Knee Deep In Glue: Allowance and Banks

A few years ago hubby and I were sitting around discussing our kids and how we wanted to teach them about the value of money. We completely agree with the idea of a reasonable allowance to teach them some basic money skills. As the kids get older they tend to ask more and more for "things". I can not count on both hands how many times I have been asked to purchase something with which my answer has been "No, I don't have any money", with a response from Aiden "Well, use your debit card!". This is NOT how I want my kids to think about spending and the use of money. I only wish my debit card was that magic!

A while ago I saw this bank that I just thought was PERFECT for teaching them some very basic money skills. It had 3 sections, one for saving, one spending, and one giving. I was excited! I just knew this would be a great idea for our little beginners! Well, when we decided to start I ran off to this particular store to purchase one of those banks, and came back empty handed. They did in fact still carry it, but being the frugal mommy I am, could not in my right mind imagine paying the $20.00 they were selling it for! Especially since the little stickers were barely hanging on by a thread. I could make something with the supplies I had on hand and it be MUCH cuter! At this point, just imagine the eye rolling from hubby that ensued! I was on a mission!

The first thing I needed was a template. You would think a simple house template would be easy to find with an Internet search, well not as easy as I thought, so I came up with one of my own. I had big ambitions at first of this cute little chimney on top of each house, but I quickly decided these houses did not need a chimney. You can add that if you wish =) I printed this at 120% on my printer so that it just fit on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

Cut out your template and then cut each individual piece onto a sheet of chipboard.

Enlist a little help from your children at this point. Mine are always eager to get a little messy with mommy! I use Aleene's Tacky Glue on EVERYTHING! The kids went hard to work dabbing a little glue (or a lot in their case) onto each chipboard shape. Just an FYI that it took me a long time to figure out- I used to purchase this glue at my local scrapbook store, or box chain like HL or Michaels until I found the giant bottle at Walmart for less than half the price! I will never buy it anywhere else again.

Please don't judge the messy house in the background!

Place each chipboard piece down on the BACK of your favorite piece of scrapbook paper. If your paper has a design you want to face in a certain direction, now is the time to check your positioning!

Using your scissors, cut each piece out. I don't worry too much about perfection at this point. Sandpaper does wonders for rough edges and gives it a little character!

I do, however, like to ink the edges of most everything. I think it gives it a finished look that makes the piece pop. I prefer the tiny Cat's Eye ink pads, they are inexpensive and can be purchased in many colors.

Now, I don't have any pictures of the next step, but I think it is pretty self explanatory. On one of your ROOF pieces, cut a rectangle with your exacto knife large enough to "deposit" and remove your money. I started to try to rig up some type of removable bottom, but figured since this was going to be handled by my children, it needed to have as few removable pieces as necessary.

Use your Aleene's glue on each edge of the chipboard and press them together. You only have to hold it for a couple minutes before the glue dries enough for you to move on to the next piece.