Thomas is learning how to spend money

Ok, we are actually teaching him how to give, save and spend money. Stewart and I started attending a money class last month. For those of you who have heard of Dave Ramsey, we have been attending his video seminar Financial Peace University the last few weeks. We have been listening to his talk show for years now. We are not in any desperate situation, like most of his callers, we just like listening to his advice. It is just nice to be reassured that debt is a terrible thing. The class also talks about insurance and investing (we have not gotten to that part yet). It is a 13 week program offered here once a week. And the big bonus is the FREE babysitting. So we get to go sit in a room with other adults and converse about grown-up topics, how can you beat that.

Dave Ramsey also has books and a financial kit for the kids. Cassidy was real excited about her kit. Though it is not any different from what we have been doing with her. The kit has a dry erase chore chart that you fill out each day. Cassidy gets to make her bed, clean her room and dust the living room every day. Then on Saturdays, she sweeps her floor, cleans the bathroom sinks, washes the kitchen table, and mops the dining room floor. She has been doing chores for a number of years and we have always had three piggy banks for her, one for the church, one for saving, and one for spending; which is what her kit teaches. She is saving her money for some white dress shoes (though I do not know what she will wear with them).

The new news is Thomas has started doing chores as well. We made him a piggy bank, out of a clear plastic container. He gets to see all the money he has. He has taken over Cassidy's chore of setting the table. He gets everything on the table, just not always in the right places. He also has to pick up the toys in his room and the playroom. And on Saturday his big chore is to dust the staircase. I love Swiffers. He gets $.15 for each chore and gets paid right after he does it. (Cassidy gets paid once a week.) He loves running to the piggy bank and putting the money in, as well as writing a check mark on his chore chart. Zachary helps sometimes too, so he gets a penny for his Nutella jar.

Well a few days after we started this, we went to the store to find out what they wanted to save up money for and purchase. Thomas chose a CARS game. As you see in the photo he was able to buy it this week. We have been playing CARS Go Fish almost every night. He wants to buy a puzzle next.