How Difficult Is A Freaking Allowance?

   So Eldest Son has his first allowance and even a bank account to put that money in to.  I never thought something so simple as an allowance and teaching a kid savings would be so difficult, but suddenly I was swamped with things such as, “How much should I pay the kid?  How much work should he be required to do?  Should I just let him freely spend it?  Should I have him put it in a piggy bank or in a real bank?  If a real bank, which one?  How can I teach him to not spend his money as fast as it comes in?”  Good Grief!  That’s a lot of responsibility just to give a kid an allowance!

   My folks tried many forms of allowance.  I remember getting dollar amounts every week, I still have no idea how they came to the numbers they got.  I know that I wasn’t always good at minding my responsibilities, and my folks didn’t always remember to have cash handy come pay day.  Eventually, and it wouldn’t take long, the allowance would be forgotten again.  I think my favorite attempt was at a system where my brother and I each had a jar.  For each chore we did, we’d get a slip of paper to put in the jar, with an amount written on it, such as 50 cents, 25 cents, 1 dollar.  The idea was to save up these little slips until they amounted to enough to buy something.  I think we’d worked each of us up to like $100 and mostly by way of fighting with Mom and Dad until they’d write the stupid paper, not so much actually doing the job.  Yeah, they never paid that one out. 

   Thankfully, my Eldest Son has a more mature mind than I do.  He’s very happy to help out, and very handy to hold us accountable for our part of it.  He’s seven.  His chore list isn’t large.  Keeping his room clean is difficult even for the adults, because there are two kids living in there and no freaking storage.  But he is required to make his bed every day, and it is a top bunk.  He’s learning how to load his own dishes in the dish washer.  He helps in the garden, and in the kitchen.  He helps with laundry and with his babies.  And, best of all, he goes out to the back yard to scoop the dog poop. 

   I determined I needed a number.  I needed something that wouldn’t make me go broke, and would be financially manageable.  I also realize that with time, he’s going to want to negotiate for raises.  And in my old feeble mind, I might just not be able to keep up with him and am likely to bargain myself into shelling out millions.  So I came up with the idea, 50 cents per year of age.  He’s 7, that  makes for $3.50 a week.  By the time he’s 17, that will be $8.50 a week.  Anything over that, he’s gonna need to get a job.  If I have pre set numbers, there is no negotiating with the feeble minded Mommy….

   There will be no paying half if he has a so-so week.  It’s all or nothing. 

   He has several accounts for his future nest building.  If I was to go with a bank account, I wanted a totally separate one that he can just use for his own spending and saving, nothing to do with his nest egg.  We tried to just let him keep his money in his wallet, but then when we wanted to use some, we’d have to divide off what he wasn’t going to use and put it in his dresser drawer so it wouldn’t go missing.  Then we’d forget it was there entirely, and think it was lost.  Cause for plenty of heartbreak when the kiddo would want to spend on something but suddenly couldn’t.  And what is he learning from that?  Not much.  So I figure with a bank account, he can learn depositing, withdrawing, and assorted responsibilities associated with such, and as an added bonus, his money would be safe. 

   Now the question was, which bank.  Nice thing is, for minors, there are nice laws and policies that pretty much level the field.  Accounts are free, taxes are easy, and all is good.  So what had potential to be the most difficult of these decisions was limited to simply convenience.  Navy Federal is too far away to need to make a weekly deposit, or even an every other week deposit, and small withdrawls for a kid to shop.  I have an account at Wells Fargo that I use for the mortgage.  There is a local branch, so that’s where we headed.  It’s super easy to set up an account when the adult already has one there. 

    So then it was the fun part of taking the kid to go get his account.  He was so cute, very worried about what happens to his money if the bank was to get robbed.  We met with Mrs. Sarah who helped us through the whole process and made him feel much better.  She got him hooked, and he so happily filled out his own first deposit slip.  We went over to my favorite teller, and he was so proud to hand him the slip and his 20 dollars.  He has his own book to track his funds, and now brags to everyone that he has a bank account.

   Now the next step.  I don’t want him to pick a shopping goal, save up just that much, and have all his money gone, so I decided he needs to save 150% of whatever the cost.  SO, if he wants something that costs $20, he needs to save $30.  And some of his remaining will be required to go to charity of his choice.  Even if it’s just a dollar, it’s an important lesson, I think.  He’s picked out a Nerf type gun he wants to save up for.  I’m going to put a picture on his calendar of it, to remind him what he’s saving for and about when he should be able to buy it.