Show me the MONEY!

I am tired of fighting with my kids about money.  It goes like this:

     Me: Here's your allowance.
     Sandis: Ok
     Stella: Take me to X store because there is this amazing thing that I just noticed that I've wanted
                  forever and if I don't get it right this minute I'll EXPLODE!  BTW, can you pay tax? And
                 can I borrow a dollar from next allowance to buy it? And can you buy me candy? And oh
                 look something shiny!

Stella also was going through a scrounge the house for money phase.  She assumed that any money not directly in my purse or Brian's wallet was fair game to become hers.  Um, child, you can have the pennies in the couch, you cannot take the dollars off the dresser.  You cannot stay up all night in your frenzy of archeological digs to discover money.  Yes, we put an end to that before she drove us batshit crazy with the rat-like sounds of digging under dressers at 11:38pm.

In order to give her (and her sister) some guidelines and us some sanity, I came up with the Money Rules:
  

Allowance:

• $5 every two weeks (when Daddy gets paid.)
• You can be fined for things which will result in less allowance.

Extra money can be earned for things. You MUST ask before doing these things to be sure they need to be done and to see how much must be done (for weeds/dog poop.) All regular chores like dishes and picking up your stuff MUST be done before you can do any extra chores:

• laundry (wash, dry, fold/hang, put away) - $1
• pull weeds - $1
• clean mommy bathroom - $1.50
• clean daddy bathroom - $1
• pick up dog poop - $1
• other things may come up

Money earned is to be divided between Spending, Saving and Sharing (donating):

• 10% donated
• 20% or more saved up for a big item (saved up for at least 4 months before buying anything.) Once money is put into savings, it cannot come back out to be spending money, even if it was more than the 20%.
• 70% spending whenever

Things you have to buy with your money:

• toys
• candy, chips, soda, etc
• games
• vending machines
• gas station food
• gift shops
• garage sales/thrift stores
• jewelry
• other things can be added to this list if mom or dad think of them

Make a list of things you want to buy with your spending and saved money. Things should be on this list for two weeks or MORE before you buy them.

Please think about the things you buy. Think if you will really play with it after 1 month or if it is really just a cool idea or fun for right now. Think about what you play with right now (trampoline, dogs, drawing/coloring, computer, books and a few stuffed toys seem to be all you guys really play with.) Think if you could borrow or share something. If it's junk food, think if you really need it or if you could have something from home instead.

All purchases must be approved by mom or dad even if it is your money.

We can ALWAYS assign chores for which you will get no extra money. Also, you can be asked to do the “money” chores and HAVE to do them, even if you don't want to do them.

They both had to read it and sign it before I hung it up in the kitchen.  Hopefully this will help.  Time will tell.  I would guess Stella will still spend with abandon and then wail about the unfairness of not having money for this or that when she wants it.  That's the way it goes.