Money well spent!

We have recently started paying John a commission of $1.00 every Saturday. It is not an allowance since he must work for it. He has no list of chores because I don't want to manage that and we don't want to give him the opportunity to say, "But mommy that's not on my list." He just has to listen and do what is asked of him at any time. Because a week is a long time for an almost 4-year-old to wait, he earns stickers that I put on the refrigerator when he is doing something particularly helpful. Then on Saturday, Dave counts up his stickers and if there are enough (and since there is no required amount, there is always enough) John gets paid.
This commission jar idea came from a class Dave recently taught for our church as a service to the community called Financial Peace University http://www.daveramsey.com. We are seeing John appreciate earning money and begin to think about purchases.
As John's first goal he has been saving for more sand for his sandbox. I found a local sand and gravel distributor who said we could come have all the sand we need at no cost. After explaining what we were trying to teach our son, they agreed to ask for $4.00 for whatever we could shovel into the truck. It actually took John 8 weeks to save the $4.00 because money can also be taken from the commission jar if needed.
We recently picked up the sand and filled his tire, and the floor of the shed that has been turned into a playhouse/toy stoage unit. John proudly "helped" shovel and has been in his sandbox rain or shine ever since.
His next goal is to save enough for a goldfish and all that goes with it.