How do your kids earn money for The things they want? or do you judt get them the things!!

my youngest who si 5 wants the New Nikki Doll from American girl store (she is half way there from birthdya money and my oldeat who will be 7 at the end of the month wants AMerican girl stuff as well!!)

I have always believed that housework is a family thing and expected as being a part of a family!! but I am kinda thinking it would be nice for them to learn about money and to be able to buy some things they want!! and to learn to SAVE for what they want!!
anyhow What do you do???

My 5-yr old gets an allowance. Right now she's saving up for a drum set. She has saved up for lots of things in the past. After Christmas, she pooled all her money to purchase toys she really wanted but didn't get from Santa. Over my best wishes, she purchased an Easy Bake Oven and a My Little Pony Magic Castle. There were other things she wanted but couldn't afford so she made some hard choices.

With my other kids, I didn't pay for chores unless it was something I would have paid someone else to do anyway. So, as DD grows older, she'll either have to convince me she is up to the task or advertise her services around the neighborhood (pulling weeds, babysitting, house sitting, etc.)

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

My kids each get $5 per week for allowance (12 and 9). They're fabulous savers and they use their money to buy what they want, they donate etc...it's not tied to chores in our house. It works out well for us.

Good luck!

My DS eight - gets $7.50 a week - of which $5.00 he can spend or whatever and $2.50 has to go into his bank. To get this each week - he has to gather up all of the trash in the small trash cans through out the house once a week. He also has to keep his room tidy. I think if they are getting an allowance of any size - it just helps to teach them values if they have some kind of chores to show they are earning the money.

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Vickie in Georgia...

My kids are exactly the same age, and get exactly the same amount of $$ each week... Ds is a *horrible* saver... if he has money, it burns a hole in his pocket 'till he spends it ... my dd has $25 and is going shopping this Sat. with it... I don't require them to save this.. but birthday and Christmas money gets split in 1/2 and 1/2 goes to savings... 1/2 for whatever their little hearts desire...

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~@~ Carla ~@~

Dave Ramsey has a really good book out on teaching kids about financial responsibilities, etc. He agrees, too, that there are some things that they should do simply because they live there..but there are ALWAYS other things we can come up with for them to do to EARN (he doesn't recommend, and neither do I to GIVE except for special occassions) money!

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My kids get an allowance if their chores are done and we have a list of extra chores they can do to earn extra money. My oldest babysits for some of our neighbors and he is very good about saving his money for things he wants.

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DS-16
DD-13
DD-5
DS-3