Pocket Money Woes

One of the main Worries of Every Parent who has a kid in Primary 1 is; how much Pocket Money to give, and how to give it!

Mummy decided that Nicole will only go to School with $1 and a small lunchbox.

Technically, it is only 90 cents, as she has to give 10 cents to God (We teach her that it is important to give to her faith).

Unfortunately, with the effects of inflation, Mummy realized that 90 Cents can only go “so far”, as it costs Nicole 80 Cents to eat her Chicken Rice and horrors… $1 for Nasi Lemak!

On her 1st day, she even overspent! She walked up and down the Canteen surveying the food (as if she was at the shopping mall), and after deciding on a Fish Cake (50 cents), she wanted to WangWang (20 cents) and another packet of biscuits (30 cents). The Snack uncle gave her a discount for the biscuits as she looked helpless and hungry holding on to her remaining coins. (Mummy notes: she totally ignored the lovingly pre-packed sandwich that I did at 6am…claimed it didn’t look “nice”)

As a result, she got a raise in her pocket money on Day 2, and currently it stands at $1.20, before her tithe . Mummy also improved the lunchbox to dried stuff she likes like Cereals, Biscuits etc.

Oh Yes! The Pill Box above – is where she is supposed to collect her pocket money from every morning. If she forgets to take out the money for the day, she is supposed to go without any recess money for the day. We wanted her to take responsibility for her own allowance.

The Sunday box is for Church. The Saturday box is for Savings. And Mon-Fri for each respective day. On Day 3, she saved a total of 10 cents and she was ecstatic … until she realised she couldn’t find anything to buy at the supermarket. She wised up and told Mummy on Day 4, to pack more in the lunchbox, so she just ate chicken rice and saved the rest.

Oh, and every day, she writes down her expenditure in a little notebook. We are mighty ambitious—many lessons and habits that we want to inculcate with her daily allowance

We are still testing out theory at the moment, as hopefully it will teach her the discipline of a daily routine, tithing and the ability to save as well.

We are hopeful that it works out!