Consistently Inconsistent

I was a teacher for 4 years and I know how important consistency is. Especially when it comes to molding good behavior and encouraging the use of self control. Once upon a time ago, we gave the boys an allowance for keeping up with chores and good behavior. Silas spent him immediately and Gavin still has every penny of his saved in a Ziploc bag. We did well with that until summer came and then threw that right out the window. The boys argue quite a bit and we've had trouble with keeping up with daily chores. I started a chore chart to reward them when they met our expectations. They would get a star every time they completed a task. That worked pretty well and then I just got slack with it. We have our good and bad days, but the boys seem to be doing better in general. I think that my next course of action will be to try the penalty chore jar that my friend Heidi posted on her BLOG. Cross your fingers that I can be more consistent with it!