My son, Christopher, also gets $1 per week. Since he loves buying things as gifts he needed to learn how to save to do so. He is also saving for his future. To make things easier he gets 10 dimes instead of one dollar at allowance time. We have a 3 part bank with a church, store & bank. He also has a train piggy bank. This is how the $$ works out:

1 dime in the church "for Jesus"
2 dimes in the train: for short term spending
3 dimes in the Bank: one for school, one for his 1st car (his idea), one for his 1st house
4 dimes in the Store: for long term spending (gifts & saving for an xbox - his idea)

For Christmas I will be getting him a little wallet w/ a coin holder.. although right now we use a ziploc snack bag. He can take his short term spending $ anywhere and spend it on what he wants.. Usually it is used at the dollar store on junk... although now he is spending it on his guinnea pig when he can.

When it comes time for birthdays and Christmas he takes out of the "Store" and his short term spending how much he wants to spend on that person. What ever he decides he wants to spend I will double it. (up to $10 per person). For my dh's birthday my ds bought him a running shirt , fly swatter & zester with the $15 he had to spend!! And he was so excited to give the gift he purchased with his own $$.

Christopher, can also earn $$ for doing chores around the house, and that gets divided up as best we can.. I usually try to pay him in 10 pennies or 10 nickles to make it easy though. Every once in a while when he does something extra special like helping his sister clean her room I give him a quarter or two to put where ever he wants.. it usually goes into the store.. but sometimes it ends up in the bank &/or church too.

Once a month we take all his change from the "Bank" and deposit it into his savings account. Once a week we take all his change from the "church" and if I can turn it into a dollar or two if I can, otherwise he just takes the change with him for his tithe. We don't condense the spending money until he wants to take it somewhere.

Most banks have coloring books for kids.

Dave Ramsey has a book for kids too.

my dd is 6 and she gets 5 a week for doing her chores, if the chores don't get done,. she doesn't get her money. and when she wants something, she has to use her own money to buy it. her allowance only started a couple of weeks ago, but so far she is doing good. and hasn't spent any of it. she is saving it up for a special barbioe that she wants that costs over 25.00!!! i refused to buy it for her so she has to save up her money.

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Kimberley

"there is nothing to worry about, just plenty to think about" from an episode of Extreme Makeover House edition

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I got this idea from an advertisement for a child's first bank that I saw in a baby magazine.

Give your child whatever allowance you decide, amount doesn't really matter.

Designate 4 areas: Spend soon, save for later, donate and invest. Let your child decide how to divide the allowance, but make sure that some amount is put into each category. Soon, children will learn if they put most of it in spend now, they will never be able to build up for a larger purchase. The donate segment is to teach them about charitable giving - help them discover their own cause. Lots of kids wind up interested in animal shelters or Christmas toy drive charities. The invest segment teaches them about long-term goals. You can even create your own family or community *market* - help your child discover local commodities and work with him. For example, if your child thinks it will be a great fall and wants to *invest* in pumpkin crops, let him! Check the sizes of pumpkins as they start hitting farmers markets, pumpkin patches and grocery stores - the bigger, better the pumpkins then the better your child's return! Of course this involves return payout from you, but it doesn't have to be big, and the returns can then be reallocated just like allowance! Its really fun!

When I was that age (7ish) My parents had all the kids open a savings account for kids (of course they had to put their name on it as well since we weren't old enough to have our own) it was really neat and I still have it to this day, it started out as a "Jammin Seafirst" account but it was taken over by Bank of America years ago.

It makes you as a kid feel important to go to the bank, you even got your own deposit slips with your name on them and a little card to slide at the teller station.

Try having him put half of his allowance in the savings account (eventually with my siblings and self it became a competition to see who could save up the most) plus! You can show him he earns money keeping it in his savings account!

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..Gavin..

Your husband is right. Let him make the money mistakes now, not later. Oh, he'll probably make them later, too. And keep in mind that the stuff your son is buying isn't 'junk' to him.

Your son just might turn out to be one of those enterpreneurs who finds a way to earn much more money so they can spend more money. I'd capitalize on that aspect. We do pay an allowance and don't put requirements on how DD spends her money (she saves rather well and is even donating to the church on her own). BUT if she wants more than her allowance, she has to market herself to other people or find some way to earn it. She can't do odd jobs for us. Even at the age of 5 (she's now 6), she has come up with a couple of different ways to make money. For instance, she is the one who was in charge of selling cold water bottles and sodas at our last garage sale.

So, if spend-thrift son says he wants more money because his allowance is gone, tell him to get crackin' on a way to earn more.

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