Saturday is Budget Day. When it came to giving Connor money, his Mom and Dad decided to forego the traditional "allowance" and go with the less-popular budget. Every Saturday Connor gets three dollars: one for giving, one for saving, and one for spending. He has three different banks for storage, and looks forward to Saturday mornings as if it were a weekly holiday.
Connor splits his giving between offering for his Sunday School class and special projects. He prefers giving to orphans, so Dad hooked him up with worthwhile charitables like Samaritan's Purse and World Vision. He likes to give.
His savings is a long-term investment, so it's gone untouched since the inception of Budget Day.
His spending money is available to him at any time, to buy anything he wants (but Mom and Dad have veto power, which we exercise regularly). Usually Connor saves several weeks of spending budget to buy a new set of Legos, as that's his latest hobby. One dollar at a time isn't enough to buy anything quickly, so he augments his income with a "sticker chart". When he performs his daily jobs with a great attitude, or without being prompted, he earns a sticker. The total number of stickers earned by Budget Day determines how much more he puts in his spending bank. He can also earn extra money by doing special work around the house...or by selling old toys on eBay.
Needless to say, Connor thinks it's all a very fun game. We like it that way. We get to help him learn the principles of giving, saving, and delayed gratification...and it's easier for Mom and Dad to stop buying him everything WE want him to have. If we buy it for him, he can't save for it and feel good about his success. It's a win-win.
07.03.05 | Send E-Mail to ConnorJulian