Pocket money your kids can see, and a budget you can actually keep
Kids earn from chores and split it between Spend, Save and Give. You run the family's real money in the same app — accounts, bills, debts and all.
Free while we're in beta. No ads, ever. Nothing for sale in your kid's hands.
The kid's side
Three jars they can point at.
- Spend: 60%
- Save: 100%
- Give: 38%
Altogether$46.20
Chores and payday
You approve, or let it pay itself.
- Water the plantsAna$1.00
- DishwasherLeo · twice this week$1.50
- Tidy the toysMateo · waiting on you$0.50
Friday's payday
three kids, approved$31.00Your side
A zero-based budget, kids included.
Left to assign$184.00GroceriesPocket moneyEating out
Every payday splits three ways
You set the least that goes into Save and Give once. After that the split happens on its own, the kid places what's left, and they can see exactly where their money sits without asking anyone.
Spend
Theirs to use. When they spend it in the real world, you settle the jar from your phone and the jar goes down — the history says what it went on.
whatever Ana places here
Save
Tied to a goal they picked, with a target they can watch fill up. Same jar, same history, however old they get.
50% floor, scooter at $60
Give
Set aside for someone else. When it's time to hand it over, you settle it and record where it went, so the jar empties honestly.
10% floor, animal shelter
For the grown-ups
The household side is a full budgeting app
Not a companion screen. Every dollar of income gets assigned before the month runs, and pocket money is one category among the rest.
Zero-based budget
Assign income into groups — bills, food, kids, debts, saving — until nothing is left unassigned. Overspending shows up as a number, not a scolding.
Accounts and transactions
Cash, bank, cards, loans and investments, typed in by hand or uploaded from your bank's statement file. Split a Target run between household and school supplies on the receipt itself.
Held for the kids
The kids' jars sit in your accounts as money the household holds for them, and the dashboard says how much is held for the kids. Net worth stays honest.
Every grown-up, one household
Every grown-up in the household sees the same numbers and the same approvals. Kids see their own jars and nothing else — no household balances, ever.
Every screen
Have a look first
Beta
Free while we're in beta.
Nobody pays while we're in beta, and nobody's card is on file. When we leave beta we'll email you a month ahead, and the families who were here first keep a founding price. The details are on the pricing page.
Read about pricing- Does my kid need a phone?
- No. Younger kids can use a shared tablet: a grown-up signs it in once with their own email and password from "Kids on this device", and the tablet shows every kid in the family, each with a name to tap, no PIN needed. Older kids sign in on any device with the family code, their username and PIN. Every kid gets a username and PIN when you add them, so their history stays with them, and a removed kid can be restored within 30 days.
- How does payday split the money?
- You set floors per kid — the least that must go into Save and Give. On payday the allowance and any approved chores are added up, the floors go in first, the kid places what's left, and the jars fill. Grown-ups set the schedule and the floors; the kid runs the payday.
- Is there a real debit card?
- No, and it isn't planned. CubbyJar tracks money you already hold — the cash in the tin, the balance you owe them. When a kid spends, you settle the jar and it goes down.
- Do I have to link my bank?
- There's nothing to link. You type accounts and transactions in by hand, or upload the OFX, QFX or CSV statement file your bank already lets you download (in the browser, under More › Imports) and confirm each row. The budget works from those. Automatic sync is not planned.
- What can my kids see?
- Their own jars, chores and goals, and the history of their own money; what they have asked a grown-up for and the answer that came back; when payday is; and the Save growth a grown-up set for them. Nothing about household accounts, income, debts or what a sibling earns. The server enforces that, not a switch in settings.
- Can both parents use it?
- Yes. Invite the other grown-up from Manage family (on a computer, Family in the sidebar) with their email address, and they set their own password when they accept. Both grown-ups have exactly the same rights, and there is no owner account.
One jar and one chore is enough
Free while we're in beta, for the whole household, any number of kids. Get in line and we'll write when it's your turn.