This shop has been compensated by Hawke Media and its advertiser, Current. All opinions are mine alone. Thank you for supporting the brands that support me!
Unlike kids would like you to believe, there is more to being part of a family than just hugs and kisses. As adults, we often contribute to our families physically and financially while kids go scot free until they can put in some sweat equity. Enter in chores.
Chores are a great way to teach children financial responsibility. However, with most people, cash is something that's rarely on hand these days. Not to mention, the kids tend to lose it or you forget to pay them. This makes putting an allowance in place VERY hard.
I can't tell you how many times we've tried an allowance with the kids but failed because of the cash situation. If kids aren't handed bills in hand the minute they do something, their willingness to continue on this plan fails.
Unfortunately, for them, that meant continuing on with chores without an allowance. This meant they were still contributing to the family but aren't actually learning anything about money. I want them to do BOTH.
With Current, this seemingly impossible task is possible. Thank goodness!
What Is Current?
Current is a debit card for teens that can be monitored and controlled at a parent's discretion. It is a great way to teach kids real-world financial education. To manage their money kids get three digital wallets – Spending, Savings, and Giving.
Setting Money Rules In Place
My kids were given a few rules when it comes to using their Current debit card. Any money they earn from their allowances must be split into each wallet – 50% Spending, 40% Savings, and 10% Giving.
Money that's given as gifts (i.e. birthday money, report card money, ect.), can either be completely spent immediately otherwise the “money rules” apply. If they do decide to buy something, any remaining money leftover is split – 75% Savings and 25% Giving.
The Three Current Wallets
The Spending Wallet is what is actually linked to the physical debit card. So when my son has a hankering for some Takis (which happens quite often), he can view his Spending Wallet to see if he has enough money to buy some. This wallet is for day to day little expenses he might have, to view chores, handle transfers, and to see what his allowance is currently set to.
The Savings Wallet is just what it sounds like. It is for saving for bigger ticket items. I like for my kids to set a savings goal early on so they know what they are saving for. In the Current App, your kids can set a savings goal and even enable a round-up feature so they can add to their savings even quicker.
The Giving Wallet is there to help teach kids empathy. Most kids just think about me, me, me and not so much about others. This wallet allows your kids to donate to thousands of local and national causes right in the app. I also gave my kids the option of using it for buying gifts for other people but my oldest son chose a foundation that's close to our hearts instead. We were so proud of his choice that we decided to match whatever he donates!
Current Is A Parents Lifesaver
With Current, parents have full visibility to everything their kids are spending money on. I love that you can see exactly what store and what date they made that purchase.
You can also block unsuitable spending categories and set spending limits. Let's say your child gets grounded and isn't allowed to spend any money (you know it will happen!), the card can be paused with a click of a button. It's SO nice!
Signing Up For Current
Signing up is super easy too! Just sign up for a free trial of Current with your email address and fill out the simple form. Within a few days, you'll receive your child's debit card in the mail and can start them on a path to financial success. After that, the fee is only $3 a month for one child and only an extra $1 for each additional child. So SUPER cheap and totally worth it for us cash lacking parents!
Since joining Current, not only do my children complain less about doing chores they are actually learning financial responsibly. Something that is an invaluable life lesson! Plus it makes them feel “cool” 🙂
LOL girl! My mom did not have to encourage me to do chores. We just had to listen because she’s mom.
Haha, I was in that boat too. I would have done them more willingly, though, if I had something like Current to motivate me.
I love this app I am actually looking for something like this for my kids.
I hope you love Current, Lisa. I think you will find it super useful.
This is a super helpful app and I wish they had something like this when I was a kid. I am sharing this my sis who is 2 kids right away 🙂
I hope your sister and kids love Current. I know I would have loved it as a kid!
I’ve always been a big fan of positive reinforcement when it comes to getting kids to do more chores and help out more around the house. This is a great resource to teach kids about financial responsibility.
Positive reinforcement is always great. It’s been doing wonders with my new puppy too LOL.
Kids these days absolutely need this. Not only does it allow parents to monitor spending but it also teaches them financial management skills that they aren’t taught in school. Great idea!
I agree, kids def need something like Current to teach money skills. They won’t learn it unless you teach them.
I totally need to do this. The funny thing is nowadays it seems kids don’t even understand cash. My kids won’t do anything for cash but are more than happy to work for debit cards or gift cards… Very strange.
Hmm maybe because they don’t see cash as often as we used to? Most people just use a card these days.
Ideas like this are smart. Getting them to help with chores is a huge blessing.
Current is great! Any help cleaning is always welcomed in my house too 🙂
What a great app! I think it is so important for kids to learn how to manage money at a young age. I like your idea of splitting up the money into spending, savings, and giving.
Yes, it is great you can split it up into those categories. Helps teach them about income and expenses for when they are older.
I was never paid an allowance for doing chores.Yet, I was never taught financial responsibility, either. I won’t tell you the outcome, except it wasn’t good. This will be perfect for teaching my son some financial responsibility.
I wasn’t paid an allowance either, but I guess I was just lucky and somewhat money smart on my own. Sorry, for the bad outcome. I’m sure you learned your lesson and now can teach your son financial responsibility with Current 🙂
This sounds like a wonderful app! Will have to keep this in mind for when I have my own kids.
Please do. Current is so handy for parents and their kiddos!
Interesting app, i think my step-son would love this. I am going to check it out this weekend. thanks for the suggestion.
I think you and your son will love Current. I know we do 🙂
I wish this was available when my kids were still kids! It would have been a breeze to teach them about handling their money. I used money incentives too for timely completion of chores and academic achievements. It just made them more motivated to do stuff and excel in school.
Money is a great incentive. LOL, I wouldn’t work either if I didn’t get paid. Unless it is for a good cause of course.
This seems like such a good idea. This is really such a fantastic way to get kids to be money-wise.
Yes, it is so important to teach children money skills early. This helps a ton with that.
This sounds like a great way to help kids want to do chores! I bet it is nice for them to see the pennies add up.
Yes, my son loves checking his account on his phone to see how much money he has.
I don’t know if there is a way to get my kids to like chores. We even did allowance and they still wouldn’t clean right.
Well, at least they would learn money skills with this even if they don’t like the chores or do them correctly. LOL, I don’t like chores either!
My boys get computer time when they do their chores. They get them done fast.
I bet they do! I am trying to limit screen time at the moment. It is hard with them always bugging me for it.
Wow this is awesome! What a great idea for families and a great way to encourage kids to take an active responsibility!
It def has made my children more motivated to do their chores!
I have a child with a disability so some of these tools would be useful for her money skills. Also, motivating her to actually do some work is almost always a challenging task.
I agree. Kids need a lot of motivation to do most things LOL
I Have so much trouble getting my kids to do their chores without a ton of nagging. I think I will try this and see if it motivates them more!
Nagging constantly gets so old. Current, has allowed me to relax a lot more!
I never did use a chore chart. I just told them what to do. We didn’t really have a schedule as my husband and I worked very odd hours at our jobs.
That’s what we used to do, but it’s nice having little more of a routine now. It helps them be more motivated to do them.
We use a chore chart. My daughter earns media time when she collects enough stickers.
That’s a great idea! I try to make sure my kids do their chores before any screen time.
This is really neat. I need to try this with my little one who doesn’t have much chores to do but still dreads it.
I think all kids dread it. It’s just a part of life.
This seems like such a good idea. However, I don’t like the idea of linking chores to an allowance: kids should be doing them regardless.
That’s how I was but this has helped motivate them a bit more. I bet you could come up with another system to link the allowance to that suits your needs better.
My kids are adults. Luckily, or not, the chores are mine to do.
Maybe for Mother’s Day, they can treat you and clean your whole house for a present. That would be super nice and useful!
This is great! My husband actually just ordered a debit card from an account for our nine year old daughter but I would much rather use this instead. She is young but very responsible…except with cash! She saved over $200 over a couple of years but then when we moved in October, the cash was misplaced so we decided a debit card would be a much better option.
My husband thought about doing the regular debit card, but I love Current more. I won’t let him switch LOL since I’m the one that deals with the chores. I know what you mean, my kids are horrible with cash too. This is SO much better!
This is such a great idea. I love that this exists now. My child is still far too young for this but I shall keep this in mind for when the time comes. 🙂
It’s a great piece of technology. Comes in handy with grumpy kids!
My kids do chores, but with protest! So I would like to try anything I can to be more encouraging and get them more into it! I will check this out.
This will def help cut down on the arguing. You should give it a shot!
Right now my little girl is young. She wants to be a little helper, and when I do it with her she likes to help me out.
Young kids love helping. I wish that lasted forever but it doesn’t. Current helps tons once they start complaining 🙂
Wow this sounds very interesting. It makes sense as kids are always on their phones. This seems like a great way to really control how kids spend their money.
Since they are already on their phones a ton, I’m sure they would love to see how much money they have earned on the Current app too 🙂
Make it playtime. If it is fun they will do it
I try to make it fun when I can, but that’s hard with things like cleaning the toilet LOL.
I love this! I am trying so hard to get my kids to work harder with their chores. They always whine and I know they will get better but come on!
My kids used to whine a lot about chores but now with Current it is much less. Plus they know they will get money taken away if they don’t do them when they are supposed to.
This looks like the kind of motivation that would definitely work on my 11 year old. I may need to give this a try.
My son is a 11 too and he loves Current. It’s worth a shot 🙂
This app is a good way to teach kids about money and budgeting. Always a good ideas to teach kids about finances early.
Learning money skills at a young age will help kids their whole life. Awesome, right?
This is such an amazing idea! So many of us have grown up with no idea about how to handle our money and the importance of spending it wisely! It is a good thing to start while they are young and get them into good financial habits!
Totally agree, Tracy! Let’s get them on the right track when they are young with Current!!
This is great. One of the best things about teaching/learning with technology is kids don’t always realize they’re “learning”.
Very true! Hidden learning is often the best kind, it stays with them longer.
we all could use help in this area! It’s so important for them to learn to do chores but sometimes you wonder if it’s worth it.
I think it is worth it in the end. Chores teach responsibility and essential skills they will need when they are older. This app adds money skills a must know as well 🙂
Oh you bet I am going to start trying this! We struggle big time with the kids doing their chores!
You are going to love it, Reesa! I know the struggle is real but this app helps so much.
I’m going to have to look into this for the grandkids. They always want to go shopping and it would be a great way for them to learn responsibility and shop at the same time.
I bet it would be perfect for them! It has allowed us to teach our son how credit card machines work too. A must know in this almost cashless world.
This is really great! I think we will definitely use something like this. with our kids. I currently keep track of their allowance and money in my money tracking app.
You will love this app, Rachel! Give it a shot. You won’t be disappointed!
what a great idea! I would have definitely been more motivated to do chores as a child if this was around. Rewarding your children is so important! I love this system. thanks for sharing! xx
I know what you mean. I never had an allowance as a kid. It would have helped tons!
Great ideas. No kids here but the reward system would certainly work. I know an allowance always motivated me.
An allowance has done wonders at their motivation level for chores. It’s a work in progress, though. My oldest has a hard head.
Good parents around the world impose chores upon their children as a way to instill responsibility
Yes, chores are a great way to teach responsibility. They might not get it now but it clicks in when they get older.
This is such a great idea! My kids are too young for chores or savings or anything at the moment, but it’s something I’ve definitely been thinking about for the future. I really love the ‘giving’ wallet, teaching kids to give back at an early age is so important.
The giving wallet is great! Showing empathy and caring about others is an important life lesson.
This seems like a really great system for chores! I know my daughter loves to help out, unless I am trying to get her to clean her room lol. She is almost 5 and I have been doing a sticker chart for her.
Sticker charts work great for younger kids since it is more visual. She’ll love this app when she gets older though!
Following a reward system is a great way to motivate them to do the chores at home and you’re also getting some much needed rest since they’ll be taking over some of the chores! This app is really helpful.
This app is a great motivator for chores. My son still has to be reminded but is more willing to do them because of this app.
This is really such a fantastic way to get kids to be money-wise and move with the current digital trend. I like the sound of Spending Wallet and it is something I would like for my kids while teaching them about spending and saving.
The Spending Wallet is was is connected to the debit card. If there’s no money in that wallet they can’t spend. It’s great!
What an interesting app and way to handle money for kids. I was not taught any money management as a child and as an adult I think it’s so important to learn early on how to handle finances! So this app is awesome and a great way to do that.
I am in love with this app! It’s done amazing teaching my kids money skills and keeping track of their chores.
What a wonderful idea. We did make our daughter take out $1 each week for savings and then she had to deposit into her savings account.
My parents were diligent about how I handled my money as a child as well. I find it truly helps them learn a good lesson for life even though they may hate it at the time.