The Money Motivator

Now that A is turning 5 we thought it was about time that he could start earning an allowance and do consistently do more chores around the house.  Money has proven to be a big motivator for him (it helped with potty training!) so why not use an allowance to help motivate him to get his chores done around the house. 

We decided on using a punch card system for him to earn his allowance rather than giving him just a weekly rate.  For every chore he completes he earns a punch in his card.  Once the card is full he can turn it in for his allowance ($5).  He can also earn extra punches for extra good behavior or for doing something extra special.  My thinking was that it would motivate him even more (to get the punches) and if he decided to skip a chore or behaved poorly that day, then he doesn’t earn a punch for his chore.  He will (hopefully) feel the consequences being it will only take longer to fill the punch card and earn his allowance. 

The punch card itself looked pretty easy to make and I had started to try my hand at it on the computer.  But I got frustrated after about an hour and decided to chuck it and purchase them (cheap) from this seller on Etsy.

A is pretty excited to get started and to start earning his own money.  I told him that he needs to save half of it and the other half he can spend on whatever he wants.  Here’s a brief list of the chores that he will be responsible for and the frequency.  Not every chore will be every day.

• cleaning his room (daily or as needed)
• feeding the dog (daily)
• clearing his dirty dishes after meal times (daily)
• cleaning up toys in the playroom (daily)
• putting away wii remotes when done playing (as needed)
• helping to empty the dishwasher (couple times a week)
• helping load the laundry in washer/dryer (couple times a week)