With the start of the new year, Chris has set up an allowance system for Avery.  Not only do we want to encourage her to help around the house, but we want to instill good money management early.  She was elated to hear that we were going to start this.  Now on Saturdays Avery gets $2.  She has to put 25 cents of that into her Giving bucket for either church or other charitable organization that she wants.  The rest is hers to spend as she wants.  We have decided to not put restrictions on how she spends it, only that we will monitor it and talk about whether she is making good decisions or not.  Already she has decided to save her money for a new Build-A-Bear or Webkin. 

Chris did a lot of research on this topic, and he really has it organized.  We do not tie the allowance to chores.  She gets her $2 no matter what.  But we do have "family chores" which are chores she has to do because she is a part of a family.  They are expected and not part of the allowance system.  However, if she completes 10 "family chores" within the week, then she has the opportunity to earn extra money on top of her $2 by doing some additional chores.  To kick off the new allowance, Chris made up a contract and we all signed it so we could stress the rules and importance.  We hope that this will be a wonderful new learning experience for her.