My kids are WORKING! whoa! Is that Emma doing dishes?

On Friday,I watched an episode of Oprah in the middle of the night and financial expert Suze Orman gave me more great advice! (I really love this lady. I think she nails it on the head. I got a BIG "aha" moment on the segment where she says to "STOP LIVING A LIE!" Stop living like your rich b/c you aren't! You don't have the money! It was just a different outlook on it... that really you're living a lie if you live out of your means.) Anyways, there has been a lot of comments lately due to the fact that kids in the past and still today are not being taught about money. So, I've been already thinking a bit about how I can teach the kids. When I heard this piece of advice, I loved it!

Here's the story from Oprah's website: "From her bridal boutique in Roseville, California, Lori asks if she should give her 10-year-old daughter an allowance of $20 a month. "I read a recent article that said to give allowance not based on chores, but based on the fact that they're a part of your household," Lori says. "I was wondering from Suze, how much I should give her and what would be an appropriate amount for a 10-year-old?"

Suze thinks the article Lori read is wrong. "You get an allowance simply because you live in a household? No! Money has to be earned," she says.

Based on the federal minimum wage of $6.50 an hour, Suze calculates that each minute of work is worth roughly 10 cents. It will take about four hours of work to earn the $20 Lori's daughter wants. Suze says this is a good level to start a child's wages. "Now if they do that job efficiently, you can give them a pay raise. If they do not do that job efficiently, … I would actually decrease their salary, so that the kids understand good work equals good pay equals job promotion. Bad work equals getting fired," she says. "And when they learn that at 8, 9, 10, now what are we talking about? We have a kid that knows they have to work for something."

What kinds of work can Lori's 10-year-old do to earn her wages? Is cleaning up her room or making her bed enough? Yes, Suze says these are good tasks for a kid as long as it helps her parents. "You guys have to decide together what helps you really around the house," she says."

So, basically we're doing it. I started on Saturday and it was a big hit. I love that it's easy and consistent and the girls loved it. The girls get $.10/minute for ANY job that is helpful to me. I have found out that suddenly when they're getting paid, chores are magically not so overwhelming to them! lol. I like that I can reward them for doing something that takes them just a few minutes. For example, Lily cleared off the table tonight and earned $.30. I feel like it's a lot of money to give to them, but I feel like it will give me the opportunity to teach them about money. (And really they'll be paying for more things themselves which will give them more self confidence and more excitement, so I think it'll work itself out). I like too that they have to EARN their allowance. They aren't getting $3.00/wk. for doing jack squat, you know? I also feel like it's teaching them to work and work harder. They're doing things that they normally wouldn't do without saying that it's too hard... like wash the windows and do the dishes, and hang up all their clean clothes. Lily has actually done really well... one of her jobs on Saturday was to clean the t.v. You wouldn't believe how many times she cleaned it! lol... you know how with a windex wipe it looks wet and then dries fast... well I think she just kept seeing the different shades and so just kept cleaning it. funny. But really I was thrilled when she hung up a huge pile of shirts! Payday is every Sunday where we go over what they did and how much they earned. I just have a paper in my kitchen drawer where I write down what they did and how much they earned. So far, so good.

Emma doing the dishes tonight:

I love you Emma Girl! :)




I guess she's all worn out!


Speaking of Oprah... Does anybody else have this on their WISH LIST????? This is AMAZING! I think Oprah's right ... this is the wave of the future. I wish I could buy one for my whole family. (and how cool is it that it defines the word there for you?)

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/