Funny Money

We reward our kids with money when they make good grades and for doing weekly chores. We keep a spreadsheet of what we owe them and call it their funny money accounts. Its like a savings account we let them tap into occasionally when we have enough in the budget to spend.

In doing this, we teach the kids how to save money and not spend it as soon as they get it. My son wants to spend it as soon as he accumulates a little money. He doesn't understand why we won't let him spend it. We are very strict about it too. He wants to borrow two dollars to buy a game but we stand firm and make him wait. That really frustrates him but it's a good lesson to learn.

My daughter accumulates longer and usually has much more money than my son does. She will rarely ask us for money and we usually give it to her to spend before she ever asks. She is younger so it's easier for her to forget that it's there.

Before we got our budget set up, the kids were given anything their hearts desired. They became spoiled and now we are trying to teach them that money doesn't grow on trees. We will open a bank account for our boy since he is getting to the age where he could learn from having one. It teaches how to keep a checkbook ledger and how to balance the bank account.

It is difficult to teach when others undermine what we are trying to do but there is nothing we can do about it. Hopefully the kids will learn what we are trying to teach while they are spoiled away from home. They are intelligent kids and I know they will.