How To Track an Xbox Loan To Your Kid With Payments Every Fortnite

John recently wrote in:

I told my kids I would float their repayment of a Xbox Live subscription since it came due before any of us realized they should have been saving for it. At any rate, they owe us $21 each, and I want them to pay $7 every other week. What’s the best way to track this, preferably in a way that they can see it — I guess it’s basically a loan.

Here’s my suggestion:

1. Create an IOU account for each kid called “XBox Loan” with an initial balance amount of -$21.00. The loans will appear as negative line items in their account listings. (See How to Create an IOU Account.)
2. Create a checklist called “Loan Payments”. It’s going to house the items that automate the loan repayments on a schedule. (See How to Create a Checklist.)
3. Add a repeating item called “Xbox Loan Payment” for each kid starting on the first payment date and repeating every two weeks (aka, every fortnite 🙂). Set up the item’s rewards and penalties such that, upon expiration, it debits $7 from the kid’s card (back to the parent card) and credits $7 to the kid’s Xbox loan account (thereby reducing the balance due).

   

That’s it. You’ve automated the loan repayment, and the kids will see their progress whenever they sign into FamZoo.

Once the loans are repaid, delete the repeating items to stop the payments. You can create a single non-repeating item on your checklist with the right due date and a text reminder to make sure you follow through at the right time.

Every fortnite, your child will be reminded there’s no free lunch.