i have 3 children,
girl 11.5 (cant forget that)
girl 6.5
boy 4.5 LOL
they have responsibilities that they have been doing pretty well at handling. I never got an "allowance" I just asked, sometimes I got it sometimes I didn't.
I do not want my kids to feel like they are being paid for doing what you have to do in life, but I also feel like they will take more pride in their tasks AND in things they have purchased with their hard earned money. also, they will (am I asking to much) think more about the things they absolutely have to have, if they have to buy it themselves.
soo the only idea I came up with is to set an amount, which can be deducted from for certain reasons which would be defined beforehand.
I am seeking, advice/ideas/help in amounts and in systems that anyone may have.
and yes my 4 yo has a "job" to, he is very proud that he takes the bathroom garbage out! he has also learned to clean under the toilet with assistance in the spraying... hes the one that pees down there! 
what with do with our 7 year old DS is that he does not get money for his usual chores i.e cleaning his room or feeding the animals etc... however if he goes above and beyond say helping his 3 year old sister clean her room or doing a load of laundry or cleaning up the dog mess in the back yard for that he gets money. with that said his money is his to spend on what he will usually he just wants to save it. in no way at 7 does him having a little pocket money keep me from buying for him. but he does save up for special things that he wants. my 3 year old DD doesnt really do chores yet she helps a lot but there are no set things for her to do daily but she always has money a dollar here or there the left over change in our pockets. that sort of thing. as far as dollar amounts for your kids I guess it depends on your lifestyle if they are used to getting 150 dollar shoes and being able to spend endless amounts of money then there probably not going to be happy with 5 or 10 a week. ethier way I think the pay should balance out the work they did and should vary depending on the age of the child.
my oldest is very helpful with her younger siblings. She usually does this without me asking especially if she sees I am having a trying day. this is actually what brought this on.
(I aint buying no 150.00 tennis shoes LOL, they always seem to need something at the same time)
oh and Im sure Im still gonna have to buy, but here is an example. I went to barnes and noble (they all love books, like me) my oldest wanted a book that was like 19.00 but of course they all wanted books and mine was prolly 35.00 LOL so I ask her if she could pick out one that was a little lower this time.. so she did, but she could have used her money, or half of her money or something.
soo the only idea I came up with is to set an amount, which can be deducted from for certain reasons which would be defined beforehand
This is what we did with our oldest daughter. She always was wanting an allowance about the age of 6 or 7. So we told her that she starts out on Sunday with $5.00 in her account. If for some reason, she didn't do her chore for that day, then we deducted a quarter. We told her that when we don't go to work, then we don't get paid for it (she had no idea about sick leave or vacation pay 
) Since she was older, we had her sign a little contract so she couldn't come back and say, she didn't understand it that way. (We still make her sign a contract for things like that - cell phone, etc.) Then when she fails to follow through and we have to come back on her about it, we have her signature.
I ordered banks for my kids from msgen.com, the bank has 4 sections, one each for save, donate, spend, invest. They are learning how to manage money. Also, my 7 year old gets $2 week, but only if he remembers to ask for it! I don't necesarily tie it to his chores, because he must do them because he is a member of the household. I don't get paid for what I do around the house. Sometimes he will ask what he can do for additional money if he wants to buy something special. I of course buy him things, but some things I make him save his own money and buy it for himself.
WOW! I love the idea of deducting a quarter every time something does not get done. We just started giving my 8 year old an allowance so she could learn how to manage money. The contract idea, I will definately be using. It's a perfect way to hold her accountable. Thanks!
We don't have a very formal allowance plan yet, because DD (7) is deciding which of her friends has the best deal. I think she does. Right now, she gets $6 a week for being a good citizen of the house, which means that she needs to help out when needed, but she doesn't really have any assigned chores. She thinks she wants to get paid for specific tasks, so we're working out a payment schedule. She doesn't quite get that if she doesn't do chores every day, she won't get paid, AND that she's still expected to help with other things. We'll see.
She's really good at saving for big things. She just saved for a month and a half, so she could go to Disneyland (with my help, but she saved about $60), and last year, she combined birthday money, allowance, and money from selling her iPod Nano (which she found the buyer for) for buy a Video iPod.
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