After tripping over clothes and toys for the "umpteenth" time in my daughters' bedroom, I said one morning, "Ok Girls, I want you to get everything off your floor, beds, and dresser that doesn't belong there and put it in the Pack'n'Play in my room."
I didn't tell them why... why spoil the fun!? "Ok, Girls. Now you're in debt." I explained to them that when you owe something, you're in debt. They racked up a huge pile of debt in a matter of minutes because they failed to keep their room tidy. To get items out of debt, they have to do jobs. They can also earn their things back by showing initiative, being kind, being joyfully obedient, and just doing their normal daily tasks (they have a LOT of debt... I have to have lots of ways to earn their things back). I explained that at any point, the debt-holder can choose to auction the items (Garage Sale coming soon!) so they'd better work hard to get their more valuable things out first. I explained that when you're in debt, you have to work much harder to get out of debt than you would have had to if you had never got into debt in the first place. That is called interest. Also, you cannot earn income (we reward our kids in pennies for jobs or good attitudes) until you are completely out of debt. What is interesting is that the first few days they were sure to get very specific items out of debt. After that, their interest waned to the point that when I told my 5yo she could get something out of debt, she said, "No thank you." Clothes, toys, books, all of it they have not missed one bit... except for socks & undies... they're running low on those. This tells me what I already knew: they have WAY too much stuff! So now I'm planning on holding an auction (aka Garage Sale), the earnings from which will go in part to tithe, and the rest back into "Mommy's Money", which I use to pay the kids for their jobs. I hope to see them get out of debt entirely because my room is a disaster with that overly full pack'n'play in there! Plus, it would be nice for them to feel what it's like to shout, "WE'RE DEBT FREE!"
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Order in the Home!
Follow along as we ATTEMPT to create order in our home with scheduling, projects, meal planning, and more! ...just kids and in debt already?
...speed-cleaning with William Tell. ...a smarter T.O. D.O. L.I.S.T. Archives
January 2018
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