Family Economy

I know I don't post that much. Erin does such a great job, but I sure love reading about everything she's doing with her family, so I thought I'd share what we are going to do this year with our new "Family Economy."




I've got a new job system. I have been through many. I've liked all of them for their time and the ages of my kids. Then I get bored and uninspired and don't follow through and I need something new. I read the book "The Entitlement Trap" by Richard and Linda Eyre and was inspired by their family economy. Our family is going to implement a system of earning, saving, and spending money based on many of the ideas they presented in their book.

Each of the children can earn up to four tickets a day. The tickets are kept on the far right peg of a 5 peg board that was used for a job chart system called Accountable Kids. (That was a good one. We used that job chart for a long time.) The other 4 pegs are where they will hang the tickets after the job is completed.

The first ticket is put on after their "Morning Magic" is completed by 9am. This entails getting yourself up, making your bed, getting dressed, hair, breakfast, teeth, read scriptures, prayer, and ready for homeschool by 9am.

The second ticket is for practicing their instrument.

The third and fourth ticket are for two jobs that will rotate from month to month. That is why they are on sticky notes in the photo, so I can move them around.
The rotating jobs are :
Kitchen- empty dishwasher before breakfast and clear the table and load the dishes after dinner.
Trash/Laundry- On Monday, Wash, dry and put away clothes. On Thursday put the bins out to the curb in the morning and bring them back in at night. Also, take all trash out as needed.
Meal Helper- Help cook, set table or counter, get water for everyone.
Luke's helper- Play with Luke and help him with anything he needs as Mom asks.
Upstairs pick up- Check floor, counters, desks and put everything in its place.
Downstairs pick up- Check floor, counters, desks and put everything in its place.

At the end of the day, the child will put however many tickets they earned into a family bank (just a box.)
They do their jobs for the 5 weekdays and then Saturday is PAYDAY! We will pull the tickets out of the family bank and see how much they earned! The older boys (ages 8 and 9) are earning actual money that will be deposited into their checking accounts at Bank of America. They will pay tithing, put some money in savings, and the rest is for spending. The boys will be responsible from now on for purchasing their own shoes, clothes, entertainment, and gifts.
Eliza (age 5) is earning money to buy a vending machine to put into my husband's store. After she pays that off, she'll probably save up her tickets for specific toys she wants, or TV watching privileges or something. I don't know quite what yet.

I'm looking forward to more help around the house and for the kids to really feel ownership of their money and their things.