Expansion Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Hard

This is a credit card add-on for the game of Monopoly wherein players have both cash and credit and may opt to “charge” certain expenses in lieu of paying cash in order to keep the cash flow for investing in property and buildings. For being such a careful money saver in real life, I was surprised at how quickly my “credit card debt” snowballed.

I started out by charging all my expenses because the 10% interest seemed so insignificant, and before I knew it, I was overlimit and paying 20% interest and my debt became more and more unmanageable. I came in second in the end with a credit card debt of $3,600. Madoline won with over $5,000 in cash, and Mabel lost with over $10,000 in credit card debt. :O

Objective

To teach children (and some adults) about buying and owing on the credit system.

Overview

This version of the game uses a credit system wherein players may opt to put purchases and expenses on their credit account instead of paying cash – either because they do not have enough cash available or because they wish to keep their cash to invest in property.

How to Play

• Print out and distribute a copy of the Bank of Monopoly Personal Credit Card Statement (includes rules) to each player. The statement contains 20 tables (representing 20 months/circuits of the game board). If you need more than 20 tables, simply print extra copies of this document.
  Tip: Print 2-Sided to save paper
• Any time during the game, a player may opt to charge expenses such as rent, taxes and miscellaneous fees on his/her “credit card.” in order to save cash for investing in properties and building.
• Property and building purchases may not be charged on a credit card.

How to Use the Personal Credit Card Statement

• A player is allowed 12 credit transactions per month (circuit of the board).
• Each person has a credit limit of $2,000.

1. On the first round of the game, enter $0 under Balance Forward.
2. When making a charge, enter a brief description of the transaction under “Description of Transaction”
3. Enter the amount under “Amount Charged”
4. Total the current balance in the right-hand column under “Balance.”
5. When you pass or land on “Go,” total your balance next to “Total Charges”
6. Pay off your desired debt in cash to bank and enter the figure next to “Amount Paid @ “Go.”
   • You are required to make a minimum payment of 10% of the total charges.
   • If you are not able to make the 10% payment, your interest rate increases to 20% until you are able to make your minimum payment again.
   • You may pay your balance in full and accrue no finance charges, or pay at least the minimum or as much as you are able to or wish to.
7. Subtract the amount paid from the Total Charges and enter the amount next to “Balance Subtotal.”
   If the balance is greater than $0, multiply Balance Subtotal by 10% (n x .1) if you’ve made at least the minimum payment, or 20% (n x .2) if you were not able to make the minimum payment, and enter the figure next to “x 10% Finance Charges.”
8. Multiply Balance Subtotal by 10% (n x .1) and enter the figure next to “x 10% Finance Charges.”
9. Add the 10% Finance Charge to your Balance Subtotal and enter the figure next to “Balance Forward.”
10. This is your remaining debt.
11. Move to the next empty table and enter the “Balance Forward” amount at the top right-hand column
12. next to “Balance Forward.”
13. When entering your first charge of new circuit around the board, add the charge to the forwarded amount and repeat.

Click on the image below to view a sample statement

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Expansion Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Easy

This Certificate of Deposit was the second expansion we created for the game (invented by Madoline) of Monopoly. After the Lottopoly (coming soon), I find this to be the most fun. The interest rates are rather high compared to real-life CD’s, but they help to illustrate the point that investing pays off, and it is so much fun watching the money add up.

Objective

To learn the system and benefits of saving and investing via Certificates of Deposit (CD’s).

How to Play

• Download and print the Bank of Monopoly Certificate of Deposit Form (includes rules).
• Banker
  Designate a player to be in charge of CD’s. This person will receive and deposit into the bank the money to be invested, fill out the CD form, keep track of players’ passing of “Go,” calculate interests and penalties, and pay out the earnings from the bank.
• Opening a CD
  Deposit the amount to be invested in the bank and fill in the player’s name, opening balance and term of deposit. The term is the number of “months” or circuits around the board. Deposits may only be made on the turn when a player passes or stops on “Go.” Once a deposit is made and the term is set, it may not be changed.
• Marking off the months
  When a player passes “Go,” the banker marks off a circuit under 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Months. This indicates the passage of time. If a player purchases a CD for 1 month, his account is considered mature after one full circuit of the board. 2 months require 2 full circuits, and 3 months require 3 full circuits.
  Note: Going to jail does not constitute a circuit as one does not pass “Go.”
• Payouts
  When a player passes “Go” for the last time, his/her earnings are calculated and the balance paid out.

Click on the image below to see a sample

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With the charms of summer also come not-so-charming and unwelcome visitors. With consistent 100+ degree weather in the desert we call home, 6- and 8-legged visitors (or really more like trespassers) are almost a regular part of life. But we have discovered a few safe and relative effective ways to keep the trespasser traffic under control without endangering our health or that of our children/pets Ludwig and Wolfgang.

Ways to Safely Repel and Kill Ants

Ants are the largest problem for us. In this desert, there are more types of ants than we have seen anywhere else we’ve lived - there are tiny red ants, medium ants, and jumbo ants (luckily the jumbo ones don’t see fit to come inside).

Prevention is the Best Medicine

The most basic, safest and easiest way to keep the ant traffic down is simply keeping the kitchen as clean as possible.

• Avoid leaving dirty dishes in the sink.
• Wash pots and pans immediately if you cook anything with meat or a lot of oil.
• Wipe the counters several times a day with soap. A minuscule crumb or little drop of something sweet can quickly bring a hoard of ants.
• Take out the kitchen trash everyday. Take out trash immediately if it contains meat, bones, greasy paper towels and napkins, meat packaging and sweet things.
• Avoid eating in bedrooms, and be careful of dropping crumbs in other rooms of the house.
• I’ve also found that having the air conditioner on helps.

Creepy Fact: When you dispatch an ant on duty, you are in fact killing a “she” and not an “it” (or “he”). Worker ants are all female. The males are only used for breeding.

Ways to Safely Kill Ants

Sometimes keeping clean doesn’t keep them away completely (scouts sometimes explore squeaky clean counters), or if you miss a crumb or two. If you have children or pets as we do, the fewer poisons you use around the house the better. Even if you don’t have children or pets, it is best to avoid using toxins as they will affect your health.

• Vinegar
  Vinegar is our preferred ant killer. It kills small ants almost immediately and is completely safe. Simply spray the ants and wipe them away.
• Yeast and Sugar
  Mix some dry yeast and sugar and leave it out in a place ants frequent. The sugar will attract the ants to the yeast, which once brought back to the nest and consumed, will expand in their bellies and kill them. This method might cease to work after a few times as the ants might wise up and avoid the yeast. Caution: Make sure the yeast is in a location that can’t be reached by your pet(s). It’s not poisonous, but ingestion can be dangerous.
• EcoSmart
  I recently discovered a natural and effective insecticide called EcoSmart, which is made of organic vanilla, cinnamon and rosemary oils. It kills ants and other insects on contact and smells nice while at it. It is also affordable at $3.87 per can at Walmart. This is the only commercial insect repellent and killer we use in our house.

Keep reading for tips on repelling and killing other insects (spiders, roaches, silverfish, etc.)

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Expansions Difficulty/Complexity: Easy

This is a cash-free version of the game wherein all transactions are handled through personal checking accounts and recorded in individual check registers. Each player is responsible for his own account and must record all transactions – payment and receipt of rent, taxes, bribes, etc. in his check register.

Objective

To teach children (and some adults) how to accurately record transactions and balance a check register.

How to Play

• Download and print the Bank of Monopoly Personal Check Register (includes rules)
• Instead of distributing cash at the beginning of the game, players record the opening balance at the top of the check register (in the right-hand column under $ Balance). If playing the original Atlantic City Monopoly game with the distribution of 2 x $500, 2 x $100, 2 x $50, 6 x $20, 5 x $10, 5 x $5 , and 5 x $1 bills, the opening balance is $1,500.
• Instead of using cash, all transactions are recorded in the check register under Deposit (+) and Payment (-), and all money belonging to the player is totaled in the $ Balance column.

Click on the image to view a sample check register

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Expansion difficulty/complexity level: Easy

This is a basic savings account add-on for the Monopoly game to teach the principles of personal savings. The rules are few, with easy to calculate interest rates and a simple form to keep track of each player’s individual savings. While the interest rates are higher (for easy calculation) than they would be in a real-life savings account, this game can teach children the basics and benefits of saving money and how banking and savings accounts work.

Objective: Learning Basic Money Saving Techniques and Principles

• Develop a regular habit setting money aside for a rainy day or future investment.
• Watch your money add up a few dollars at a time.
• Experience the satisfaction of greater earnings and faster growth as interest rates increase with your balance.

To play the Monopoly Personal Savings Account Expansion

• Download and print out the Monopoly Personal Savings Account Statement (with rules)*
• The Personal Savings Account Statement contains a form for tracking:
  • Opening balance
  • Interest Rate which increases as balances grow
  • Interest Earned
  • Credits and Debits (Deposits and Withdrawals)
  • Closing Balance

Click on the image below to view a sample form

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As kids, Madoline and I loved playing Monopoly. We enjoyed accumulating property, building hotels and watching the money roll in. We used to play to the extent of having to use calculators to keep track of our individual wealth after exhausting the bank’s supply of cash. When our cousin Mabel arrived in April for her 3-month sampling of the American life, we pulled our Monopoly game back out as part of her introduction to American culture.

Mabel seemed to have born with more than usual bad luck. Since childhood, she has been prone to little (and sometimes not so little) mishaps and accidents of all sorts as well as general ill fortune in all aspects of life – family, personal, professional, etc. Her ill luck also obviously carries over to pretend life, Monopoly included.

During our first Monopoly game with Mabel, Madoline got so tired of Mabel landing on her hotels and unable to afford rent that she devised a lottery system for the game in the hopes that Mabel would win a few jackpots and be able to pay her way. (We don’t like to end the game when someone runs out of money because otherwise it would end too soon.)

Lottopoly, as we call it, was an instant success – for Madoline and me that is. Despite purchasing 3 tickets per lottery that first day, Mabel didn’t win a single lottery. Madoline and I, on the other hand, grew richer and richer, and the Lottopoly became the highlight of the game.

We have since invented more expansions to add some spice to our Monopoly games. All of our expansions have to do with making, saving and investing money, and are a fun way to teach children, and even grown-ups, basic money management and investment principles. Players have to learn how to budget their cash and not over-invest or face penalties for early withdrawal of invested funds.

We have decided to begin publishing a series of Monopoly Expansions here at Our Fourpence Worth. Each game expansion comes with forms that you can download and print for free in PDF or JPG format and detailed instructions for playing with your friends and family. We will begin posting Monopoly Expansions for different money management principles, Certificates of Deposit (CDs), Foreign Currency Investments, Lottopoly and more starting this week.

Monopoly is a fun and fairly inexpensive way to teach kids basic money management skills. I would definitely recommend it to parents who are looking for frugal and beneficial diversions for keeping kids entertained during hot summer days.

Check back tomorrow for the first Monopoly Game Expansion!

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