Tomorrow starts a new tradition at our house: The Fun Jar. Here’s how it works:

1. At the beginning of each month I’ll put 30 $1 bills (one for each day of the month) in the jar on top of our refrigerator.
2. The fun begins with giving the first 10% back to God, the real filler of the fun jar.
3. Throughout the month we’ll remove $1 from the fun jar whenever someone leaves a light on in a room, leaves a door open when they go outside, or uses the bathroom without flushing (why these? because they’re common, they’re specific, and they’re measurable without interpretation).
4. Whatever’s left over at the end of the month is fun money. We can use it to go out to eat, go bowling or to play Putt-Putt, go see a movie, or save it up for a bigger fun thing later.
5. Repeat each month.

I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and a great learning experience (for us as well as the kids!). My predictions:

1. The girls will most often get dinged for leaving their bedroom light on when they come downstairs.
2. Cameron will most often get dinged for not flushing.
3. Cameron will get indignant and loud when the girls leave their light on but will make excuses when he doesn’t flush the toilet.
4. The girls will want instant gratification at the end of the month, but Cameron will want to save it (he’s already saying he wants to save it to buy a Nintendo Wii). Making those decisions should be a good learning experience.
5. Estimated money left at the end of June: $7. Looks like we’ll be getting that Wii in June 2011.