Allowance has always been a sticky issue. Some feel that it is wrong to give children money, arguing that they don’t learn the value of working for it. Others don’t think kids should be paid for chores they should be helping with anyway.
Regardless of your stance, it would be great if there was an online tool that you and your child could use to manage their allowance. In addition to tracking the amount of allowance itself, it would be even better if there was a way to track the way the money is used or what portion is put aside for saving. There is – Allowance Manager.
Allowance Manager is easy to use and, best of all, it’s free. All I needed to do was register my email and input my daughter’s weekly allowance. We usually give her $15 a month so it looks really sad as a weekly figure . . .
From this screen it is possible to also add or edit entries. This is useful if you would like to give your child a bonus for extra chores. It works the opposite way as well if you need to ‘dock’ their allowance for one reason or another. Each item can be catagorized so a child knows exactly why an amount is added or taken away. Since I feel that my child should help in the house and not ‘rewarded’ for it, this feature is not particularly useful for us.
I love that this site keeps track of a running total, making sure I don’t forget to give my daughter her allowance (which I am guilty of). I can also create a separate account for my daughter. While she can utilize the features pictured below, I can still have full control over her usage and account. Multiple children can be added and managed.
Here the children can keep track of their finances. They are also shown that, in addition to spending and saving, they can also invest or donate some. Allowance Manager includes other tools to improve a child’s sense of responsibility. So far, you can find a printable Chore Chart. Ideally you hope you children already know what they need to do but usually they ‘forget’. Having it down in writing can avoid much confusion and perhaps disagreements.
Giving your child an allowance can certainly teach many lessons. In this day of online banking and web-based calendars, Allowance Manager is a fantastic site to instill many more valuable economic skills. Having only one child, I don’t know how much I will be utilizing the site but I definitely think everyone should check it out.
Disclosure: I was compensated to test and review allowancemanager.com. The above post contains 100% my honest opinion.
