My Job Chart ::: save.share.spend.

One of my best friends and her husband had kids a few years before we did. I’ve had the honor of witnessing her bring up her children in a way that…well, it floors me. She’s a really really good mom. She’s that person I call when I just don’t know how to handle something. I ask her what she did, or what she would do if this or that was her child. I often joke that I’ve decided I’m just always going to do whatever she does, because that’s how much I respect her wisdom and grace in motherhood. Her name is Katie and whenever she talks about raising her kids, I pay very close attention.

When Miles and Asher were babies, I was over at this Katie’s house and noticed six little tin buckets sitting along a shelf. Each one had a different word painted on it: Save, Spend, Give. And then three more, Save, Spend, Give. I asked her about them and she said they were there for each of her children, to learn what to do with their money.

I loved that and I’ve been meaning to do the same thing with our kids ever since. I mean to do a lot of things that I don’t always get around to doing. The pace just keeps accelerating and I just keep forgetting. So one of the things I love about the technological world is that it does truly save us some time with the things that we don’t get around to doing otherwise.

What Katie was doing with 6 tin buckets on a shelf about five years ago can now be done online, with out any actual accounts like a bank but with all the benefit of teaching kids how to handle their money in a concrete (and interactive!) way.

My Job Chart is a chore chart that helps you reward your kids for doing chores or for good behavior while teaching them to give some of what they have away. Then, My Job Chart makes it possible for your child to browse and save items that they are working toward as a reward and choose a charity to help support!

Look! Tin buckets a child can’t spill or lose!

I love so many things about this, from its simplicity, to the way it teaches children that working doesn’t just equal pay, it also equals giving. That’s probably my favorite part.

It’s hard enough to remember to create a reward system for chores in the first place, and then to keep on top of it? I’ve never been able to stay organized or keep control of the piggy banks that end up being played with and dumped out. This site, in my disorganized and humble opinion, is genius! (Why didn’t I think of it?!?) (Oh yeah…that scattered and well-intentioned but totally forgetful thing.)

Our kids are living in a time where most everything can be done online. This is an opportunity to learn how to take care of money while engaging in technology. And it’s totally free! You can simply sign up with your child and get them started in creating their unique reward system. (They will totally think it’s rad that they get to pick out what they’re working toward from Amazon.com)

This is how it works:

Visit MyJobChart.com to benefit from this easy way to teach some very hard (but very important) lessons.

Katie, thank you for planting the seed; I’m finally getting around to watering it!

{This post is sponsored by MyJobChart.com. The thoughts and opinions expressed are all totally mine. No one can buy those, even if they keep track of their money online and give some of it away to charity.}