Episode 5.
What's our budget?

Question:

What's our budget?

We give our kids an allowance so that they can learn how to spend wisely.
Our kids have a budget for their whole allowance: only a small portion of it are they actually allowed to spend
Current Kids budget
- 10% - God (giving to charity)
- $2 - Rent
- 25% - Taxes
- Of what's left, split:
  - 50% Savings
  - 50% Spending
Rent and Taxes go into our "house" container. Money in the house container can be spent as the family decides, collectively.
Over time, the kids will have to pay for more and more things out of their spending money

8 - Birthday gifts
9 - Christmas gifts
10 - hot lunch
11 - field trips
12 - extra curricular activity equipment (e.g. new skates for skating or a glove for baseball but not the cost to be in the activity)
13 - fund raisers (at the time I decided on that, the school we were at had a lot of fund raisers and the kids would regularly ask us to donate. This may need to change, depending on the amount desired/required for fund raisers)
14 - clothes
15 - cell phone / cell data
16 - car expenses (mostly gas)

Every two years we double our rent. It started at $.25 when Alyssa was 4. Went to $.50 when she was 6, etc.
Note: We haven't talked about this with them, but they will not be expected to pay rent, nor will the rate go up when they are paying for housing somewhere else, such as at college.
"Bank of Dada" is how the kids learn about interest. Every week, the kids ear 1% interest on the money they have in the bank of dada.
Money can only be added to or withdrawn from the "Bank of Dada" in full $1 increments at allowance time.
My wife (the "Bank of Mama") can give loans to buy things when she is out with the kids or ahead of time if I am going to take them out