12-year-old shares her savings tips
She has a plan to earn enough money to buy a new laptop by the end of the year. That includes income from her car-washing business.
This post comes from 12-year-old Nina Penzo at partner blog Len Penzo dot Com.
Hello! It's me, Nina! My dad asked me to write another post for him. He paid me $15 for this, by the way. (Thank you, Dad!)
That money's going to come in handy too because lately I've been trying to save up for a new laptop computer. The one that I have my eye on is made by Compaq, which is the same laptop that my brother, Matthew, has. My mom and dad only use Macs, but since Macs are very expensive, I decided to get a PC.
In order to get my laptop, I need to raise about $240 in addition to the money I've already saved.
Back in April, I saved up enough money to buy a new iPod 4G, which was about $300. So I know for a fact that I can save enough money to get a laptop in no time.
Now, I have many ways that I can earn money in my house. For each chore that I do, I get about 25 cents.
I know what you're thinking: But Nina … 25 cents? Isn't that such a small amount? Actually, no. If I do every chore right every single day, it adds up to about $2 a day, which would give me $60 each month. Not bad. Post continues after video.
I keep track of everything I earn in a special book called a ledger. It also has a list of all of my chores in it and the amount I get paid for each one. If you think about it, a ledger is very similar to a savings account.
My dad also gives my brother and me a chance to earn extra money once a week with something he calls "The Monday $10 Question of the Night." (We have a theme song too, which is really just the "Dancing With the Stars" tune.) Every Monday night during dinner, my dad tells us to get a piece of paper and a pen. He then asks us a very difficult question that we might never guess.
Our most recent question was this one: When you go to a carnival and you hear people shouting out, "GET YER RED HOTS," what are they really selling? I got it right. (It's hot dogs!) So I got to add $10 in my ledger this week.
Matthew guessed "hot tamales," so he lost out.
To earn extra money I used to have a lemonade stand, but now I wash cars. My best friend, Ashley, and I have a car-washing business that we began in late May. We call it the Rubber Duckiez Car Washing Service and our motto is: "We leave your car SQUEAKY clean." We wash on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and we charge $10 for cars and $15 for trucks and vans. That money rakes in very fast.
I am hoping to raise enough money for my laptop by the end of the year. The effort that I will have to put in will be incredible, but I can do it!
I have enjoyed writing for you all! I hope to come back soon!
More on Len Penzo dot Com and MSN Money:
Nina, be proud of yourself for working hard to get what you want. Being an entrepreneur at a young age is a very good thing. Now that you have learned how to track your income, you might want to learn about compounding. I'll bet your Mom and Dad can help you with that.
Nina's Dad. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but be careful what you have your child write down regarding her income. Even a 12 year-old is responsible for paying taxes on her income. And I have seen some pretty ridiculous "assaults" by cities to force children to get business licenses for their "businesses." If they think there is money to be had, even if it is from a child's lemonade stand, they will go after it.
You will go far in this world : )
Hi Nina,
I have to say you have learned very quick on how to work for what you want. That also come in handy for the things you need but I think you already know that. Maybe you could create a newsletter for the young like yourself. Education sometimes comes better from someone who can identify with the person teaching. Kudos to your father/parents for the support and encouraging you to plan fore the future.
back in the 50's, at age 12, my mother started giving me 3.50 per week to do loads of chores, such as, washing all the family clothes on an old wringer washer, starching and ironing the clothes , cleaning the house, washing dishes and helping with cooking- out of that i was expected to buy all my school supplies and clothes-
i used the " lay away" plan to buy things i needed and learned to sew to make many of my own clothes to stretch the money- it was a rewarding experience that set me on the path of a lifetime of being frugal and bargain hunting- now, as a senior citizen, i am thankful that i had that training- i still live on a strict budget and manage to get everything i need by setting goals and delayed gratification-
something else you may want to consider to earn more money is to have your dad set up an ebay sellers account for you- you will be amazed at the amount of things you can sell that are lying around the house or growing in your area [ seeds and plants] - it mounts up fast and requires being extremely focused and organized- you sound like someone who could handle it- explain in your ebay articles that you are saving for college and people will buy- guaranteed!
Conflicted;
Basic work ethics are great I applaud the parents.You have to do something to get something. It beats doing the yard,bathrooms, every weekend for zip,not even a "good job" kiddo. But this has been essential in my giving 120% paid, or unpaid. It is called pride,self-esteem,ad a work ethic. Hopefully, her parents have job security. My family was unemployed every 2 years, in Construction Management, then their was 1 out of 7 years with no pay check. If you wat to eat you work. Throwing news papers,babysitting,cutting grass and giving your family the money for food. And that was 1973-1981.
I am surprised that I haven't read (or I missed) any comments pertaining to the lack of savings that the average American has. If I am not mistaken, the average American's net worth is negative, and it is because of the buy it now, pay for it later attitude.
While many of you can criticize the parents for paying their kids for chores that should be done, some are missing that they are teaching the child to save money to make a purchase, instead of making that purchase for the child, and having the child pay it back.
The lesson here that I think many have missed, is that if you want something that you can't afford now, you should save for it, because you never know when a rainy day will come. Perhaps if everyone in our country behaved that way, we wouldn't have this incredible debt, and people on welfare wouldn't drive better cars and have better televisions than people that bust their tails at 2 jobs for $12 an hour....
I really struggle with the idea of paying for chores. As some have pointed out, everyone in the family needs to help to keep the household a well oiled machine. You won’t get paid for doing your own laundry forever that is for sure. I agree that kids need to learn that work around the house as a child, teen, college kid, and adult are just something that has to be done. Similar arguments are made on paying for good grades. But then I also know world realities. The government has made it impossible for kids to work. For almost every job, you have to be 16 if not 18 or older. You have to teach your kids the value of a dollar. If you just hand them an allowance every week without it being tied to work, you aren’t exactly teaching them the benefits to hard work and EARNING what you get. If you don’t give them an allowance and just pay for everything yourself, they don’t understand the value of the dollar and that when you have a limited amount you have to think carefully how you spend it. Do you want to buy candy, soda, and movies everyday or do you want to save for something bigger like clothes, phone, and computer?
Personally I think kids should make their own purchases with money they have earned. Unfortunately until they are 16 or older, that means giving them opportunities to earn money in other ways such as chores and grades. It beats giving them money for nothing or paying for everything yourself which really teaches them nothing at all.
norealwordsallowed, completely agree. Permits, taxes, child labor laws, etc... you better watch out. Good judgment and commonsense does not prevail in the US anymore
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