell him if you were doing that).

Stuff like cooking a meal for the family should rate at least a match of his allowance. With dings to the amount for how much of a mess he leaves the kitchen in and how well the meal was prepared and whether it was on time for the regular meal (prepared way too early can be just as bad as too late, some dishes don't hold or reheat well).

Standard chores could potentially also match the base allowance amount taken altogether, IF they're done consistently and without nagging at him much. If they're not done, and you really want him to do them, start dinging his base allowance if he doesn't.

This gives him a potential to earn a significant amount each week ($15-20). It also leaves open the possibility of him getting nothing if he wants to be a lazy git.

[Sliceanddice]

Paying for chores has been shown to build work ethic as the child has to associate money/things with work. I was always given money for things like helping with laundry and stuff like that as a kid.

It doesn't just have to be money either you can offer incentives like permission for x or with older kids match contributions to something big based on performance which can extend to things like grades.

[iradney]

I had to earn pocket money from the age of six. My chores included: setting the table, washing the dishes, making a salad for supper every night.

I was not paid for keeping my room tidy, as that was a kind of "you live there, you keep it neat".

Working for pocket money from a young age does teach you the value of a dollar. If you want something but don't really need it, you don't always buy it because you know you can't just ask for more money when yours is gone. Also, if you save up and buy something like a new phone, you're more careful with it because you know Mom and Dad are not gonna replace it if you drop it in the pool or something.

My parents also opened a savings account in my name when I was little and put a little bit of money into it each month. When I was 18, I got the atm card for it. But I do think saying "you'll get $5 a week in pocket money, but at least $1.50 has to go into the savings account" would create good savings habits for when they're older.

And of course, if you pay them e.g. $2.50 for mowing the lawn, they might decide to offer their services to the neighbours as a way of getting extra cash, which is never a bad thing. But if they do, and they use your mower, they have to factor in the cost of gas and upkeep because they are essentially hiring the mower from you and will need to keep it gassed up and maintained.

tl;dr : I had to work for my pocket money as a kid, as a result, I understand the value of money and what you buy with it, I understand how budgets work and that credit cards are not free cash.

[BlaqueKatt]

easy method. cribbed from this for three kids

Get a "key holder" and some tags.
write down 5 daily chores on 5 tags(homework, bed made, etc.)these are on a keyring, those have to be completed daily for base allowance(which 5 chores=$5 is quite fair)
then figure out "extra" chores(dusting windowsills, vacuuming the living room, laundry) and assign a dollar value on the back of the tag(can be done with color coding)

Have the different hooks on the ring labeled: chores, completed, verified, paid, saved, charity.
at the end of the week pay out for the tags. (the paid/saved/charity are for the kid to determine once they move to verified-you can set that x number of tags minimum for each category)

[Heksubah]

As far as the homework bit... maybe don't pay directly for doing it, but establish it as a guideline towards his earnings. Example by what I mean: If he doesn't do his homework and have it ready for school, then for that week his spend money is withheld until he has a week of doing homework again. I wouldn't take away from the give or the save, but make it a criteria that if he wants spending money then he has to do his work. Maybe it could even be tied in as a, "I don't get money if I don't go to my job, so you need to do your work to earn your spending money too." That way it ties in as an example that everyone works for the things we enjoy.