Kid Jobs For Pay

Last night I watered the garden an hour before a storm dumped an inch or two of rain. 🙄

This morning I was grateful for the soft soil which made thinning the strawberry patch easier. I sprayed Neem on the finished product and am hoping that is enough to get rid of moldy strawberries next season. Normally, I wouldn't spray anything but we've had a problem with Jap beetles too.

If the raspberries do well, I will finally be happy with our garden experience. 

It took 3 years for me to learn that we don't eat enough tomatoes to bother with them.

Notes from this year: plant more spinach, plant more green beans, keep strawberries thinned.

As I was weeding the garden, I wondered when I would teach my kids that skill and hand the job off to them. Speaking of kids doing jobs, ours are now employed by us. Each week, we pay a whopping .25 x years-old. Before you go ridiculing us (#miserlife), remember that we also pay for ALL THEIR LIVING EXPENSES. So this is a pretty great deal.

In order to earn their full pay, they've got to get 18-20 boxes checked. 

Our current arrangement is 4 of the same boxes every day: 

☑ clear breakfast table ☑ brush teeth ☑ tidy room ☑ afternoon tidy

If they don't check off 18 boxes during the week, we will pay a daily rate for any days that got 4 boxes. 

We will also let them know what large jobs can be done on Saturday to earn an extra dollar.

All of this is subject to change, but last week was our first week and it went well!

Eliana is saving up for a kid's drivable car. By the time she saves up enough, she'll probably be too big for it, which is kind of depressing, but we don't really have space for one so I think we're okay with it.

One other caveat: they have to give 10%, save 30%, and get 60% in their fake checking account.

When they want to spend their money, they write a fake check to us and we pay for the item with our credit card. These plans are SO adjustable. We may increase their pay but also up their responsibility to provide for themselves. We may change the jobs they need to accomplish. Eventually, we will open actual bank accounts for them with actual debit cards. 🤯

I'm curious to see if we're still using this method next year. I hope we are. Last week, everyone was motivated to do their jobs and nobody complained about extra work they were asked to do but weren't getting paid for.