Commission

Phillip and I both agree that money management is one of the top important life skills you need. We were both blessed with parents who were good money managers and passed that on to us. I can honestly say that we have never had an argument concerning money. We have had very deep conversations about how we think our money should or shouldn't be spent, but never argued. From the very start we knew we wanted to teach our children how to properly handle money and to also teach them that money is earned through hard work, it's never just handed to you.

While listening to a podcast on teaching children how to manage money, Phillip decided it was time for Ashlyn to start earning money. But she won't be receiving an allowance, she earns commission. Phillip doesn't want our girls to think they can do a, b, and c then receive their "handout". He wants them to learn to look for work. Our girls will have to find things around the house that needs to be done, then come ask if they can do that task for commission. This will teach them to be more observant and look for things that need to be done, a character trait that is definitely lacking in our society. Our girls will definitely have regular responsibilities around the house but they are going to do them because they are part of our family and everyone pitches in, their commission is above the normal making your bed every morning tasks.

Obviously Ashlyn is still too young to realize that her laundry needs to be put away or the silverware in the dishwasher needs to be put away, but we are training her. Right now she earns commission by cleaning her room, emptying the silverware in the dishwasher, putting hangers on her clean clothes and helping me put clean clothes and towels away. She loves being a helper!


Ashlyn has three jars on her dresser to divide her commission up in; church, save, and spend. In that order. And she knows that is the order. She got to spend some of her "spend" money the other day and chose to buy ice cream at McDonald's. We made a special trip and she took her purse and handed the money to the cashier. She also took her purse with her to church and put her "church" money in the offering plate. She thought she was so big! She is saving up for a Tinker Bell movie. So cute!