Hi, I have a seven year old son, but he's been on allowance since he was 6. I use the EasyChild software offered through Encourage. I bought it on their website, and it's a really valuable tool for parents. It not only teaches the value of a dollar, but it also will reward good behavior with tokens (you set it all up according to age of child, behaviors, etc), and it also takes away from allowance, etc when the child misbehaves. I strongly believe that children should learn the value of a dollar, and that they should help out around the house, so that simple things aren't taken for granted. My son is very helpful around the house; he takes out the trash, cleans his own bathroom, cleans the litter box (which I am very picky about: the container has to be washed and scrubbed thoroughly) and he folds his and his brother's laundry and puts it all away neatly. He even offers to help me with dishes, my laundry, and vacuuming. I am not running a sweat shop here or anything by any means...maybe it helps that he's the mama's boy of my two!! LOL. But he definitely has a good understanding of what things cost, and the work that has to be done to achieve those things. Once every couple weeks, he can choose to spend his money, or he can save it, and I don't give in either...so if a toy costs even as little as $.50 more than he has, I refuse to give in, and tell him he can save what he has until next payday and then we can go buy it. With that software payday is once weekly. The software is VERY easy to use, fully customizable, and can be tailored to fit your and your family's needs! You can see it here: http://easychild.com/
Good Luck!!!
A.