Making A List, Checking it Twice

Now that Jada earns money making chores, it's important that she have room to make choices with that money.  So I sat her down last weekend and told her to divvy up her cash balance (now at about $80) into four categories: give, save for next year, spend on others, and spend on self.  I also told her I'd double any amounts in the first two categories.

She decided to give $15, so I'll match with another $15 and we are looking for something to give $30 to.  She also decided to save $10 for next year, so I'll make  that $20 come January 1.

With the remaining $56, she decided to spend $25 on herself and $31 on others.  So I told her to make her own list of people to buy Christmas gifts for.  This year's list included nine family members and teachers.  We headed to Five Below to see what we could find.

She did pretty good.  She picked out something for everyone but me and Aaron, who she was with, since she wanted our gifts to be surprises.  So that's seven gifts total, and she spent $23, leaving her with $8 for me and Aaron.

I was proud of her picking, and her ability to do the math in her head to know where she was cash-wise.  I decided to fund the purchase of some gift bags and Christmas cards, so she dutifully wrote out the cards and made up the bags nice when we got home.

All in all, it was a fun and learning experience.  Everyone wins.  Especially Jada's gift recipients, who I hope are pleased as punch that they made it on to her list.