Live simply, stay sane. Life hacks for home managers.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I‘m starting a new series here on Simple Mom. About twice a month I plan to feature a fellow blogger who has embraced the art of simplicity within his or her niche. And in so doing, I will offer an award sure to be coveted by many:

I read blogs about all kinds of topics, and the ones that pique my interest most are the ones who excel in their topic by writing in a down-to-earth way, with their readers in mind, with the goal of encouragement, help, and inspiration. They exude simplicity as its finest.

sim•plic•i•ty (noun): freedom from complexity; full of sincerity, naturalness; clarity of expression.

The first recipient of the Shoe of Simplicity is Rachel of Small Notebook.

Why she exudes simplicity:

• First off, she hand draws all the artwork on her blog. How cool is that?

• She and her husband are renting in order to wait for the best time to buy a home. I am ALL about that.
• She organizes her pantry with simple glass jars she already owns - simultaneously frugal and aesthetically-pleasing.
• She does simple little things that go a long way in terms of helping the environment and saving money - such as using microfiber towels instead of paper towels, composting with worms, line-drying her laundry, and making soap from scratch.

Hers is a relatively new blog, so give her some love and explore her place. I’ve enjoyed getting to “know” her since she started reading Simple Mom, and I hope this little award makes her smile.

Enjoy the shoe, Rachel!
Artwork by Rachel

As I mentioned yesterday, we’ve started giving our three-year-old daughter an allowance in exchange for simple household chores.

Photo by Michele Catalano

I know that $2.45 weekly isn’t going to buy much more than M&Ms or a bouncy ball. But that’s not the point. The point is, we want our kids to start learning how to manage money early.

I’m a Dave Ramsey-ite, but this idea is not trademarked by him. The basic concept of giving, saving, and spending has been around for generations, and we want to keep it that way in our family. The sooner our children understand that our money is given to us by God, and that out of thankfulness, we give some of it back, the easier it will become a lifelong habit.

Saving money likewise requires discipline, and to practice the art of paying yourself first, even from the 17 nickels like we did last week, will reap benefits that far outweigh whatever could be bought with 1.7 coins.

So when we give our daughter her allowance (or commission, or whatever you want to call it), we count the stickers on her chore chart, and then count out the same amount of nickels. We then tell her how much goes into the giving jar, and how much goes into the saving jar. The rest goes into the spending jar.

Her spending money can go towards whatever she wants. That means that yes, if she’s in the grocery cart and she wants those gummy bears, she can buy them if she has enough money. But it comes out of her spending jar. (A side note: Of course we take care of her needs, and yes, we buy her gifts from time to time. Not a lot, but we aren’t expecting our three-year-old to fend for herself financially. That would be nice, though, wouldn’t it?)

We haven’t used this system long enough to really see the longer-term benefits, but friends of ours who use this method have nothing but good things to say.

There’s a guy in his mid-30s from our church back in the States who bought his family’s Suburban with 100% cash from his childhood allowance. We don’t really have those kind of expectations for her giving and spending goals, but again, the account balance is not the point. The point is cultivating a habit in preschool that’s hard for grown adults to do. Hopefully, her heart will follow.

Isn’t that a great gift to give your kids? It really is all about changing your family tree, one small thing at a time.

How do you work out money with your kids?

We recently started a regular chore routine with our three-year-old. Thanks to your input, we came up with a reasonable list of things, and she’s slowly starting to accomplish them on her own.

Photo by Sabbah

I couldn’t find a chore chart I liked on the internet, so I created my own. It’s very simple, and the original idea came from a good friend of mine (hi, Ali!). Here’s a screenshot (click to enlarge):

The chores we’ve started with are:

• help make my bed
• empty silverware from the dishwasher
• take my dishes to the kitchen (after breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and
• pick up my toys (before her quiet time and before her bed time)

When she accomplishes a task, she gets a sticker in the alloted square for that day. At the end of the week, we count up her stickers. For every sticker, she gets a nickel (well, this country’s equivalent of a nickel).

She has three jars to put her money - one for giving, one for saving, and one for spending. 10 percent goes into each of the first two, and the remaining 80 percent goes into her spending jar. If she does every single chore for every single day (which she has yet to do), she’d earn $2.45 a week. That’s $127.45 for the year. 80 percent of that is $101.96. Not bad spending money for a three-year-old, I’d say. (More about the “why” behind our reward system tomorrow.)

So far, this system is working beautifully. She’s excited to do her chores because she likes getting to pick out which sticker she puts on her chart, and at the end of the week, we count out each nickel one by one. For the concrete, visual processors that preschoolers are, the pile of coins is thrilling.

I’ve made a generic Preschool Chore Chart for you to download for free. I tried to include as many typical chores a preschooler might have around the house, but if you don’t see ones you’d like, you can easily add your own. Download the Chore Chart here. And as always, I welcome any feedback!

What do your kids do around the house? Do you have a reward system?