Payne Family: Book Recommendations

I have read a few books lately that I just HAVE to recommend to y'all! So, so good! Okay, here they are...

I read both of these books and thought, "Wow! I've go to do this!" So, the Dave Ramsey book talks about teaching your kids about money. They go over paying your kids for chores (teaching them the correlation between work and money), paying tithing (the importance of giving), saving money, and keeping a budget. Every week the Ramsey family would have a "pay day" where they would get paid for the chores they did at home (keep in mind that some chores were not paid for but just required for being part of the family). If they didn't do their chores they didn't get paid! I really liked this idea! Only I couldn't see spending $5/week per child for chores! Yikes! I'd go broke! He does, however, talk about doing what you can afford. That was just what they did with their kids and you do what works for you.

Which brings me to book #2... The Parenting Breakthrough. This book has so many great ideas for teaching your kids independence. The whole idea is that you want your children to be completely self sufficient BEFORE they graduate from high school. So she talks a lot about having a plan and an outline for getting your kids independent. This book is written through an LDS perspective but of course would be great for anyone! She covers chores, finances, faith, family unity, you name it! Just a bunch of really good stuff for creating a hard working and tightly knit family. This lady, however, has a different perspective on paying your children. She believes that they should get an allowance (age = allowance/month, ex: 6 yr old gets $6/month) but just be required to do chores (no correlation between the 2).

After reading both of these books (and LOVING both of them), Brock and I created our own little plan. We liked the idea of having the kids do chores and getting paid for them, but we didn't want to break the bank in the process. So we combined both of the books and did chores but are paying them according to their age. For example: Brek gets $7/month which breaks down to $1.75/week. Then if she misses a chore she gets deducted $.05/chore. We have pay day on Saturday where they get their money and immediately set aside their tithing money.

Can I just say that I AM LOVING THIS!!! Before I would go around cleaning up after everyone all day every day!!! Now I only clean up after one little crazy monster (Brucey Poo). It has been such a life changer in our family. Brek is the best! (probably since she's old enough to really understand) And the great part is that if you aren't in the nagging mood to get chores done, then don't. They won't get paid. They change their attitude real quick once they realize that they won't get money! Also, it has been nice to have them help pay (or pay completely) for things that they are wanting. This chore method has been working GREAT for my 7 and 6 year olds. My 4 year old needs lots of prodding (I try to help him a bit more just since he is still pretty young) but he still loves it and gets it for the most part. I would not recommend it for any younger (unless you have a very mature 3 year old!).

Here is a sample of our chore chart...

One more book that I have to mention is The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. Definitely a favorite and another life changer! I'm still working on my process, but I am loving the transformation (see photo below)! I won't go into detail about this book (it's fabulous for changing your mindset on what is important in your life), but the one thing that applies to my children and chores is the folding of their shirts. I have changed how I fold their shirts (and mine!), and it's a miracle! The shirts stay in the drawer instead of all over the room from trying to find that one shirt!