Parents explain why their kids get a 'hygiene budget' and it's such a smart way to teach budgeting

Jess and Dub McCorkle recently made waves on TikTok when they revealed that they give each of their three kids a quarterly hygiene budget. The couple, who document their family's life on the road in an RV, left social media users divided with this particular revelation as many believed the kids are too young to have this kind of responsibility and others saw the tactic as a great way to teach kids budgeting and real-life situations. "We homeschool our kids on the road, and it’s very important as part of our homeschooling to teach our kids about finances," Jess explains in one video of her 11-year-old daughter Grace shopping.

"When our kids grow up, we want them to be confident in making good financing choices. One thing we want them to know is that it’s important to meet your needs before your wants," she explained. Jess revealed that Grace receives $115 each quarter to spend on personal products that include everything from shampoo and deodorant to press-on-nails and hair ties. The mother-of-three went into a bit more detail about how this system works in another video that features her 9-year-old son shopping for whatever personal care products he wants or needs with the $100 he is allotted every 3 months.

Jess explained that if they notice any of their kids not using their respective hygiene budgets properly to try and pocket more of the money given to them, their hygiene budget will be decreased. "This does not mean that they will not have access to hygiene products," she clarified. "It just means that they will not get the money that's left over at the end, and I will pick out the hygiene products for them. But we have not had this issue with the kids because the money that they receive is significantly more than they actually need. Their budget is so significant, they are buying things like sugar scrub and hair dye. Every single one of the kids always has a significant amount of money left over at the end of the three months. They make a lot of extra money this way and it teaches them a lot about budgeting."

Despite Jess' explanation of how the system works, many social media users were of the opinion that putting young children in charge of their own budgeting is too much responsibility on their shoulders. "I understand this more at a [high school] level but they're lil kids dude let them live," one TikTok user commented. The family responded to this by writing back: "Did you ever consider that the kids may actually enjoy this?" Jess further clarified in another video that the hygiene budget their kids receive is not earned money. It is not part of their allowance or chore money. Instead, it is money that their parents give them outside of what the kids earn in order to purchase the hygiene products they need. "This is money we would have been spending on hygiene products anyway, but the kids just get to choose how the money is spent," she says in the video. "This gives them a better understanding of how much things cost and teaches them about money and how to budget."