The Many Chores of Giving Every Dollar a Job
In our family every child gets a dish job. They are responsible to do that same job every day. For example, I clear the table and the counters. This arrangement teaches us to work and it keeps the kitchen clean.
This can be the same with my budget. When I make sure every dollar has a job, my budget gets “clean”. I feel confident in the money I spend because I have given every dollar a job, and I know that the money I spend is supposed to be used for that reason.
A budget is meant to organize my money. But how can I fully use my budget to its full extent if I put all my money in one place? A budget helps me decide my priorities. And then I can give every dollar a job based on those priorities. Sure, putting all my money in one place to one category/priority is giving it a job, but I can do better than that! I choose my priorities and then give every dollar a separate job, helping to get the whole kitchen clean :-)
If all of my brothers and sisters has clearing as their dish job, the counter would get clean. But nothing else would. So spread your money around to all of your priorities, and give every dollar a job.
- Emily (age 12)