Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Allowance or Not

Do you give your kids an allowance? Did you get one? My son has often complained that he doesn't get one. I know some child behavior experts, like Jim Fay of Love and Logic fame, say that children should receive an allowance in order to learn the value of money. (I heard Mr. Fay say that chores should be separated from allowance so that kids learn the value of work and understand that we are not paid for a lot of what we do). I think Mr. Fay has a point; however, I don't feel it is the only way to do things.

Instead of an allowance, my son has to earn his money. As a child of 10or 11 years of age, I mowed many a lawn for about $5 each. My parents provided the lawnmower and the gas, and I mowed own lawn (obviously free of charge). Later, my brother John and I shared a paper route. It was nice having our own money. And yes we still had to do chores around the house.

My son makes and sell beaded lanyard for teacher IDs. We provide him with the beads and other materials, and he does the work. If we were to have him pay us back, he would still have a pretty good profit margin. However, it is less money out of our pockets than an allowance might be, and we can tell him he can buy things if he uses his own money. That usually calms his urge to buy something. If it doesn't, he usually goes for something less expensive.

I must add one final caveat to all of this child entrepreneurship. Small children should not be working in sweatshops nor should they be running such businesses. Give them a nickle or so for each pair of socks they match, or follow Jim Fay's advice.

So, lets get some comments on this one. I want to know what you think.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Today is another day

Today is a good day. Why? Well, I'm alive and can't complain too much.

I got good news today in regard to my Stop Loss Payment application. It has been approved. After multiple tries today and yesterday, I finally got through to a real live person. I was told it was sent to DFAS (Defense Finance). The bad news: the DFAS office that processes the claims is under-manned (I was told there are only five people working in a fourteen man office). So, I should get the money in time to go Christmas shopping.

In different news, Michelle and I have started the Body-For-Life challenge. CLICK HERE We started last Monday, and have already started to see some results. We get up at 5am and go to the gym. It is also nice to workout together.

Well, take care all
-Phil

Monday, January 11, 2010

Been a long time

Sorry it has been so long. We were gone the last part of December for the Christmas holiday.

As you may remember, I applied for my Retroactive Stop Loss Payment from the Army back in October. Well, I'm still waiting, as are my Army buddies. No Surprise to most of us. I have been checking my claim's status online from time to time. Apparently, my case has to be audited, and I have requested information on where my case is in the audit. Guess what? Still no response. So today, I tried calling at about 1:50 pm MST. I was forwarded to a full voice mail box. It seems like there are a lot of us Vets asking about our money.

I know the Army can be slow when they have to pay out money, but this is getting RIDICULOUS!!!