Earn Your Allowance

Earn Your Allowance – Ways that kids can work for their money

Most parents dislike giving their kids money for no reason. They want to know that you are going to earn your allowance. They want you to value the money you receive, and understand that it really doesn’t grow on trees!
Finding ways that you kids can earn your allowance is helpful both now and in the future when you might want to increase the amount of the allowance you receive. There are different things that kids can do depending on their age. This list will help you to know what things you might need to do in the future, as you get older, too.

Things you younger children can do to earn your allowance:

• Tidy up your toys – picking toys up off of the floor and putting them back into your toy box is easy to do and helps your parents out a lot
• Put your books back onto the bookshelf once you’ve finished reading them
• Pick up your clothes – instead of leaving your clothes or pajamas on the floor, you can pick them up and put them into the laundry basket, on your bed, or on a chair or dresser
• Feed the family pet – giving your cat, dog, or hamster its food is easy and fun to do, and your pet will love you even more for it
• Clean up your eating area – scoop your own crumbs back onto your plate after each meal. You can also ask your mom or dad for a cloth so that you can wipe up small spills as they happen.
• Make your bed

Things you older children can do to earn your allowance:

• Take the garbage out, and replace the bags
• Walk the family dog and do the poop-scooping
• Clean your cat’s litter box
• Dusting and vacuuming
• Sweep and mop the floors
• Clean the bathroom
• Mow the lawn
• Weed the garden
• Shovel snow
• Wash and dry the dishes; empty and load the dishwasher
• Do your own laundry, including clothes and bedding
• Take the recycling out
• Tidy up larger areas of the house
• Fold some of the family’s laundry such as sheets and towels
• Offer to help with cooking
• Clear the table for everyone after meals
• Put the groceries away

Ways to not only earn your allowance, but also get an increase:
• Clean out the fridge
• Organize and/or clean out drawers and cupboards that are a mess
• Sweep the garage floor
• Wash down the deck or porch
• Paint a fence
• Stain the deck
• Tidy and organize areas of the basement
• Plant some flowers or vegetables in your family’s garden
• Set goals for better grades at school
• Offer to save and invest a portion of the increase
• Offer to donate some of the increase to charity
• Volunteer your time at a charity
• Clean out the interior of a family car and/or wash the exterior
• Rake leaves
• Wash windows and mirrors
• Clean baseboards
• Wash walls
• Clean all the light switches and doorknobs in your house
• Pack items up to be donated to charity
• Take on extra responsibility for the care of a younger sibling – learn to change diapers, give feedings, run a bath, or spend time reading stories at bedtime
• Help a neighbor – this could be with something like snow shoveling or the raking of leaves

Learning about all of the different ways you can earn your allowance, will help you to decide what appeals to you. Your parents might not have even thought of some of these. It is important that kids find activities that they can do and won’t mind doing to earn some extra cash. Everyone needs to work for their money, that is one of the simple truths of life. Finding ways that you can earn your allowance helps you to contribute to your family and makes life easier for everyone. Choose from this list, or think of new ways that you can earn your allowance. Your parents will be proud of you!