commissions

At the beginning of the year Doug and I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Seminar. It was grueling, enlightening, encouraging, and discouraging all at the same time. Doug and I thankfully had financially wise parents as examples and decided to follow suit, but that doesn't mean that there haven't been things here and there that we could have done better. Nonetheless, we decided to get even more proactive with our budget and started a few of the things he encourages in his seminar - one being startings commissions with the kids.

You might think that Douglass Charles and Charlotte are too young to understand saving and earning money, and in some respects I would agree. But, Doug and I decided we would try a little project with the kiddos.

We gave them three chores a piece that they had to complete every day and at the end of each week, if they completed those chores they would get paid. It was a very small amount, but they were all about it.

I honestly was surprised at how Charlotte took to the whole thing. She had a goal in mind - her Jessie doll - and if she didn't want to do her chore/s that day I would just remind her of her goal. After several long weeks she finally had enough - with some other money she had saved - to buy her doll.

Douglass Charles followed her example (and we weren't quite as strict with him - he also earned less money per week because of this), but they both, in their own way got it.

I think I was prouder of Charlotte when she handed her "monies" over to the cashier at Walmart that day, than she was excited about the doll. And hopefully, all her hard work will stick with her. I pray she and Douglass Charles both capture at a very young age the value and responsibility that comes with money and can dodge some of the pitfalls and mistakes that we have made.