Having five people in this house can make things messy and chaotic quick! I am type A therefore extremely organized and a neat freak. My cousins always joked that my mom (who I got this from) was just like Monica Gellar on FRIENDS. They would call her aunt Monica. Well, her cleanliness transferred to me. I was always using any down time I had to pick up and clean. My girls who are ages 9 (10 next month), 7 and 3 wanted to start helping and earn an allowance. We didn’t know how to go about this, a typical chore chart? How much do we give them? So on and so on. What we decided to do was ask them what they felt they could handle. Surprisingly, they can do pretty much everything in the house. I guess I look at them like babies still but they aren’t! (cue tears from this mom over here) The two oldest do chores at the same time so that they can work together and our 3 year old, who insists on helping, has her own little jobs for fun. Here’s what I have them do:

Rylie (10 year old)

• Clean her bathroom (once per week)
• Clean the guest bath (once per week)
• Do her laundry (wash, dry and fold)
• Feed the dogs twice a day
• Unload the dishwasher (every morning)
• Make her bed (every morning)
• Make sure her room is picked up (every night)
• Pick up dog poop (once per week, we do it the days in between to help)

Audrey (7 year old)

• Clean bathrooms with sister (once per week)
• Fold her laundry (I wash, she folds)
• Water the plants (every morning)
• Dust the house (once per week)
• Unload dishwasher with sister
• Make her bed (every morning)
• Make sure her room is picked up (every night)
• Help pick up dog poop

Remi (3 year old)

• Help dust
• Help put away dishes
• Makes her bed
• Picks up toys
• Puts away her clothes in her drawers

Next up is payment. When I was a kid my parents would do $5 per week. I also would go to my dad’s work on Friday and help him and my mom clean their offices. My girls mentioned we could do a point system. They decided on this instead of actual cash because they still lose money or they will take it from each other….sisters. They will learn to be more responsible in a few years but right now, points work great! What I mean by points is; each chore is associated with one or a half of a point. One point= $1.00, half of a point= .50. They each have their own point chart to mark off. It is a box grid and they put an X in each box to equal one point. They put a / in a box for a half a point. Each box equals $1.00 dollar. You can adjust it anyway you would like to equal more or less money. This is basically like a savings account. How often are you at the store and your child says “I want this toy!! Please can you get it for me?” And either you get it for them, you tell them if they are good you will get it, or you leave it. I honestly never buy them toys unless it is Christmas or their birthday. Now though, they can decide to use their own money. It’s funny how not important that toy is if it comes from their savings. They learn responsibility when it comes to spending and they know how much work they put in to get there. If the girls do all their chores, it equals to about $6.00 per week per kid. However, if they want the points, they have to remember to fill out their chart. If they don’t do that, no points for them! I told them it’s like having a job, if you don’t clock in and you are hourly, you won’t get paid. It just teaches them some little life lessons for the future.

We have been doing this for about 7 months now and it has been great! They are very helpful, they know the routine and when it comes to going to the store, there is no more begging. The two big girls decided they wanted a new Xbox One. They put their points together and worked for 4 months. I did give them some extra points here and there because of being extremely helpful with their little sister on a week that I was sick. They got to the end of their chart which they knew was enough for the console and were so excited! I ordered it and when it arrived they just flipped. They worked so hard and were very excited to see their hard work pay off. They play it in the morning during summer break for a bit until it warms up enough to go jump in the pool. They are so proud of themselves that they were able to buy something so big. They also really take care of their things knowing how hard they worked to earn it. So far this whole chore chart and point system has really helped my girls understand responsibility, hard work and respect.

If you are trying to find a way for your kids to start helping out, earn their own money so they can understand the value of a dollar, try this out! It will be great when they get older, start driving and needing money for activities with friends. We will up their allowance as needed but we very much believe in helping and earning instead of handing over money. This also has kept my house together which helps my sanity. Happy mama, happy life!!