Sometimes the only thing standing between you and shining are some cold hard facts.

I realized this a couple of weeks ago when my nemesis and I were in another stand off.  I hate laundry and I'm pretty sure my laundry knows it.  There it sits in a pathetic heap in the corner of my room just waiting to be folded.  But I would rather gnaw off my right arm than I would give up the hours - no days - that I imagine are required to fold and put away clothes for me and my four boys.

Exactly how long does this thankless, endless, horrible task take?  I decided to find out a couple of weeks ago.  The first basket took fifteen minutes.  Hmmmm... not so bad.  The second basket took 13 minutes, and the third basket also took right about 15 minutes.

I will never love folding laundry, but somehow I am suddenly bigger than this task I have grown to hate. I will still look at the unfolded baskets with disdain, but now rather than hopelessly staring at the base of Mount Everest, I see fifteen minutes of time.  That's it.

Allowance is a little like laundry.  It seems harmless in theory, but execution over a lifetime is a whole other story.  And, the more Richard and I used debit cards instead of cash, the more slack the Beeny Bank became.  

I don't want to let this degenerate into a debate about whether or not kids should get an allowance (though feel free to visit Today's Forum to tell us what you think).  I realize there are two sides of the coin (no pun intended).  I generally ascribe to the belief that kids can't learn money management without some money to manage.

The issue here is how to shine by making good on your weekly commitment to pay allowance.

Our family formula.  One dollar for every year old you are (Jack $3.00, Matthew $6.00, Ricky $17.00).  Ten percent of your weekly allowance is set aside for "giving" and the remaining money is evenly split between "spending" and "saving."

You see the problem, right?  Take Jack for example.  Ten percent of $3.00 is .$30.  Then there is the remaining $2.70, divided by two, meaning two sets of $1.35.  And that is EVERY WEEK, times calculations for three kids.  The number of single dollar bills, quarters, dimes, and nickels required to pay out allowance each week makes it impossible to casually open your wallet on Sunday evening and simply make payment.

Sometimes the only thing standing between you and shining are cold hard facts (and cash, it seems).

Jack's allowance requires 104 dollar bills, four rolls of quarters, three rolls of dimes, and two rolls of nickels.  Matthew is 208 dollar bills, eight rolls of quarters, and six rolls of dimes and Ricky totals up to 780 dollar bills, eight rolls of quarters, five rolls of dimes, and three rolls of nickels.  

The sum of each child's allowance for the year is in a separate banker's bag, labeled with their name and locked in our safe.  Lest you think we hit easy street, think again.  In the beginning we used our tax refund to fund the lump sum.  Now we budget monthly, setting the money aside until their birth month.  At the start of their birth month, we calculate how many of each coin we'll need for the year and then head to the bank once.  Their birthday marks the first week of their pay raise.

Me, I'm 43 dollar bills, ten rolls of quarters, four rolls of nickels, and 2 rolls of dimes.

So much to comment on today, how will you resist visiting our community forum labeled, Today's Post?  What cold hard facts help you shine at a task that might otherwise seem overwhelming?  What do you do about allowance or what did your parents do?  Or, how many dollar bills, quarters, dimes, and nickels would it take to pay your allowance?

Shining off until tomorrow...