Thursday, December 13, 2007

Early Birthday

Remember that wish list I told you about? Joseph's wish was to get an Xbox 360. He's been wanting one for a long time but we don't have an HDtv and Paul kept saying there are problems with the system that still needs to be worked out. On Tuesday Joseph got his Christmas and birthday gift from his grandfather. He's also saved $260 over time. He decided he wanted the Xbox Elite, so, armed with the saved money, the money from his grandfather and the balance from Paul and I, the console was picked up yesterday. Joseph is a very happy camper today. My understanding is that even with the non HDtv the picture is really good. Eventually, when we get an HDtv it will be even better.

Now I need your help. I have a question for all the moms out there that read my blog. Can you tell me what you think is an appropriate allowance a 13 year old (OK he'll be 13 next Saturday). This will help settle a discussion Paul and I have been having. He says $10 per week and maybe it's because in my day it wasn't even a dollar. I think that is way too much money. I'd like to know what everyone else thinks.

On the knitting front, I have not touched my needles since the weekend. The cold is better but I've been so tired I just haven't had the strength to knit. It's a sad fact but I hope to correct that tonight. Of course I've been saying that every night and haven't been successful.

I am tired of the snow. I know it's only December and there is still a LONG winter ahead but we've been getting lots of nasty weather here in Toronto of late. On Tuesday we have a very nice mixed bag of just about everything that ended in rain and then it all flash froze for yesterday morning. When I took Joseph to school yesterday the parking lot was a skating rink. My car went slip sliding away but thankfully the lot was empty so I was alright. I turned around and dropped him off in front of the school so he wouldn't have to navigate on the ice. Today we are supposed to get snow again and it looks like flurries for tomorrow and Saturday and heavy snow again on Sunday. I want to get to the Purple Purl on Saturday so I am hoping it isn't going to be too bad. December 23rd is my day to go to NYC so I hope the weather will be alright for that.

posted by Yosemite @ 7:07 a.m.  

7 Comments:

  • At 9:05 a.m., Blogger Unknown said…

    Hey Rochelle...Joseph is older than my girls, so I'm not sure how appropriate this advice is...but I vote "it depends". Good weasel answer huh?

    What would you expect Joseph to do with his allowance. If it is just for chewing gum and soda, then $10 might be a bit much. On the other hand, you might want to use the allowance as an opportunity to teach Joseph about budgeting and delayed gratification (a lesson that even us grownups can use).

    If you give Joseph a slightly larger allowance, you can reasonably expect him to anticipate and budget for things like school pizza lunches, trips to movies with friends, game cartridges, school ski trips and then not fill in any cash shortfalls if he fails to plan well. Missing an outing cuz you spent your allowance on crap is a valuable lesson.

    Just my two cents <--- which I can remember used to buy you a couple pieces of bubble gum at the store...so shows you how old I am!

     

  • At 9:42 a.m., Blogger Dreams of Yarn said…

    We use Rachel's allowance as an experience in money and saving, just as Rachelle has suggested.

    Rachel has a chart on the fridge of chores and if all the chores are done each week she earns 12 dollars... the catch? half of that must go directly into her bank account, so she gets 6 bucks in the hand, and 6 in the bank each week. The bank is a strictly no touch, long term savings, the money in the hand each week can be spent frivolously (gum, soda, whatever) or saved for a number of weeks to purchase a larger item. She gets paid every two weeks (same as my payday) so she also has to learn about waiting and budgeting!!

    Hope that helps!

     

  • At 9:59 a.m., Blogger Maggie said…

    Great advice! Shannon, I like your half and half savings thing.

    We don't give Alex an allowance. It's complicated. ;)

     

  • At 2:06 p.m., Blogger kimbelina said…

    Adam's a little young for an allowance, but I remember getting around $5 a week at that age, and I was responsible for putting half into savings (for things like gifts and bigger purchases) and half was to spend on "now" purchases. My parents still paid for clothes but I was responsible for contributing to school trip expenses.

     

  • At 6:03 p.m., Blogger Michelle said…

    Hi Rochelle,
    Nick gets an allowance of $3.25 a week. $2 for spending, $1 for saving and .25 is for charity.
    Julius and I don't buy him any toys, he must save and buy his own.
    Zaidy spoils him rotten and he his allowed to spend his birthday/chanukah money as long as he saves about 1/2 of it.
    The sooner they are responsible for their own purchases/allowance the easier it is for me.
    Nicholas (7) also wants an X-box but we will make him buy it with his own money and I hope that he is 12 by the time he has enough!

     

  • At 8:18 p.m., Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi Rochelle
    It's Ella from ravelry.
    My son is 15 and my daughter 21. I have always given them their age in pocket money until they get their own job. My daughter got a job at 14 and I stopped giving her pocket money, but still put it in the bank so that when she moved out and needed money there was extra on hand. My son gets $15 a week ( when work is going well as I'm self employed) but he has to do certain chores around the house and put 1/2 of his money in the bank ( not always accomplished depending on the latest video games out!) He has become more aware of the cost of things this year since taking grade 10 business and having to research the cost of post secondary education.
    I have friends who just give their kids money when they ask for it but I tried that and it was much more expensive especially in the summer holidays and snowboarding season.
    Hope that helps.

     

  • At 12:54 p.m., Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Joseph is a lucky guy to have been able to save enough for an Xbox 360 at 13! My son bought one last year when he was 19! LOL! My at-homers each have chores to complete each week. They were given the option to be paid $10 per week or $50 per month at month end. Surprise! They did the math and opted for $50 per month! It all gets deposited into their savings accounts but is not "tied up". They saved collectively and bought a PS2, controllers and games last winter so they are learning about the benefits of not spending every dime. I'm afraid I'm the bubble gum fanatic at our house so they never have to buy any. LOL!

     

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