The Buy Back Bin
Last year, in an attempt to teach the boys to be responsible for picking up their belongings (and save me the headache of constantly reminding them) we established the Buy Back Bin:
Twice a day - immediately after their chores are done in the morning and right before bed, we tell them they have five minutes until Buy Back. That means any clothing, shoes, toys, games, cars, belongings not picked up and put in the appropriate drawer, bin, shelf, closet, or box will be scooped up and put in the Buy Back Bin. When they get their responsibility money, they must buy each item back at the cost of.25 per item. Both boys receive $2.50 per week in responsibility money. The first 10% is set aside for tithing, and the remaining money is divided in half. The first half is designated for saving and eventually goes in their bank account. The other half is theirs to spend as they please.
You might say things have been a little crazy around here because we hadn't given their money in 6 weeks! not that they were asking because they had accumulated a bit around Easter time, and didn't have an immediate need for cash. They knew it was coming eventually. They've also been pretty lax with picking up after themselves. One more so than the other. Today they asked if we could finally get the bin and do some reconciling.
"Ten weeks equaled $15.00" I told them. Big smiles. They put their tithe away in their "God" banks, and were still pretty pleased to learn they were starting with a whopping $6.75 in spending money. Then came the reality. For Skip, the damages weren't so bad as he ended up with $5.50 after buying back his things. He said he was gonna count his spending money and see how close to the Wii game he was.
For Harry, well, they say a picture paints a thousand words, so two pictures should say it all:
Yes, after buying back all his items, he was left with $.25. He wasn't pleased but I think it hit home because his only comment as he set off to put away all the stuff he just bought back was "I think I better pick up my stuff from now on"...
Lesson learned? We'll see. I'll report back in a few weeks and y'all can find out!
11 much apprecitated comments from readers!:
Ohhhh, poor guy, but yes, I think it was a good lesson learned. I love the idea of a buy back bin. :)
What a great idea! I'm very intrigued by this. Do you still collect the items if they're in their rooms, but not put away properly?
Mommie - it depends. If they've made no effort to go clean up, it all goes. Sometimes they miss a few things but make an honest effort, so I just pretend I don't see them either. In the beginning we'd have arguments over who the item belonged to since they often have identical toys, etc. Thing was they knew whose it was, but didn't want to spend the cash to buy it back. We told them if neither owned it, it would go in the Goodwill box with no chance of getting it back. That seemed to close that loophole :)
I should have mentioned that for now, we've been putting the money that we get from each right back into their own savings accounts - although they don't know this. We'll re-evaluate that when they're older, but for now, it works. They're still getting the money, they just can't spend in on "junk".
I love this and plan to start it right away. Thanks a bunch!!!
I absolutely LOVE that idea. I think I am going to implement that with big A. Thanks!
We do the same thing w/ the allowance-tithe, savings, gifts, etc. The buy-back is a good idea! We've been doing the give-away bin. If all toys aren't picked up in 5 min. they go to a little boy who doesn't have any. Buy-back is probably a little nicer :)
I love the idea! You are awesome, Judy!
Happy Tuesday!
Wow - this is an AWESOME idea! Maybe I can get it together enough to do it!
You have such good ideas. When I have kids, you and I are gonna have to have lunch together sometime.
We may have to implement something like that over here. I did housework Sunday morning with tears in my eyes because I couldn't believe how they can be so messy, inconsiderate, and thoughtless, and on, and on, and on.....
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