Cashless Allowance? Sign me up!
Are chores dreaded in your house? Do you have a chore chart or schedule for when certain chores need to be done? I am going to share with you how our family of 7 tackles and stays on top of chores.
This system has been so successful for our family. We have 5 children, ages 2, 6, 8, 9, and 14. Although the 2 year old isn’t worked into the system yet, it has been so motivating for all of our other children and our 2 year old sees the routine and has shown much interest in helping out, and even asks to do chores!
Monkey See, Monkey Do
First step in getting this system underway is setting up your chore charts. You can purchase these magnetic charts, which are perfect to stick on a refrigerator or you can create your own!
We use a wet erase marker for our chore chart so it doesn’t accidentally get erased. When we moved into our new home, we discovered that the refrigerator was not magnetic. We liked the charts so much that I was determined to figure out a way and a space to still use them. We have a mudroom and that is where we keep our wall calendar and I thought the chore charts needed to be in that space as well. I got some 3M magnetic tape and attached it to our broom cabinet door and it works perfectly to hang the chore charts.
Each of our 4 older kids have their own chart. Having the chart is a visual reminder of who needs to do what chores and when those chores should be done. Our kids know how to read or are at least on their way to knowing so they can look at the charts on their own and see what they are expected to do. Each kid has daily chores and weekly chores on their chart. Our family does “Saturday Chore Day” and the kids earn 1 gem by completing all of their Saturday chores and they earn 1 gem for every 5 daily X they receive on their chart for doing their daily chores. For example; making the bed is on everyone’s chart and they could earn up to 7 X’s for completing that chore all week.
Our Cashless Currency
Did I mention we have 5 kids? We are a one income family of 7 and the thought of giving cash allowance for chores wasn’t something we thought fit for us. We, did though, agree that some kind of rewards system would help motivate our kids with the chores they needed to complete. Our final idea came about from hearing several other methods of rewards systems and kind of combining them and using things we had a hand.
We had a bunch a flat glass marbles like these and other glass stones that we weren’t using otherwise. We took them and initiated our “Gem System.” Any colors will do for the marbles, and I would have at least 200 of them on hand. We made the small gems worth 1 gem each and the big gems worth 10 gems each. Each kid has a small mason jar that I just wrote their name on in permanent marker to collect their gems earned. On a piece of paper we have our Gem Store typed out. We hang the Gem Store by our wall calendar. We list different things that the kids can purchase with their gems and how many gems they cost. Cashless Allowance doesn’t necessarily mean it is totally free of charge for us, there are some things that are in the Gem store that will cost us money but you can modify your store list according to what will motivate your kids to get their chores done and get them done well.
Sunday is our pay day. We count up their X’s and if they completed their Saturday chores and then add whatever amount of gems they earned for the week in their jars. As parents you can definitely withhold “pay” if the chore is not done correctly, in a timely manor or with the right attitude. We have had our children redo chores that needed redoing and didn’t give them an X on their chart or a gem until it was done correctly.
Save or Spend Days
This system is great for teaching the kids how to save for something they might have their hearts set on getting. For our family we have “Day to Pray” which means that everyone is assigned a day of the week, where every meal that we gather at our kitchen table for, that person says the prayer.
To avoid our Gem Store from being overwhelmed any given day, we decided that when it is your Day to Pray it is also your day to Save or Spend your gems. When it is someone’s day to Save or Spend, they are not necessarily utilizing their purchase but they buy it and if it isn’t used right away it is written on their chore chart to use at a later time.
With the Gem System, we have been able to see which of our kids have a really easy time saving for something maybe more worth wild and which kids have great difficulty saving and instead spend every week on smaller perhaps less exciting items. This gives us opportunities to look at the Gem Store with the kids and ask them what they really would like earning and then encourage them to save until they are able to get that thing they really would rather have.
A much desired store item is the ‘Yes Night’ (inspired by this book) This could be a more expensive Gem Store item but it is something that motivates them to save and strive towards earning. One other item I would like to mention specifically is the ‘Reward Bin’. Choosing from the reward bin is a low cost item, and it is rather tempting for the kids as they instantly get something if they choose it.
We have created our Reward Bin with collected items like kids meal toys, stickers, small toys from goody bags or the dollar store, small crafts or games, hair accessories or key-chains. The items are either free to us or very inexpensive. The Reward Bin is constantly changing and being added to.
No Take-Backs
A really tempting thing for us parents to do after starting the Gem System is to take gems away once they have been earned as a consequence. We choose not to take gems away for any reason and keep consequences separate from our Gem System. We feel that taking gems away would discourage the kids from being motivated to earn them and in turn would affect their eagerness and the quality of their work performance with their chores.
Now that you see how we tackle chores in our house and how we keep up with tasks, all of us playing our part in allowing our home to thrive, I hope you can take all or some aspects of our method, modify it and apply it in your home. I truly pray that you are able to initiate this ‘teamwork makes the dream work’ kind of attitude in your home. When your children are able to start helping even in the smaller tasks like pairing socks or cleaning knobs and switches, that you bring them into the process, allow them to feel helpful, useful and like a treasured tool within your home and family.
If you decide to use a Cashless Allowance for your children, I would love to hear about any modifications you make and how your kids are responding to it. Are they more motivated? Are chores less dreadful? Is it helping your family thrive?
Mom, you are capable!
AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES
