A few years ago we were struggling to navigate the somewhat murky world of childhood money management. I talked to friends and fellow parents, young and old, to determine the best course of action. Do we give our kids an allowance at all? Is it tied to chores? How much do we give? Do we make them save? How do we teach them to be generous with their money, and to tithe?
After a significant amount of research, we decided to give each child three jars, to serve as three different types of banks for their money. I found glass jars in our recycling container and painted the words Save, Spend, and Give on them. We instructed the girls to split any money they earned or were given, among the three jars. To make it easy, in the beginning, we had them put 50% into the spend jar, 25% into the save jar, and 25% in to the give jar. (To facilitate this, I kept rolls of quarters around to “break” any dollars they received.)
We settled on an allowance that was not tied to chores, for a variety of reasons. First, I found it difficult to track how well the kids were doing chores each week. Do I pay them for half if they only get half done? Too confusing. Second, we felt their helping out around the house should be something they do just because they are part of the family, not because they are paid to do it. And third, we don’t want an allowance to be a source of contention in the home, but rather a teaching tool… a way to help our girls learn how to manage money.
Toward that end, we decided to give each child a weekly allowance of half her age, up until age 12 (so the 10-year-old receives $5/week). Between the ages of 12 and 15, the amount is $10/week. Ages 16+ receive $20/week. (These amounts are driven, in part, by the required allowance amounts we must give foster children in our home. We tried to come up with an amount that served as a teaching tool without giving them so much in a single week that they didn’t need to ever learn to save.)
The jars were really cute sitting on the girls’ dressers, but eventually we had some issues that required us to seek an alternative approach. (The potential for theft is a natural byproduct of having 17 foster kids in our home over the past five years. The vast majority of our kids have been completely respectful, but we have had an occasional child feel she was entitled to more than she was given.)
So, about two years ago, I started looking for a “hi-tech” option. Thankfully, I found just what I needed at threejars.com. The site is exactly what it sounds like: a virtual place to store your child’s three jars. After signing up, my kids were given save, spend, and share jars to manage online, using IOUs from Mom and Dad.
No money actually changes hands on the web site. Instead, you might consider it to be like a fancy spreadsheet that simply tallies each child’s deposits and withdrawals (but with a lot more fun than a boring spreadsheet 
.
I specify how much my child receives each week, and the system adds it automatically. No money changes hands at home either… until one of the kids wants to spend some money. For example, when my daughter wants to go to the movies, I log onto the site and “withdraw” $10. Then, I give her $10 (out of my wallet). Whenever she wants to know how much money she has available to spend, she simply logs in and checks for herself. And it’s easy to make “deposits” when they receive birthday money or earn cash by dog-sitting for the neighbor.
Because the site does the math for us, I no longer need to keep rolls of quarters. This also means we can be much more specific about the percentages allotted to each jar. Not only that, but the percentages can be tailored to each child. One of my kids is a natural saver and sharer. She chooses to split her money evenly between the three jars.
My other child has reached an age where she enjoys spending money on activities, clothes, and accessories, while saving for a few big ticket items. So her split reflects her spending habits: 50% spend, 40% save, 10% share.
We let the kids decide where the contents of the share jars go. My oldest just “shared” hers with The American Heart Association (to sponsor herself for her Hoops for Heart campaign at school). Other times the girls give to church, or to other charities.
Now that we’re about four years into our “three jars” experiment, I can safely say it has worked very well for us, particularly the online version. We’ve seen one child successfully save for and purchase a $200 scooter. And when she wanted to buy something else, she sold the scooter and recouped two-thirds of her initial investment. Not too shabby for a 12-year-old.
P.S. Threejars.com is offering free life-time use to anyone who signs up before March 31st.
Recent Comments