FEATURE OF THE MONTH
First come, first earned!
A while back in the parent community, Brian wrote:
“I want to create a checklist of chores which allows the more ambitious or desperate child to earn extra money. I figured out how to create a list either child can see, but how do I get the money to go to the right kid?”
The short answer used to be: “You can’t.” 😬
At least not elegantly. We had a clunky workaround for these “First Dibs” chore charts. You had to duplicate the chore entry for each child and spell out the precise destination for each reward. It was awkward and hard to police the first come, first served rule.
We finally fixed that this month with the introduction of our Default Account feature.
The new feature makes first dibs chore charts easy peasy.
See how it works HERE
TIP OF THE MONTH
Punch the kiddie wage clock.
John K. wrote me recently:
“I set up a checklist for hourly work that my kids perform. I only have [an item for] one hour of work per day, so we must use multiple days to add in more hours worked for the kids. Is there an easier way to make a checklist or other procedures for hourly work?”
It turns out checklists don’t handle hourly work gracefully. You’d have to create N daily items where N is the max number of hours they could work in a day. Work one hour, check off one hour. Work two, check off two, and so on.
Instead, I recommend using money requests.
Upon completing a stretch of work, your kid clicks/taps on the arrow icon next to the account to submit a money request for the appropriate amount. You receive a notification to review. You can approve (perhaps adding a bonus 😉), partially approve, or deny the requested amount.
I like the money request route because it puts the onus on the child to make the request (perhaps with a summary of the work), and it allows you to deny or adjust the amount upon review.
See how money requests work HERE.
COMMUNITY POSTS OF THE MONTH
It takes a zoo.
Recently in the FamZoo parent community:
- Melanie suggested we come up with a teacher’s edition of FamZoo for use in the classroom. We discussed how we have several classroom economies running on our IOU accounts to date and improvements we could make. 🎓
- Thomas asked about where to find the money request arrow icon. 🤔
- Matthew suggested a Repeat-When-Done with an After-N-Days option for repeating chore items. ⏱️
Got an experience or tip to share? Got a question?
JOIN THE GROUP
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
W comes before S in this family dictionary!
All that talk about hourly pay and competition for jobs while on the precipice of Fall, leaves me reaching for a favorite football quote. Huddle up the family team, and share this one:
“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
~Vince Lombardi
Ready, break!
SHOUTOUTS OF THE MONTH
A big THANK YOU to...
- Brittany, Laurel, and Trisha — for the trio of Facebook recommendations this month. Word of mouth is our marketing. So, every recommendation counts big time. Much appreciated! 📣
- Lydia P. — for providing youth financial education classes and encouraging families to use FamZoo to turn concepts from class into practice at home. We’re delighted to be a partner in your efforts. 🎓
- Matthew K. — for being the top contributor in our private parent group last month. Tons of great feedback, and the first to jump on the Default Accounts feature moments after we released it! 👏👏👏
ALWAYS HAPPY TO HELP
Dear Bill...
Got a question, comment, concern, bug report, suggestion?
I’m no robot, just an everyday dad on a youth financial literacy mission. Hit reply, and I’ll respond.
Or catch up with me on Facebook or Twitter.
Best to you and your family,
Bill
Founder, FamZoo.com