Young Kids and Earning Money

Here are a few ways we've given our children the opportunity to help with bigger jobs to earn money (regular chores don't earn any money--they are just part of being in the family)...

Recycling--I rinse out our bottles and cans and then put them in a big bin. The kids then have the job of sorting and helping to carry the bags as we take them to the recyclers, and they get to keep the redemption money. (I don't know if your state pays for recycling bottles and cans.)

Washing the car--They can't really do a good job themselves, but it's valuable to me to have their help. The car wash at the gas station is a minimum of $5. If the kids help me wash the car at home, I'll give them a dollar or two. When they get big enough, I'll be happy to pay them the $5 to wash it without me.

Cleaning up the yard--We have fruit trees that periodically drop all their fruit and make a mess. Bagging up the yucky fruit for the trash is a paying job, as is helping dad clean up the weeds and fallen leaves.

Changing habits--Sometimes my kids have needed a little incentive help in changing habits, so I'll set up a rewards chart. For example, there was a time when my daughter was waking up in the middle of the night and coming to sleep in our bed--every night. So I rewarded her for waking up in her own bed.

We have an allowance plan that has been working great for our family. We started it when our kids were 4 and 6, so you're definitely not starting too young teaching your son the value of money. :)

I believe it is important to teach kids that it takes a family to run a family. I don't think kids should be paid for standard chores. Now "extra" chores is a different story. At 4 years old extra chores could include: picking up sticks and rocks in the yard before you mow, helping to clean out the car, etc. Things that aren't normal chores that need to be done everyday. Since at 4 they do not understand the value of money, I don't think the pay out should be very high. $1.00 a week or close to seems to be enough to help you teach them about the value of money.

So glad you asked this! My 4.5 year old just got her first weekly allowance this weekend. We are giving her $2.50 a week (are we cheap?) and her chores are three of the following per day--Feed the dog, put away clothes, put away toys, set the table, clear the table. She has to do a least 3 a day to meet her quota for the week. I am pretty relaxed about how well she does them as long as she does them--for instance, setting the table involves taking silverware and napkins to the table and putting a fork and butter knife at each place--whatever that means. I want this to be a positive experience for her so that she feels good about herself and we'll move up to higher expectations and more serious chores the older she gets. So far she is LOVING it and is constantly asking for more chores (more chores do not equal more money but she doesn't care). I am also using this as a chance to use charts (to put an X by what she does) and a calendar to help her count down the days until she can afford her "sparkly shoes" about a month--probably would take 6 weeks or so for her to earn quite enough but that will take forever and if she can keep it up, I want to let her see some of the rewards before she gets bored. :)

I just started giving my daughters 25 cents for chewing with their mouths shut! hahaha!

Just an idea too, maybe a good lesson in teaching the value of money... would be to have him choose to spend his money on a new bike or a used one from craigslist or a yard sale. A 4 year old doesn't need a brand new bike... so he would reach his goal much faster if you find a used bike for less than $20. I am actually buying my 5 year old TWO bikes from craigslist this week for $5 each! one for our house and one for the grandparents.

Hi there!
I fully appreciate that there are some jobs that are expected, and some that are extra. We've just begun giving our 3.5 yo chore money for doing things that are more difficult/not as much fun- such as yardwork, taking out the recycling.
For example, helping sweep up the patio (he holds dustpan and empties it into the city trash can- big help for my third trimester shape!), he'll earn a quarter. He earns between a penny and a quarter depending on difficulty, time, and job performance.
He enjoys watering the garden tremendously, so I haven't paid him for that. He also puts his dish up on the counter after dinner for me to put in the d/w (also unpaid).

We try to model the professional world: ie pay for performance, salary negotiations, as much as possible. But it's going to take a long time to earn a bike at 25c a chore, so we're also into matching funds/ earning a part of the job.

Just our 2c, hope to hear what works for you!

Best regards!

My husband & I just finished a Dave Ramsey class & he talked about children earning money. He has a separate program/chore chart for children. I ordered it for only $10 & I just received it today so I havent had a chance to read it. But what he talked about at the class got me very interested in his ideas so I hope I learn some great ideas to get our young kids started. His website got great reviews for this chore chart. And I will be reading the posts you get on here.

We don't do money for chores, but my 4 year old does earn things. We have a magnetic chore chart and he earns a magnet for keeping up on his chore. We set a goal, last time it was a new bike. Once the entire chart was filled (which took over a month) he earned the bike. This time he is working for a family camping trip. We usually make the goals something we intended to do anyway so we aren't shelling out tons of extra money for extra extras. :) We chose this route for a few reasons, we don't want him to be motivated solely by money to pitch in around the house -eventually he will need to do the chores without a reward. We also have a friend who tried money and her kids became a little obsessed with how much helping was worth - only doing things with dollar amounts attached to them. To teach the value of money we will give him a few dollars to spend while we are garage sale-ing....he has to learn budgeting on a 4 yo level. We also give him our spare change and he collects it in his piggy bank. We count it and he saves it for later. When he wants a toy and asks me to buy it we then refer to how much of his bank that would be...he can then understand on his level what exactly $20 actually is. GL! Your little man will be so proud of that bike knowing he earned it! :)