Taja Ashaka, who, like Rocio, is a mother of two young daughters. She’s taken a unique route to educate her children on how to become financially responsible adults. Each week, she charges her daughters $5 in rent and an additional $5 for utilities, making them accountable for their living expenses at home. It’s this distinct approach that has earned The City of Raleigh all of this attention and more, with more than 262,000 followers on TikTok. It’s helping her daughters learn about money management in a practical, real life way.
Every Friday by 9:00 p.m., Taja expects her daughters to submit their payments. If they fail to do so by 9:01 p.m., the first consequence is a 24-hour phone ban accompanied by an extra dollar added to their bill. The stakes rise with subsequent infractions: a missed payment results in a three-day phone suspension and a $5 late fee, while a third missed payment incurs an eviction from their bedrooms and an additional $10 late fee. As Taja Ashaka, one of the aforementioned practitioners, points out, these lessons are critical.
“They have to pay $5 every week for rent, and another $5 every week for utilities,” – Taja Ashaka
To ensure her daughters understand where their money goes, Taja has structured the payments to cover essential expenses. Each daughter pays $1 in rent, $1 in utilities, and $1 for food costs. They each accomplish this from their weekly allowance of $6. The rest of the money remains in their individual accounts for their own use.
The home Taja has created for her daughters harkens back to that little house. From the outside, each bedroom is adorned by apartment numbers, door bells, welcome mats, and mail boxes. Besides the financial education, she places lovely little notes and reminders into their mailboxes to further encourage diligence and accountability.
The TikTok community has shown overwhelming support for Taja’s unconventional parenting strategy. Her legion of social media fans return her accolades by lauding her unique approach to teaching kids how to manage their money. Parents commonly feel this model is equipping their kids for future real world money management while letting them be kids today.
“I want them to grasp the idea of it now while they’re little and this process still feels fun for them,” – Samantha Bird
The practice has drawn the ire of critics. Critics counter that charging children rent doesn’t need to happen so early in life. Taja remains confident in her method.
“Two hundred bucks a month is plenty cheap to live like a grub in your parents’ house,” – Cody Archie
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