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#21
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Allowance tracking on Palm?
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#22
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Allowance tracking on Palm?
In article ,
Rosalie B. wrote: I will say that when I had my allowance 'budgeted' for me by my mom, it wasn't *really* mine. I had my church money, Girl Scout dues, savings and some other required categories, and that money wasn't really discretionary. So I didn't ever save up FOR anything, because I didn't have but about 10 cents a week (which was more then than it is now, but still wasn't much) extra. I remember getting a nickel candy bar (turkish taffy) sometimes on the way home from school, but I can't remember ever doing anything else with my allowance. This was how my allowance was set up initially (when I was 6yo). At that time, it made sense to get me used to the idea of a budget in general. As I got older, I set my budget categories and amounts myself. This is my general plan with my kids as well. My 6yo allowance included 15 cents a week for me, which I mostly also used to buy candy or sugarless gum. I didn't have "savings" at that point but developed that skill as I got older and started getting more money. So how did your parents handle this? Why are you so bad about remembering to pay them? They were bad about remembering to pay too. When we remembered, we'd try to figure out how many weeks they'd missed and how much they owed us. That is what I used to do too. But why not take advantage of the technology that exists to help us keep track of things. I would want them to remind you that it was time for their allowance or you to have reminded your parents. What do you do about getting paid for work? If it wasn't forthcoming wouldn't you know and be upset? Why should it be any different for them? Often, my kids would remind me but I wouldn't have correct change at hand, or I'd be busy cooking dinner or something at the time. So even with reminders, they somehow ended up not getting paid on time most of the time. My employer direct deposits my salary into my bank account, just as I'd like my kids' allowance to be automatically added into their "Mom's Palm Pilot" account. I'd notice if it didn't happen (as would my kids), but I do pretty much trust them to just do it automatically. I only see my pay stubs on an irregular basis. --Robyn |
#23
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Allowance tracking on Palm?
In article , Robyn Kozierok wrote:
In article , Rosalie B. wrote: I will say that when I had my allowance 'budgeted' for me by my mom, it wasn't *really* mine. I had my church money, Girl Scout dues, savings and some other required categories, and that money wasn't really discretionary. So I didn't ever save up FOR anything, because I didn't have but about 10 cents a week (which was more then than it is now, but still wasn't much) extra. I remember getting a nickel candy bar (turkish taffy) sometimes on the way home from school, but I can't remember ever doing anything else with my allowance. This was how my allowance was set up initially (when I was 6yo). At that time, it made sense to get me used to the idea of a budget in general. As I got older, I set my budget categories and amounts myself. This is my general plan with my kids as well. My 6yo allowance included 15 cents a week for me, which I mostly also used to buy candy or sugarless gum. I didn't have "savings" at that point but developed that skill as I got older and started getting more money. I don't quite understand the point of giving kids an allowance and then telling them how to spend it. If they are too young to spend it wisely, then just give them the amount you are willing to have them waste. If they are old enough to make their own decisions, then give them a responsibility (like school lunches or clothes) along with the money needed for that expense, but let them decide how to spend it. If you insist that they must buy a school lunch, then the school lunch money is not part of their allowance. Our 7-year-old son gets a $7 monthly allowance from his grandmother, so we don't have to remember it. He saves most of the money, except for an occasional splurge on Harry Potter trading cards, and a weekly popsicle from the ice cream truck. Sometimes when he's in Marini's (the local candy store) he'll spend $2 on a 1/4-lb of candy. He only eats one pice of cnady a day, so it lasts him a while. He says he's saving up for something, but he doesn't know what yet. We also allow our son to have the school lunch once a week. The $2 for the lunch is not part of his allowance---it is lunch money that he has no control over (other than choosing which day of the week he'll have the school lunch). -- Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels) Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed) Professor of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics Affiliations for identification only. |
#24
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Allowance tracking on Palm?
In article ,
Kevin Karplus wrote: This was how my allowance was set up initially (when I was 6yo). At that time, it made sense to get me used to the idea of a budget in general. As I got older, I set my budget categories and amounts myself. This is my general plan with my kids as well. My 6yo allowance included 15 cents a week for me, which I mostly also used to buy candy or sugarless gum. I didn't have "savings" at that point but developed that skill as I got older and started getting more money. I don't quite understand the point of giving kids an allowance and then telling them how to spend it. If they are too young to spend it wisely, then just give them the amount you are willing to have them waste. If they are old enough to make their own decisions, then give them a responsibility (like school lunches or clothes) along with the money needed for that expense, but let them decide how to spend it. If you insist that they must buy a school lunch, then the school lunch money is not part of their allowance. I wanted my kids to learn, right from the start, to set aside some of their money for charitable giving and some for purchasing gifts for others. I wanted them to experience the power of saving. So, when I started giving them allowance at 5yo, I originally conditioned it on them setting aside a certain portion for charitable giving, a certain portion for gifts, a certain portion for savings (to be saved up for any item of their choice worth $5 or more) and the rest was theirs to spend without restrictions. By your definition, on the free money was really their allowance, but they got to decide what charities to give their money to and had the fun of choosing and buying their own gifts for their grandparents and others for Chanukah and sometimes other occasions. They also had fun choosing what to save for, and seeing how their small weekly amount could grow quickly when saved. Now they get a larger amount (currently $4/week for each of them) which they apportion as they see fit. They could choose to blow it all on candy or Harry Potter cards, but they don't. They continue to contribute a sizeable chunk of their allowance ($1 each, currently) to charity. One continues to budget for gifts, while the other chooses to make gifts and have more free money. They both also set aside some money each week for medium-term savings. Yes, I could have originally just given them $20 to spend at Chanukah time, instead of forcing them to save part of their allowance each week, and they would have had the same fun, but not the pride of being able to say that they bought the gifts "with their own money" because they did see it as *their* money even though it was given with strings. So, for us, it works to help encourage the money values we want them to learn by first giving them an allowance with strings to "practice" those values, and then when they have gained sufficient experience, giving them full control. They also learn to use a budget with multiple categories, a skill that I hope will serve them later in life. --Robyn |
#25
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Allowance tracking on Palm?
You could track the allowances in Quicken, and run "Pocket Quicken" on
your Palm. I haven't used this, but it supposedly lets you synchronize back and forth between the Palm and the desktop, entering transactions on either. An advantage of this could be that your children could be able to monitor their "account balances", get printouts of their transactions, and generally manage their money, without needing to get the information from you every time. (Assuming that they have access to the desktop computer. Even if you don't want to give your children access to the computer with the accounts, you could still periodically give them printed "account statements".) Actually, this sounds pretty good to me. I might well try this, when my children are old enough. David desJardins |
#26
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Allowance tracking on Palm?
Kevin Karplus writes:
I don't quite understand the point of giving kids an allowance and then telling them how to spend it. I sure do. Children learn mostly by habit, and experience. I don't see how giving them money and telling them how to spend it is any different from giving them food and telling them how to eat it, or giving them clothes and telling them how to wear them, or giving them videos and telling them when they can watch them. Etc., etc. A common example is giving children money which is designated for them to give to charity. Now, I can imagine the principled point of view that says that children should have total independence in spending their own money, and if they don't discover any virtue in giving to charity, that's up to them. Nevertheless, I think it's also perfectly reasonable for someone who has a belief in charitable giving to think that it's not necessarily something that children will discover and value all by themselves, and that teaching them to do it by having them do it is a perfectly reasonable approach, too. We also allow our son to have the school lunch once a week. The $2 for the lunch is not part of his allowance---it is lunch money that he has no control over (other than choosing which day of the week he'll have the school lunch). This seems exactly the same as "giving [him] an allowance and telling [him] how to spend it", except that you decide not to call it an "allowance". Isn't that a purely semantic distinction? David desJardins |
#27
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Allowance tracking on Palm?
In article ,
David desJardins wrote: Kevin Karplus writes: I don't quite understand the point of giving kids an allowance and then telling them how to s We also allow our son to have the school lunch once a week. The $2 for the lunch is not part of his allowance---it is lunch money that he has no control over (other than choosing which day of the week he'll have the school lunch). This seems exactly the same as "giving [him] an allowance and telling [him] how to spend it", except that you decide not to call it an "allowance". Isn't that a purely semantic distinction? I have a different question about this: if he were to decide to pack a lunch or just not eat lunch, could he keep the $2? meh -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
#28
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Allowance tracking on Palm?
On Thu, 2 Oct 2003 00:06:12 EDT, David desJardins
wrote: You could track the allowances in Quicken, and run "Pocket Quicken" on your Palm. I haven't used this, but it supposedly lets you synchronize back and forth between the Palm and the desktop, entering transactions on either. An advantage of this could be that your children could be able to monitor their "account balances", get printouts of their transactions, and generally manage their money, without needing to get the information from you every time. (Assuming that they have access to the desktop computer. Even if you don't want to give your children access to the computer with the accounts, you could still periodically give them printed "account statements".) Actually, this sounds pretty good to me. I might well try this, when my children are old enough. David desJardins This is actually a really good thing to consider. It will teach them basic accounting skills and Quicken can run various reports that will help them see their progress toward goals and things. If you haven't used quicken, the screens look just like a checkbook register. You can set up a specific account for them and give them their own categories to organize their expenditures. Quicken is a good tool as they get older to foster financial independence. Hmm, I think I'm sold on doing it this way. It will also provide a springboard for family finance discussions. Karen |
#29
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Allowance tracking on Palm?
In article , David desJardins wrote:
We also allow our son to have the school lunch once a week. The $2 for the lunch is not part of his allowance---it is lunch money that he has no control over (other than choosing which day of the week he'll have the school lunch). This seems exactly the same as "giving [him] an allowance and telling [him] how to spend it", except that you decide not to call it an "allowance". Isn't that a purely semantic distinction? Yes, it is a purely semantic distinction. To our way of thinking, his allowance consists solely of his discretionary funds, not expenses that we have that he has some say in. The examples people have given of encouraging the habit of charitable giving are good. Currently the only charitable giving my son participates in is giving some of my change to street musicians, though I give a substantial proportion of my salary to charities. I'll have to think about ways to teach him charitable donation. -- Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels) Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed) Professor of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics Affiliations for identification only. |
#30
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Allowance tracking on Palm?
Carol Hulls wrote in :
We use a variation of this in our household. The bank of Mom and Dad has issued each child a virtual credit card. The limit is their weekly allowance and the card must be paid off each week. So if a I'm a bit behind on reading mkm, but this is a really good idea. I'll have to see if I can adapt it for use in our family. -- Penny Gaines UK mum to three |
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