Kids' Chore System (Take 1)

I am here to ashamedly admit that we have not had a chore system for our kids.  Ever.  Until now.

Jared has too much commute time, and he's been spending that time listening to too much Dave Ramsey.  So he and I talked about how we wanted a chore system to work in our house.

I'm sharing with you what we are currently doing.  We are only on week 3, so I'm sure we will make adjustments as we go.

First, we made a list of possible jobs for the kids.  Then we assigned 5 jobs to each child.  The others became "extras."  Each child must complete their personal five chores all week long in order to be paid their weekly allowance of $5 on Saturday (pay day).  They will receive an additional $1 for each extra job they complete.

So just to clarify, their regular chores are worth $1 each for an entire week of completion, no matter how many times they do each chore.  The extra jobs are worth $1 per job.  Make sense?

I made a simple table to show the chores, and I put it in a super cheap picture frame (it's actually a document frame so it's 8.5"x11" but you could trim your chart and use an 8"x10" frame).  I glued magnets onto the back of the frame so it could hang on our fridge.  We also glued a magnet onto a wet-erase marker.  The kids use this to tally their extra jobs for the week.

Most of the kids' chores are self-explanatory.  We divided the basement into two sections, and Griffin and Nora are each in charge of keeping a section clean.  "Laundry" means the kids have to gather the dirty laundry and sort it by color.  After I fold all the clean laundry, they each have to put their own laundry away (including putting their hanging clothes on hangers and hanging them in their closets).  I take care of my clothes, Jared puts his own away, and I do the towels, wash cloths, etc. 

The second part of this system involves what to do after they are paid for completing their chores. 

The kids are required to split their allowance between Give, Save, and Spend envelopes.  We pay the kids their $5 in all one dollar bills.  They put $1 into the Give envelope, $2 into Spend, and $3 into Save.  When we explained the system to the kids, Griffin immediately said, "But $1 is more than 10% of $5."  That kid is too smart for anyone's good.

So normally we tithe 10%, but for the sake of simplicity, the kids give $1 each week.  We pay them on Saturdays so they can take their Give dollar to church on Sundays.  We set a cap that they can only earn up to $10 per week (for chores plus extra jobs), so technically they are tithing 10% of their highest potential earnings.

I am working on making the kids fabric zipper pouches for their Give/Save/Spend envelopes, but I'm not nearly finished.  So for now we had them label regular envelopes.  We also required them to list at least 3 goals on their Save envelopes so they can have a clear savings goal in mind.

Griffin's envelopes

Nolan's envelopes

Nora' envelopes

The kids' personalities totally came out during our family meeting about the new system.  Here are their comments:

Nolan:  "Can I just save my Spend money?"
Griffin:  "Can I spend my Save money?"
Nora:  "Can I decorate my envelopes?"

So far this system is working very well.  We are noticing that Nolan's jobs come up more frequently, so we may shift a few things around.  That should go over well.

At least we are finally making progress teaching our kids about money!

Jessica

School Money Printable

Today is another milestone for Nolan:  he's eating school lunch for the very first time.

Last year (in kindergarten), he wanted to try getting hot lunch, but he always ended up changing his mind and just wanting to take his lunch instead.  Last week he told me that he wanted to try a school lunch when they have cheese pizza (or "chizza" as he calls it) because "that seems to be a big hit," according to Nolan. 

I actually have no idea how much a school lunch costs these days.  Believe it or not, I searched for quite a while and couldn't find that information anywhere.  So, I decided just to send $5 to cover today's lunch and possibly another if he decides to buy a hot lunch again.

I sent the money with an adorable free printable from AnythingButPerfect.com.

You can download this adorable free printable in four colors here.

But HURRY!  Their website says that all their free printables will be deleted February 28, 2013 (which has already passed).  Click here to see all of their adorable free printables!

Happy Friday!
Jessica

Earn Money on Your Christmas Purchases

Ok, let me start by saying this post is sponsored by no one.  These are my opinions and experiences.  I'm just a girl who believes that when you find something good, you share it with people so they can benefit too.

Many of you are going to be making a lot of purchases in the next month (or maybe you're nearly done with your Christmas shopping).  I wanted to share two ways you can earn money back on your purchases.  These are things I already do when I make online purchases, so I can vouch that they are legit.

1.  Ebates and Shop At Home

These two websites pay you cash back for shopping online through their sites.

How it works:  First, go to the Ebates or Shop At Home website.  Then search for the store/website you will be purchasing from.  Click "Shop now" and the store website will open in a new tab.  Then you just complete your shopping and check out as usual.  You will then be awarded the appropriate percentage of your purchase total into your Ebates or Shop At Home account.

Ebates sends you cash back payments ("Big Fat Checks") quarterly as long as you've earned at least $5.01 in rewards.  You can also choose an alternate payment method, such as direct deposit into your PayPal account or an Amazon gift card.  You can even choose to send your payment to a charity or family member.

Shop At Home send payments monthly as long as you've earned at least $20 in rewards.

An additional benefit to using these websites is that you get coupon codes for discounts on all your shopping.  For example, if I go to Ebates and click on Toys R Us (or any other store site), I can see a list of all current sales and several valid coupon codes.  I still always check RetailMeNot.com for coupon codes before I make online purchases.

My experience:  I have had accounts with both of these shopping sites for nearly a year.  I am already very careful about my purchases, and I wait for sales and use coupon codes for additional savings plus free shipping.  So, I'm already getting great deals on everything I buy.  Once I have my online shopping cart how I want it, I just open a separate tab with Ebates or Shop At Home and complete my purchase through their link (using my coupon codes).

I used to check both Ebates and Shop At Home every time I made a purchase so I could see which offered higher cash back.  Eventually, I started just using Ebates most of the time so I could maximize my cash back with their site.  My quarterly checks from Ebates have been $25-30 each.  That's pretty incredible when you consider that I already whittled down my purchase totals as much as possible and then got cash back after the fact.

I haven't quite reached the minimum for payout from Shop At Home, but I am very close.  I just haven't used their site enough.  I did remember to check them a few weeks ago when I ordered from Oriental Trading (when they were running a free shipping promotion) and Ebates didn't offer cash back for Oriental Trading.  Now that I remember their site, I will at least use it enough to earn my $20.

The bottom line:  This system really works for me.  I do a lot of my shopping online.  I am already a savvy shopper and would make my purchases with or without cash back.  So I get great deals at the time of my purchase, and then I receive around $100 per year just for clicking a few extra times before finalizing my purchase.

Added bonus:  Both of these websites offer extra rewards for telling friends about their sites.  I can assure you that my motivation for sharing all this with you is simply to help you earn money the way I have.  But if you choose to sign up with one of these sites, it would be awesome if you could use my link so I can get the tell-a-friend bonus.  The new member (you) also gets a bonus.

For Ebates, click on my referral link:
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=oCaaCm0bsQBVK84WIcIj%2FQ%3D%3D
*You must create an account and make a purchase over $25 within one year.

For Shop At Home, click on my referral link:
http://www.shopathome.com/?IAFCG=CURSQuWqW30x27voY0WJkA==
*You must create an account and make any size purchase within 30 days.

2.  Earn Amazon Rewards

Jared and I both have Amazon Rewards Visa credit cards.  We use these cards as the payment method for all of our Amazon purchases (we use Amazon fairly regularly for online purchases).  Once we discovered that we were earning rewards (like cash back, but money to be used on Amazon), we started using these credit cards for lots of daily purchases. 

The rewards add up as follows:

• 3 points per $1 spent on Amazon.com
• 2 points per $1 spent at gas stations, restaurants, drug stores, and office supply stores
• 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
• Every 100 points = $1 in rewards to be spent on Amazon

It may not seem like much, but our rewards add up eventually.  Every few months, we are able to use our rewards to buy something for ourselves that we wouldn't otherwise spend money on.  We have also used our Amazon rewards to purchase gifts for others when we just didn't have money in the budget for extra expenses. 

We have been generally satisfied with Amazon and can find all sorts of items on their website.  Examples of items we have purchased on Amazon include:  toys, shoes, Halloween costumes, diapers, batteries, toiletries, electronics, and even food.

Again, I am not being compensated by anyone to say these things (I wish I was!).  I just always appreciate when other people share deals with me so I can use my family's money in the smartest way possible.  I want to pass along any deals or tricks that I find.

Happy Christmas shopping!

Jessica