A child with a budget?

[PrincessASquared]

We're leaving in a week for our holiday trip to Disney World. :joy::santa3: We are staying for 5 days and have a 5 year old who loves to spend money. :spend: We were thinking about giving her a daily allowance. Does anyone do this with their children? How much is a fair amount? How do the children like being on a budget? Any pitfalls we should be aware of?
Thanks.

[crazeedizneefinatic]

Absolutely, otherwise get prepared to spend, spend, spend. My son is 7, and this past trip he actually earned his own money from garage sales and chores and saving a bit from birthday, christmas and stuff. I think at even 5 boundaries should be set. Before my son earned his money we set a $20 a day limit which we gave him. It seems high but honestly we would never give that kind of money at home but in Disney the prices are not normal, lol. He could either spend $20 a day or save it for something that cost more. It gave him a way to see how much things really cost and honestly he did not burn through the money like we thought. It also stopped spur of the moment buys. Because of course every ride you come off of is in a gift shop! Don't get me wrong, there were meltdowns but that is to be expected. You cannot get away from merchandising at Disney and I honestly don;t know anyone who could afford to buy anything there child looked at. Good luck! This will definatley be a learning experience.

[vamaggie]

When we went when our DS was 4.5, we told him he could choose 1 souvenier a day. (we were there for 5 days) Some days he chose a $15 item, some a $5-luckily he did not have too expensive tastes back then! It seemed to work well for us. It also was an opportunity for him to think about whether he REALLY wanted the item since he knew it was the only one he was getting that day. On subsequent trips (when he was 7 & 10, and DD was 1.8 & 4.5) we gave them each a "trip limit" to spend (from b-day money, chores etc). DD had Disney Dollars (so she could visually see how much she had left) and DS used a DIsney gift card. Again, knowing they had a limit really made them think about what they wanted to buy. I think I would do the "trip allowance" vs the daily allowance since there may be a few big things she wants vs a lot of smaller ones. Good Luck and enjoy your trip!!!

[merlinmagic4]

Giving our children control over their own money was, by far, the best thing we have ever done!! They save their own money and then we give them a certain amount (this last trip we gave them each 50.00, my mother gave them each 25.00, and they each had 20.00 of their own money for a whopping total of 95.00!!!!). They make choices and are far more cautious about what they are spending their money on. I absolutely love it and highly recommend it! :thumbsup: They buy a lot less junk although it does take a lot longer to shop since they are actually THINKING about what they want to buy. By the way, they each came home with about 20.00 left over :D

[medic9016]

It has worked great for us. We have found over the last 3 trips to set a limit and stick to it. Decided if it will be a daily amount or a up front total. We have found for us to tell our DD a total up front, when it's gone, it's gone.

[mickey&missy]

I think its a wonderful idea!

Last trip DD saved every single penny for a over a year to have her own money. With birthdays, chores, tooth fairy, holidays etc she had $276! She was 5 at the time! She had a very good time spending it ;)

This time she's been doing the same and DS has followed suit. They both have almost $200 now with a little over 100 days to go. With the holidays coming up I know their both going to have a lot of money to spend. My sister is planning on giving them Disney Dollars as a gift and Santa thought Disney Dollars where great instead of stocking stuffers. Their both going to have a lot of money!

When they spend their own money they have much better sense of how much things cost. The earlier they get that the better.

Have a wonderful trip!

[Strmchsr]

It's the only way to teach the child responsibility! My DS7 has been saving his allowance for several months. That way he had to make choices each month - buy something now or wait for Disney World. It's helping him to decide what he really wants for souvenirs and not buy just because he can.

[LibertyTreeGal]

We started last year when we planned this trip. Each of my 6 year olds gets a dollar a week for chores and it goes into the Disney fund (if they decide NOT to do them then no money, and then I make them do it anyway, so they catch on pretty quick! ;) )

When we get there, we turn it into Disney dollars, which we hold onto and they can spend on whatever they like. But once the money is gone, they know not to ask for anything. Works great and they don't whine after their money is spent.

[faline]

When my daughter was young, we'd give her whatever we had accumulated in change in our piggy bank as her spending money. She quickly learned that money was not limitless and she became quite an excellent shopper - not grabbing the first thing she saw but shopping, comparing and deciding how to spend her money.

This worked great as it really eliminated the begging for this or that. While I didn't always agree with the choices she made, it all worked out if she was spending "her" money and made choices about what was important to her.

[irish1967]

Something that worked well with us is that we told our children that they could choose "one" item for the trip. We promised them that wherever we saw the item, we would go back and buy it on the last day. It gave them the opportunity to "shop" around and decide what they really wanted but also kept them from the constant "I wants" in every single gift shop. Anything they wanted we told them that "of that is what you decide to get on Friday, we will come back and get it."

Of course, one year DS1 and I ended up in the POTC gift shop while DS2 and DH were in MGM and the Indiana Jones gift shop, but it really did work out well.

[Tink#64]

All of our trips so far we've allowed both DS's $20.00 per day. Some days they'd spend it all & others they didn't. They each always go with some of their own spending money that has been saved & also some Disney dollars they received for anything from report cards to the Easter Bunny. I even get my DM in on it & it helps out. But, I've noticed they seem to be more careful & conservative when it's their own money, & not so much with ours.

But they don't spend all of their money on toys & stuffed animals. They also have picked out football jersey's, nice character prints (that are now framed & hanging in our home), watches, etc.

But, DH & I have agreed, that when we visit next year, the daily allowance from mom & dad, drops to $10.00. In addition, we also buy them a shirt of their choice. They get more allowance now & they both know how to save & plan for what they want, (they are 10 & 11). We have so many Disney souvenears, we don't need more! (But we all find things we just can't leave without!) :blush:

[DestinationWDW]

Our family matches pretty much what has been said...we have 3 children. We have 2 boys and a "tomboy" so we will buy each child a shirt and a cap of their choice...they each get $60 per trip and any other monies they may have saved. It really makes your vacation much more relaxing when you are not hearing "mom can i get?" repeatedly.....i've also made them turn to their own funds when we've been on the dining plan and I'm feeling they are asking for too much "junk food"....cuts that out quickly too!;)

[tinklover]

I totally agree with putting kids on a budget and teaching them the value of a dollar early. We were at WDW in May and we told our DD's 4 and 3 that they could get one souvineer on the last day. they wanted everything they saw. So on the last day they both chose a shirt and we bent a lil and each let em get a doll as well. The next trip we have planned is in June and they want to get tehir hair done at BBB and we both told em that they have to save up their allowences and birthday money cause they are gonna pay for it themselves. So far they both have more then enough to get tehir hair done every day of our 5 days trip if they wanted to and we also let santa know that Disney Dollars would be better in the stockings.