Chores and Allowance

What chores did you have to do when you were growing up? Did you get an allowance? How much was it?

One of our chores, of course, was to make our bed before going to school. No allowance for failure to make it up! We also washed and dried dishes very frequently. Our pay was the delicious food that Mother had served in those dishes. Lois and I found ways to have fun on that job, flipping tea towels at each other, reciting Latin verb conjugations, or teasing unmercifully. On one occasion our fun was so intense that we broke a dishpan full of dishes. We had to pay for those out of our very slim income. One of my duties was to do the Saturday dusting. (No pay!) The one pleasure this job afforded at appropriate times of the year was that of picking fresh flowers and arranging them in vases before doing the dusting. It was a pleasant way to procrastinate! I did get a nickel a week for scrubbing the kitchen floor.