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Sunday, September 26, 2010

My Son Is a Riot - How things are going with his allowance

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Recently we have reintroduced the allowance in our home.

This was based on careful thought. My son has chores that he does in order to do his part at home. In the past when he has wanted to buy something, we have found other jobs that he can do and paid him according to those jobs. Now he is a sophmore in high school, and he is finding that he wants a little more pocket money. He also texts like a...like a...like a....well, like a teenager, and in order to have enough available texts, he has to pay the difference.

After hours of conversation and more hours of thought, I decided that if I am going to pay him to do extra chores steadily around the house, then he is going to do something that takes the load off of my back. So he now vacuums the house twice a week and does two hours of yard work a week. I picked the yard work because it gets him outside and doing something physical.

So far, Alex has done a great job. He vacuums on Wednesdays when he gets out of school early and then again on Saturday. The yard work he does on the weekend, and he usually takes his PSP with him and listens to pod casts while he works so time goes fairly quickly for him.

This does take 60 dollars out of my budget every month (15 a week), but on the bright side:

He is paying the difference for his upgraded texting.
He is learning how to budget his money (even taking coupons with him to school).
I don't have to vacuum or weed!
He isn't asking me for money to go off campus with the guys.
He is learning necessary household skills.
When he wants to buy something when we are out, he checks his wallet and not me.

He is also learning how what one person does effects another person. The other day we were in the kitchen, and I was making a salad. A piece of lettuce that I was shredding hit the floor.
"Are you going to pick that up?" he asked.

I looked at him and said "No. I'm making the salad, and I am not going to dirty my hands in order to pick that piece up. I'll get it when I am done."

"No mom, you need to get it now. Do you have any idea how dirty this kitchen floor gets if you just let these things go? I am always vacuuming up garbage off this floor."

I laughed so hard! Seriously! He is seeing how what one person does effects the next. He has always been good about putting his dishes in the sink and things like that, but he has been oblivious about dropping stuff on the floor (I have crunched my bare feet on many a potato chip thanks to his drop-and-leave habits). It was also just pretty funny hearing him sound like a mom. LOVED IT!

6 comments:

Graceful Mom said...

So funny to hear from a guy! :-)

Grace @ Sandier Pastures

Graceful Mom said...

So funny to hear from a guy! :-)

Grace @ Sandier Pastures

Maria said...

Saw this on my G.Reader, had to come over to tell you I thought it was a seriously great post! Well done!

heather@actingbalanced.com said...

great post... my dd is twelve and we recently had the convo about allowance again ... did she want a set rate for set chores or did she want the status quo of open wallet when needed... for added chores and she went with the status quo... but I'm thinking that it will eventually swing the other way...

Chanel said...

Really good post. It is great that he is learning how to appreciate money and the things that other people to do. I can't believe that he is carrying coupons...that is so cute. I plan on doing the same thing when my daughter gets older.

reener said...

LMAO, I thought you wrote "I don't have to vacuum his weed".....OMG, my heart jumped for a moment!

Yes, it is a relief when they reach into THEIR wallets instead of asking for stuff out of yours. I'm still working on my two brats on that issue. It's just so easy to say "MOM? Can I have $10?".