Track Your Kid's Allowance Online

Giving your kid an allowance...seems simple enough, right? Pass him a few bucks per week for spending money and call it done. And it can be that simple...if you regularly have cash on hand. We do most of our spending on credit and debit cards, so when Allowance Day would roll around each week, we'd inevitably be caught with our pockets empty. (Ransacking the couch cushions to drum up change didn't do much for our credibility.) When we did manage to pay the kids, they would consistently forget to carry their cash during shopping trips. The resulting "Can I buy it? I'm pretty sure I have the money" conversations were frustrating for all of us.

We also wanted the kids to save a percentage of their allowance each week, leading to even more complicated cash needs. For example, if your allowance is $5 per week and you need to save half it, your parents need to cough it up in dollar bills and change.
 
Given how little cash my family uses, and how much of our banking and bill-paying happens electronically, it made sense for us look for a way to manage the kids' allowance online. We settled on a simple spreadsheet stored in Google Documents where we track spending money and savings. My 10 year-old son tracks his own allowance and savings goals, while we manage my 6 year-old daughter's "account." When we're out and about, questions about how much money each kid has to spend are quickly resolved with a quick check on the iPhone.
 

There are more sophisticated tools out there for those who want something a little more detailed and graphically interesting:
 
Allowance Manager
This simple, free application lets parents set up, manage and edit a basic ledger for each child: balance, additions, subtractions. Kids get their own login so they can look at their allowance record. Perfect for basic needs and younger kids who don't need write access to their allowance record.
 
PayJr
On the other end of the spectrum in PayJr, an integrated chore calendar and allowance management system that lets parents schedule chores and jobs, sends email reminders, and lets kids log in to check off the jobs they've completed.
 
For younger kids, the system is a task and accounting manager (and it's free), but for teens, PayJr offers the Visa Buxx Card -- a Visa debit card you can load with your kid's earnings. You pay an enrollment fee ($9.95) plus monthly fees ($4.95) and 50 cents per "load." This is a straight pay-per-chore system, so if your system is more general, this may not work for you.
 
ThreeJars 
Another option: ThreeJars, based on the save-spend-share model many of us want to encourage. Parents set up the system, assign jobs, and set percentages for saving, spending and sharing. Kids get their own login and personalized home page that allows them to track savings goals, contribute to causes, and watch their money grow.
 
The concept is nice, but a few of the details may not appeal to some parents. There's a "make friends" component which lets kids connect to other savers (I'm generally wary of social networking sites for kids, especially when it involves money). Also, the "spend" and "share" links display (presumably) sponsored offers, which detract from the overall goal of the application.
 
Still, for $30 per year, it's worth a look. Try the 15-day free trial to see for yourself.
 
SmartyPig 
If you're just looking for a place for kids to stash their cash and set savings goals, check out SmartyPig. This "online piggy bank" is a simple interest-bearing savings account into which you can transfer money. Kids set goals, and family and friends can contribute along the way. When kids are ready to cash out, they can do so with a SmartyPig Mastercard debit card, or with gift cards from retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy and more.
 
The whole thing is free for the funder and the saver. For those who want to make contributions or buy SmartyPig gift cards using a credit card, there is a 2.9% fee.
 
These are only a few of the tools out there for parents looking to manage their kids' allowance online.

What's your favorite allowance system, online or off?

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Asha Dornfest is the founder of Parent Hacks -- where savvy parents swap clever, often unconventional, parenting tips. Here's the practical, real-world stuff you'll never find in an "expert" book. Featured in Real Simple, Parents, and PC Magazine.