Here's what we're doing. I purchased this little glass "marbles", not sure what to call them, the kind you would put in a vase or an aquarium for that little extra pretty. (Of course, we started with pony beads, so we call these beads instead of marbles - it takes like a million pony beads to fill those little pint sized mason jars, so we upgraded to the marbles) There's also a jar for each child (we have 5, 1 jar is off to the side), their names are taped to the jar.
Each time the child does some cleaning: taking out the trash, cleaning the rooms (this includes vacuuming the floor), putting dishes away, doing a load of laundry, or whatever else I deem worthy of a bead, they get one. Yesterday I told the boys if they picked up the trash in the backyard they'd get a bead for each grocery bag they fill, my oldest got 3 beads in about 10 minutes (between the kids, the dog and the strong winds there was plenty to pick up).
In the bottom of the jar I put a $5 bill, it could be whatever amount you wish, I'm starting with $5. Their beads get put in the jar and will cover the $5, but when the jar is full, we dump out the marbles and they have their $5.
I had already determined that if each child earned 5 beads each day by the end of 4 weeks the jar would be full. Of course, behaving at church on Sunday is worth 5 beads, so it's not too hard for them to get their money.
Here's our chore "chart". I think it might stick around for a while.
