Oh and his friends were telling him to make sure he wakes up on time so he earns easy money in the morning and suggesting other things for him to do (they saw his list.)

So last night for the first time ever….and I mean ever…..Joe got in bed, had is tv on for only 10 minutes (cuz we got home from cub scouts late) and when the timer went off on the tv he did not turn it back on (as I told him he would lose mom money and certain privileges for that cuz he needs to go to sleep) and he actually laid in bed without shedding 1 tear because it was time to fall asleep without the tv on. I was amazed. He just needed the hallway light on and he was good to go.

This morning, he came into my room at 7:10am dressed and ready to go down stairs to the kitchen table (he has to be there by 7:20!) He saw his 2 mom dollars sitting on the table and he was like “YESSSS, I should wake up like this more often.” He then said “I’d like cereal for breakfast please. I’m gonna feed the cats now though.” I said “no problem.” So because no one asked him to feed the cats he earned 4 mom dollars!

Plus, I gave him 5 mom dollars for answering our Secrets of The Millionaire Mind card right this morning. It was about Getting Paid Based on Results and Not Time. He gave a suitable answer for a 9 yr. old. I told him to study the card and perhaps I’ll ask him again later so he can earn another 5 mom dollars.

He learned yesterday about counting your money and making sure you receive the proper amount that you’re suppose and also to make sure you count to ensure you have the correct change. He definitely learned about responsibility this morning and he’s learning that he’s getting paid based on HIS results and not by time. We discussed that on the way to school. I let him know that if take this mentality into the grown up world then you’re income is endless. He is also learned about money management…..because this morning he said “I have 12 mom dollars, so I have enough to have 2 friends come over after school, but I’m not so sure I’ll spend it on that quite yet.”

I’m very happy with his progress so far and we’re only on day 2.

As for Brandon,. the 17 yr. old. Kathy and I decided that come February 1st that we’re no longer going to be on his ass about money or getting a job or paying his bills or any of that. He knows that he’s got bills that are due, he knows when they are due and he is smart enough to know that if you make $140 a month and owe at least $250 a month that mathematically it doesn’t work out. He also knows that his truck is in the shop again (inspection) and that he needs to fix and sell his 4-wheeler to do get it out.

So I had a talk with him the other night and let him know that come Feb. 1 all of his responsibilities are 100% his and we will not be on his butt anymore about money. He no longer has any consequences from us in regards to his bills. His car insurance will be in his name by Feb. 1, he’s got his own checking account, and his mom will send him a monthly bill, which will include penalties if not paid on time (he owes her a lot of money for paying to get his truck fixed when he first got it.)

I told him that he’s going to be 18 the end of this month and he’s going to be graduating in 5 or 6 months so he’s going to experience the real world of responsibilities now and what happens if you don’t take care of yours. I told him he will be fielding calls and letters from his insurance company if he doesn’t pay his insurance on time and he will deal with the consequences if they cancel his insurance mostly meaning you can’t drive ANY car and your rate will most likely be higher the next time around. And he will be dealing with NSF charges if the money isn’t in his account when it’s suppose to be.

He’s also aware that he’s only allowed to use his mom’s car to get to and from school and work and that’s it. If he wants to go anywhere extra he needs HIS truck so therefore he needs to be motivated on his own to fix and sell his quad because we aren’t going to push him anymore. We’ve been doing it for over a year now and he’s obviously not listening. I said it’s up to you now….if you want to drive your girlfriend to the movies or the mall or whatever then you’ll fix and sell your quad so you can get your car out of the shop. It’s that simple. You KNOW what you have to do, it’s up to you whether you want to do those things or not.

He was thrilled that we weren’t going to bother him about money anymore lol but he still is a little confused about his future. He doesn’t know what he wants to do, which is fine, he’s only 17 but I told him you have to figure something out because we’re giving you until you graduate and then you’ll either have to have a F/T job and pay rent for an apartment (and go to school if you want) or you can have a F/T job, if you want, and/or go to school if you want but you’ll have to pay rent for living HERE too. This is the real world now. (Btw, he doesn’t know that we’ll be saving his rent money that he pays to us for living at home and giving it back to him. So, shhhhhhhh don’t tell him.)

I informed him that he still has his normal rules, i.e. curfew, girlfriend not allowed over when we’re not home, etc. but we just won’t bother him about money. I did let him know that we still will be on his butt about school and finishing his eagle scout thing though.

I think our talk worked though. When I came home from the store yesterday he was following up on jobs where he sent in his resume and he had been working on his 1 badge for Eagle Scouts. He actually finished that one and did the first 2 questions of his NEXT badge. I was like “hmmmmm, that’s odd.” lmao Usually, I have to be on his butt constantly getting him to do his scouts stuff. But hey….I’m not going to complain.

I feel so much better knowing that we’re not gonna be on his butt about money. I’ve been getting so frustrated and angry with him that I couldn’t stand to be around him. It was really frustrating to Kathy and I how he’s been so lazy and unmotivated about everything. So the other day I asked my mom for advice and she mentioned the plan above. I told Kathy about it and she said let’s try it cause nothing else is working!

I love my mom! I think she’s an amazingly, smart, wonderful woman! I get a lot of advice from her now that I have kids in my life. I tell me mom often how wonderful I think she is. Funny how things change from when we were kids to now that we’re adults and we realize “gosh, mom did know what she was talking about!”

Here’s some homework for everyone….if you’re lucky enough that your mom is still in your life, take some time out of your day RIGHT NOW and call her and tell her Thank You and that you Love Her!

Joe decided to negotiate with me this morning and I was kinda happy about it. For xmas I got “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” cards in my stocking from Santa. Now they’re not playing cards, they’re 50 cards with different insights from the book printed on them. Like on one side of a card it will say: “Be Accountable for Everything in Your Life” and then if you turn the card over it says: “Rich people believe that they create their lives. Poor people believe that life happens to them. If you want to be wealthy, you must believe that you’re the one causing your success, mediocrity, or struggle.”

So along with Joe’s new incentive program with the mom dollars I decide that I’m going to let him pick one of these cards every morning while we’re eating breakfast and we can discuss it. I fan out the cards this morning while he’s eating his Peanut Butter Captain Crunch and tell him to pick one. He got all excited and didn’t even know what they were yet lol

He started talking about if you’re going to buy a chair you want to make sure it’s comfortable! lol I told him that he’s definitely right about buying a chair and that’s what comfortable normally means but not so much in this context that we’re using it. So then I went on to explain to him how people say they want to just be “comfortable” when it comes to money and what that means and how they usually end up, etc. And that the card is saying you don’t want to be just comfortable.

He said so having a lot of money is bad, right? I said oh no…what this card is saying is just the opposite. You want to not shoot for “comfortable” you always want to shoot for having as much money as you possible can and if you aim for that, then you’ll turn out to be very comfy in life and not have any worries, plus you can buy or do what you want whenever you want because you’ll have the money to do so.

He was like “hmmm ok.” Then he looked at me and said “why do you guys always do this to me?” And I said “what?” He said, “you know make me read these cards or learn about money and stuff like that.” I went on to explain to him that no matter what school he goes to that they don’t really teach him to be financially educated. They don’t teach you about money or investing or passive income or how to make sure you never have any financial worries ever again in your life….so that means your mom and I are left to teach this to you.

And that’s why I’m doing this cards with you in the morning now and that’s why your mom bought you “Rich Dad, Poor Dad for Kids: the comic book version” and that’s why we’ll continue to teach you a lot of other things as well. I said “Joe, we don’t want you to ever have to worry about money in your life….ever.”

He then looked at me and real serious said “well then when we read these each morning if I get one right when you ask me what I think they mean by that can I get 2 mom dollars?” I laughed and said “you absolutely can!” I went on to tell him that he may not get any of the answers right yet, but I’ll let him try but that after we get through them once, he’ll have all of the answers and as long as he can keep remembering them he’ll earn lots of mom dollars. He said ok!

He then, of course, reminded me to add this to his chart as ways he could earn money! While I was doing that I said “tell you what, for right answers to these cards I’ll give you 5 mom dollars instead of 2!” He said “yessssss!!” and then looked at me and asked why I’ll give him 5 instead of 2? So, I, of course, went on to explain to him that learning about money and finances and making sure you understand all of the different ways you can make money in the future is extremely important to your future and it’s so important that we’ll reward you even MORE for learning it. That seemed to be an acceptable answer for him lol

It’s called Mom Dollars (well the person who I read about it from calls it Dad Dollars but since there ain’t no dads in this house, it’s called mom dollars.)

Anyway, it’s a simple program. Each morning Joe has things he needs to do like a) wake his self up with the assistance of a brand new alarm clock b) dress himself for school without be told to and c) be at the kitchen table by 7:20am. If he does these things he gets 2 mom dollars.

Then if he’s done his breakfast and has brushed his teeth and is ready to leave for school at 8am he gets an extra mom dollar. He can accumulate extra mom dollars throughout the day by doing little extra chores. For instance, if he scoops the cat litter pans he’ll earn 1 mom dollar per cat litter pan (there are 5!) or if he loads or unloads the dishwasher he’ll earn 2 mom dollars. If he feeds the cats he’ll earn 2 mom dollars but if he feeds the cats without us asking him to do it he’ll earn double mom dollars. A lot of chores if he does without being asked he earns double.

Ohhh and he earns 2 mom dollars per chapter for any book he chooses to read, but my personal favorite is he earns 4 mom dollars per chapter for any book on business, money, real estate, or personal development (I need to find some kid versions of these types of books.)

Of course you’re wondering what the heck does he do with these mom dollars? Well he’s got rewards he can spend them on. For instance, if he wants a friend over after school that is 5 mom dollars. If he wants to do his homework after dinner instead of after school that’s 5 mom dollars. If he wants to earn 1 hour at the batting cage that’s 10 mom dollars. He can earn the entire family a night at pizza hut if he wants for 20 mom dollars. If he wants to play video games for 2 hours on Thursdays that’s 30 mom dollars (we have a No Video Game rule on Thursdays.) Or he can earn 60 mom dollars to go to a fun place of his choice like chuck e. cheese, laserdome, monkey joes.

We’re trying to teach him about responsibility, earning money plus budgeting your money for things that you’d like some day, plus I want him to never say can’t again because it drives me up a wall. He’ll say he can’t do something that I know darn well he can do then after he tries it he realizes he can do it! And I want him to always get rewarded more so for learning about money and things of that nature. (Note: I’m trying my hardest to ensure that he doesn’t end up financially illiterate like his 17 yr. old brother!)

He just negotiated with me at the kitchen table lol I’ll tell ya about that in my next post after I take him to school. He’s working on being ready by 8 so he can earn 1 mom dollar because he didn’t earn his first 2 mom dollars this morning because I had to go wake him up at 7:05 and tell him to wake up and get dressed (he’s alarm had been going off for 5 minutes lol)

Btw, you can create your own Mom Money or Dad Dollars!