My 5 year old son’s birthday is right after Christmas, so needless to say, he gets a lot of cash and coins from relatives. He had it stashed in various places all over his room, because of course he’d rather play with toys than the dollar bills. I wanted to teach him about the importance of a dollar so I tried several ideas and happy to share what worked best with my son!
Financial Peace Jr.
First, I tried the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Junior book which is now a very nice kit. I’m very passionate about my kids learning good money habits… because that is one of my main weaknesses! Luckily for us, my husband is Dave Ramsey’s twin! ha.
Dave Ramsey uses an envelope system for saving, spending and giving. His kit for kids comes with a chart to keep track of chores and commissions. I love how you get fined for bad behavior!! Basically you pay your child at the end of the week, then they sort the money into the envelopes. 10% goes into savings and giving, the rest in spending. Just like the real world. I also love that part.
We did Dave’s chart for a while and when you have scatterbrained, non-interested 5 year old, you have to mix it up a bit.
DIY Chore Chart Money System
I change things up and decided to create my own system for my young child. I headed to the local teacher store and found this –> awesome magnetic chore chart that has pictures of the chores.
I decided the smiley face magnets would equal a dime.
For each chore he did, he gets a magnet. Then at the end of the week, we count his magnets like they were dimes.
This new chart has really worked for my son. I hung it low enough to where he can add the magnets when he does a chore. He now knows that if he wants something, he needs to work for it.
Granted, there are times that he still whines, begs and throws fits for something, but in general he is becoming a mini money and math mogul.
He loves to sort his money into the envelopes and take the give one to the church. To date, he has given the church nearly $12. Not bad for a few months of making a dime per chore and me forgetting to pay him some weeks! (remember I told you I was bad with money!)
What I love is that he is so proud and happy to give! Our church has this cool coin machine that kids can drop change in and get a receipt. So that part is fun too! I make sure to talk about his giving to our pastors while he is standing close enough to eavesdrop:-)
I am so happy with this system that I’m even speaking to a group of moms(MY BIGGEST FEAR), to help others learn ways to teach their children to spend, save and give.
UPDATE…
—> CLICK HERE to read an update about how my kids turned out after doing this system.
After they got older, we switched to this job application. It’s awesome and a FREE printable you can use as well.
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I’m just coming upon this now but have started using the same chore chart and same 10¢ per chore idea. I haven’t read the book and don’t do the ‘punishment for bad behavior’ (YET!!) but already, my 5 year old LOVES counting her dimes into the three envelopes (1, 1, 8) and then today we traded 50 dimes for a 5 dollar bill. I thought she’d burst with excitement. Thank you for a TERRIFIC idea!!
Would love to win this for my daughter! Who needs to go to their website? You’ve got me sold on this with just the information you’ve put here! LOL
Corinna kcsummerrose@avenuebroadband.com
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Way to go Mom!!! Your kiddos will bless you one day for teaching them one of the most important life skill they’ll need for adulthood. I’ll pass this info on to my married kids. Thanks so much!
M.L. @thehouseofwhimsy
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My oldest daughter has a star chart that works great for her. I would love to try the fundoodies game! Thanks!
Amy – these are brilliant ideas! My parents, though both hard working people who gave me a very good work ethic, never taught me about money. I so want to instill good savings/spending habits in my boys before it’s too late!
Thanks for these great ideas.
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Just found you thru WFMW – we love Dave Ramsey at our house, too. But I have not used FP, Jr. for my kids’ yet. We give allowance based on chores/attitude, but I’m slack sometimes, too. The Fundoodies looks like I great game. Thanks for entering me in the contest!
thanks for stopping by and saying hello. It looks like you have lots of cool info and ideas!
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Hmmmm…I’m crappy with money and chores. I think I need this for myself. And if that isn’t a good enough reason just to give it to me, I don’t know what is???
teehee
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My oldest is 5 and we are trying so hard to teach him about all of this! This looks like a great tool.
My husband and I are taking Financial Peace in January 🙂 I didn’t know there was a kid’s program!
Thanks so much!
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This is great – I’m a huge Dave Ramsey fan and we want to start things right for our kids!!
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I do the same thing. Each month, my kids get their age in money. So, for my 10 year old, he gets $10. BUT, he has to put $2 in the donate cup, $4 in the long term savings cup (bank), and $4 in the short term savings cup (which he can use when he wants, but is so far saving up for a game). I thought that he would be disinterested in only getting $4 a month, but it’s more than nothing and he seems to be picky about how he spends it now.
Also, if he is naughty or snarky, I fine him by using his currency…computer time or tv time. This money goes towards life living and learning and so he gets to keep it. I think that using these as a separate issue works well for us. Plus, I have him do chores around the house because he’s a member of the family, not because he’s getting paid. So, for us, the money is a learning issue and is not tied into work and behavior. Just thought I’d hand that out as an idea too.
Thanks for sharing your system!
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What a cool game. I really need to be better at teaching Josiah about money. We have tried a few things and nothing really sticks. Now you have me motivated to try Dave’s system. Thanks for the push.
I have that same chore chart, but I really like your method better. Sign me up for the game. My daughter loves playing games!!
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I have been thinking about getting Dave Ramsey’s program for kids for months now. I think you’ve finally convinced me. 🙂 I know my kids would enjoy having a consistent plan to follow.
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Hey Amy!
Cute—we have been using the “Chorganizers” which my two older ones like but Trase hasn’t gotten into yet but he would rather eat coins at this age than know what else to do with them! Ha! Fun to tyr new things! I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!
LR
As professional penny pinchers… er, um… stewards of our money… we would love this! Thanks for the heads up and throw my hat in the ring!
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i didn’t realize dave ramsey had a kid’s program… that’s really cool! what a great resource!
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Oooh, I love it. I’ve tried “chore” charts before and nothing has worked, so maybe trying your ideas will inspire!
You’ll do a great job speaking. I’ve always said that it is easier to speak in front of people when you know and believe your subject matter.
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So important!
I’d give this to my x-SIL, with 4 munchkins she needs all the help she can get 🙂
We LOVE Dave Ramsey and with the help from the “Money Makeover” book were able to get out debt!!! It is a WONDERFUL feeling and we wish we could give those books to everyone we know… in fact we have given away several and loaned ours to a few too =)
We’ve tried to start teaching our son about money already and he’s only 4. I don’t want him to make the same mistakes that I did =) This set would be a lot of fun and great teaching tool.
And GOOD FOR YOU for stepping out of your comfort zone to speak to others. Managing money is so important and more people to need to hear it’s possible to be financially sound they just have to focus on what they want and take the steps necessary to get there!
Thanks for sharing Amy!
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What a great idea! It’s so important to teach kids about money from an early age. I use a similar system that I made up–hadn’t heard about this before. Mine doesn’t look nearly as cute, but the kids love it. They are much more motivated to help around the house now and much more careful about what they spend their money on than they were when I just handed them their allowances each week.
Our church sponsored a Dave Ramsey seminar (I mean we worked through one of his books–he wasn’t there in person or anything!) years ago and we got a lot out of it. It helped us really get our finances in order. Love him.
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