This past year, DH and I decided we were going to try doing things a bit differently with the girls. Honestly, because it was going to be “easier” on us… on me mainly. Now, we’re going back. A few years back we used to do this thing with the girls where they a “to-do” list (essentially chores and others) and for each thing they got done at the end of the day they would get 1 “FAMILY BUCK”. Then at the end of the week, (on Sunday) they would go to the “FAMILY STORE” and they would get to buy from there with the Family Bucks they had earned during the week.
There were a lot of good things that came from this…among others, some main ones:
- Our girls learned to SAVE by us doing this. At the beginning our oldest was SO excited and she just HAD to spend every single last Family Buck in her envelope. The youngest, on the other hand, would be content getting 1 or 2 things and saving up. Eventually we started adding more “valuable” things and the oldest noticed she didn’t have enough to get them, but her sister did. Bingo! She started saving. Both girls a great at saving their money now!
- It stopped impulse buying at stores. If the girls liked something while we were at a store, they could request we get it “FOR THE STORE”… they could then BUY it from there at the end of the week. There was no buying and getting it right away. They needed to earn (almost) anything they wanted. I remember one time we had found some Hannah Montana sheet sets on sale (a pretty long while back now) and the girls SO wanted them, so I got them and they went to the store…they could not wait for Sunday that week and they were making sure they earned all their Family bucks.
- I didn’t have to nag the girls to get stuff done. They made sure things on their list were taken care of so they could check it off at the end of the night and show us to earn their Family Bucks.
The biggest reasons we had stopped:
- Honestly, we got LAZY, with checking their cards every night and giving them their Family Bucks. We THOUGHT we wanted a break from having to do this every night. I should have known better. Although the girls are GREAT at helping out, etc., it really was actually much easier and smoother when the Family Store and Family Bucks where in place. It has been said that “parenting is NOT for wimps or lazy people!” -Empowered Parents
- Since my husband got some cut on his pay we thought we could cut on all spending. This included the little things we were buying for the family store. Turns out, it was A LOT cheaper when we were doing the store. It didn’t even take much to keep the girls happy. Almost everything purchased is either on sale or clearance (as usual), and anything that is more expensive, get priced accordingly at the Family Store, so the girls have to save up for it.
I have told the girls that we are starting the Family Store again and THEY ARE E-X-C-I-T-E-D! Now, with that said, I am not completely ready to start again just yet. It’s just too busy and hectic. I have to restock the store a bit and all…and I want to move it (we have a shelving unit we set up as the store), etc. SO, I have told the girls that we will start at the start of the new year. It’s just easier for me that way, but I’m already working little by little to get things ready. I’m printing out new charts and new money. The ones we had from a few years back are not as nice and crisp anymore.
If you want to look into doing something like for your little ones, here are some printables you can use. The first includes a chart with the list that MY girls get. These are the things we expect from them daily, they can check them off at the end of the day and they can collect their family bucks. The other is a page with a basic design for Family Bucks… In the past we used to have a house symbol in the middle. I am thinking that I will add a pic of the 4 of us in the middle this year, after all its for our FAMILY STORE. And, you might want to consider having dad and mom sign the sides of the bill (to be more like real bills.)
This used to work REALLY well for us. There was not much need for reminding the girls to do what they needed to get done. And, it was just a nice way to get them to save and reward them too. And, in the end, if they didn’t do something they needed to do, they didn’t get to be rewarded at the end of the week. (If kids ever get to a point where they just don’t care to do the stuff even if they won’t be getting their rewards at the end of the week, you might need to implement different consequences for NOT doing “X”, “Y”, or “Z”….but that has to do with Family Rules and that would be a completely different post.) This post is about positive motivation.
Here are the printables:
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Filed under children, Cleaning and Organizing, Housekeeping, Parenting
Tagged as Children, chore chart, Chores, family, Girls, Home, Homemaker, Housework, Kids, Mother, Motherhood, Organizing, Parenting, parenting girls, Raising Girls, Raising Kids, to do list
I chose to sew the loop to the side of the towel… pretty much as close to the middle as I could do it (didn’t measure, just folded the towel, figured where the middle was and placed the loop there!)
And voila!
Maybe this will help your kids keep their towels hanging… the girls were constantly having to pick theirs up before! 
