How to Have Your Children Earn Their Own Money to Buy Others Christmas Presents

My kids this year are buying everybody presents with their own money. You may wonder how they will get the money that they need. They will have to work for it. I have posted a picture of our "Commission Worksheet" that we use on a weekly basis. (Note: a commission is different from an allowance in that the child only gets paid for what he does; if he does nothing then he simply gets nothing in return.) With just a simple handwritten paper, my system is simple for anyone to use.
          Before we get started, you may believe your child should work without having to be paid. I agree with you, but I also believe children need to learn how to manage money early, and what better way than to earn their own money? If you will notice the chart, each child has four blank spaces blank under their name, meaning they only get paid for the four chores they have for that week (plus a bonus which I'll talk about later). Other jobs they do they will not get paid for because they are family members and should be expected to contribute to their family.
          How it works: Saturday night we go over the chores they are expected to do for the following week. When each child does the chore, they get to put a check mark in their box. For each check mark, they earn 10 cents. If they want to earn more money for the week, you can assign a bonus to them and I give mine anywhere from two to five check marks (meaning twenty to fifty cents for the job). I also do fun things like "double chore day," (this is when they get paid double whatever they do) and that is fun to watch them work. Then on Saturday night, they get paid!
          They take their money and we help them divide it into three piles: a give, save, and spend. For the give envelope, they learn to give the Lord a tithe plus a junior church offering for the missionaries; this money goes in a zippered envelope you can find in most school supply section of any store. They take their envelope to church the next day. (Tip: if you're really wanting the envelope to make it to church, have the child put it in the car the night before!) For example, let's say Tirzah earns $2.50 (this is about what she makes every week). In the give envelope goes a quarter, plus something for junior church. Now she has about two dollars and ten cents left. A dollar goes in the save envelope and then the rest goes in her spend. You may wonder what happens to the money in the save envelope. I will discuss that in part 2. Hopefully this will get you started if you have no system. My system may not work for you, but I hope it may have given you some ideas.