Mom's Losing Her Mind...The Family Economy

You GUYS. The Family Economy is changing our lives!

Have you ever tried to implement an allowance, but NEVER have the cash on hand and, slowly, the motivation of "I'll pay you later" loses its sparkle with the kiddos...and everyone throws the chores/allowance out the window?

Do you worry about how to create competent and capable human beings who know how to do their own laundry by the time they get to college?

Do you want to yell less??? Lose your mind less? Then you have to have built-in motivation and a plan for consequences and stop flying by the seat of your pants. Flying by the seat of your pants means YOU are the motivation and YOU are the consequences....which then equals YOU are the kids' enemy. [See the part in the video about the Ugg Boots...without the Family Economy in that example I would have become the enemy that says NO...and instead the Family Economy empowered my 10-year-old to make a decision for herself!]

That system is broken.

Enter: The Family Economy. 

My kids have the chance to earn 4 points per day Monday-
Friday by doing chores and OTHER super-important things (like getting out the door to school on time). 

Points translate to allowance! Bonus points can be earned and points can be deducted for not following the house rules. 

We keep track of allowance in each child's individual check register. This way, we don't have to have cash on hand to pay out. So if we go to Target and Kyan wants gum, we deduct the $1.17 from his check register and the Bank of Mom & Dad pays for the gum. Voila!

You'll also see that they have to save 40% of what they earn. I just created a savings register on the last page of the check register. I started them each out with $100 to get them excited about this whole family economy thing. It worked for 2/3 children: you win some, you lose some.

Below is our family economy. I've also included a link to an editable version to create your own family economy. 

We started with checks, too, but have pretty much ditched those and just started deducting from the register when purchases are made.

Click HERE to create your own Family Economy. 

Let me know what you think! Or if you have any awesome additions.

You deserve happy relationships,