Thursday, October 20, 2011

Saving our pennies

the kids asked for chores!!

so we tried out a chore list to see how they would do…..and they loved it!!!

i wanted to come up with 10 chores each week….and one extra to earn .25 for a church project.

Make Bed….i expect them to make their bed right when they get up…5 times in a week…they have 2 days they don’t have to….i think once they get in the routine of doing this i will faze it out of the chore list and just expect them to have this done every morning.

Dust….i let them each pick one room in the house….i hide 10 pennies…and as they look for the pennies they dust….this way they dust in all the right places and they think its fun!!

Basket Pick-Up….at the bottom of the stairs they each have their own basket (for me to put things that need to go upstairs) When i call for a “basket pick-up!” they get their basket and go around the house looking for their stuff they they left out, they need to then bring it upstairs and put the stuff away…they can fill in the circle when the basket is returned to the stairs empty.

I also leave a blank chore…for during the week when i ask them to do something….clean off the bathroom sink, match socks, empty the dishwasher.

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after i knew the written chore list would work i typed one up….so now all i have to do is print one out each week.

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the first week went great, second week…not so great.

i was ready to forget the whole thing because i had to nag them to finish their chores….but i am finding that they are highly motivated by this system, if i can just keep my cool and use gentle reminders…and they are saving EVERY $1.

every penny, nickel and dime is going towards…..can you guess???

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they decorated their “banks” with Mickey Mouse stickers….we are planning our first trip to DISNEY in the spring….so exciting!

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so…fellow bloggers…any advice? where to stay? what not to miss? what to miss? I have started research for this trip and i am totally overwhelmed by all the information!!! I would love to know what worked for your family…..

5 comments:

Jen said...

Yay! Disney. So much fun!!!!
We have been several times. Here are a couple of thoughts!
Ask for Disney Store gift cards for Christmas. They are good at the parks. Pack your lunches for the parks each day. They let you bring in coolers. Saves lots of money and time. You can pull over to a bench and eat...without having to wait in lunch lines etc... Plus my kids just wanted to snack throughout the day and didn't want full meals. Too much to do. Works great if you're pushing a stroller...just stuff the cooler underneath. Strollers are great even for big kids cause they get tired of all the walking.
Character breakfasts are fun too.
And my last tip. Schedule a day or two at the resort just for play time, swimming and resting. The parks can get you run down if you go everyday...day after day!
Happy planning!

Kerry said...

What a great chore list, I really love some of those ideas and will have to try them out :)
As for your Disney trip, definately schedule a few relaxing days as Jen said, just to enjoy everything else outside of the parks too. And to enjoy the hotel facilities like the pool.
Pack an extra suitcase for souvenirs!
Use the Fast Passes where available and go on the 'wet' rides last lol
Definately bring a backpack to carry your stuff too & wear comfortable walking shoes (trust me!).
Oh you guys are going to have so much fun!! Even just planning it is fun :)

Nicolle said...

How fun, and I think that the Disney trip is great motivation for them to save their money! We have not been to Disney, so I don't have any advice for you. We will probably go when Boyd is about 5. I have to say, your kids smiles always make me smile. They just seem so happy! :)

Kerri said...

What great motivation for the kids! Your chore chart looks great. Love that you hide pennies to make sure they are dusting the right spots! My son always wants to do a chore chart in the summer...but I feel bad that we tend to not stick with it during the school year. Sometimes it's just so much work! We talked about doing Disney last year...but our son said he would rather visit a tennis academy in Florida and skip Disney. What?! Not sure what's wrong with him...but with that attitude, I think we will just put off that vacation for awhile.

sloan said...

Holy cow, jen above really nailed the disney advice - i would have said everything she did!! we really loved those character meals - be warned: some of them are more competitive than others as far as getting a reservation (for example, the princess breakfast inside cinderella's castle ... reservations open 180 days ahead of time and you literally need to call the minute the reservation line opens 180 days before you want to go - very much like getting concert tix!) ... good luck!!