Allowance for 16 year old

[thebluehen]

We have ds and dsd live with us full time.

Currently they both receive £8 pw pocket money. They are only expected to pay for treats from that with perhaps the odd bus fare if they go out with their mates.

Dsd likes to bargain hunt and has been buying clothes from eBay and online with her pocket money. I think she likes the freedom of being able to make her own choices on clothes without me or her dad standing over her. She has no interest in designer clothes and never spends more than £3 on a top or £10 on a pair of shoes.

Ds just spends his on PC games or saves for computer equipment. very rarely goes out and when he does, often doesn't have enough money to do so. He has no interest in clothes whatsoever.

So I have been thinking of letting dsd have an allowance for treats and all her clothes.

Dp is suggesting £20 pw. Is that a fair amount?

Is it fair not to give ds the same based on him squandering it and not spending it wisely?

[StevesBollockAnalogy]

I don't know whether or not £20pw is a good amount, it depends how old they are. If they are still young teenagers it may be a bit much! What I would say is that it is totally unfair to give one over twice as much as the other just because you only approve of DSDs choices. As you have said yourself, DS saves his allowance, which is a very important life skill to have! I would not call that squandering at all, computer games can be expensive so he must being careful with his money in order to afford it. Buying clothes is, in my eyes, no more productive than buying/playing computer games so why you would consider that a worthy past time to that extent that you would fund it above and beyond DS I have no idea.

Should you go through with giving DSD far more money than DS i suspect you would have a huge argument and a rift between you. Remember you will be giving her £624 more each year if you do this. And that's if you meant her total pocket money would be £20, rather than adding to it to become £28. Ultimately no, I think it is grossly unfair.

[titchy]

I think that's a huge amount! I'd suggest ten a week each at 16, or even five a week if they can get a pt job easily.

Pay a certain amount for a phone, you buy essentials (pants and school uniform!), they buy the rest.

[insanityscratching]

Dd and ds's used to get £20pw at 16 so I think it's a fair amount considering dsd will be buying her clothes. Dd used to spend hers on going out (cinema/bowling/shopping) and she'd top up her PAYG mobile. We still used to fund clothes and bus fares.
All of our dc got themselves part time jobs but still got their allowance anyway as it seemed a bit unfair to withdraw it when they had made the effort to find work.

[MrsDavidBowie]

Ds at 15 gets £30 a month. Thats for fun stuff..we buy clothes, pay for phone etc.
Dd 17 gets £50 a month.

[ChillySundays]

DD had phone and bus fare paid and £20 pm. She also has a part time job. We bought some of her clothes but not everything. If she had loads of clothes and just wanted to have another top or pair of jeans she had to pay
herself

[bigTillyMint]

DD is 15 and gets £25 a month and £15 phone contract from me. She also earns about £100 a month coaching and more (maybe about £30) babysitting. I only really buy school clothes and essentials like underwear. I will often give her a fiver if she is eating out and she has had the odd tenner for birthday presents for friends.

We could afford more, but we want them to manage their money. Plus we are happy to pay for clubs, holidays, etc.

[BackforGood]

I think that's a HUGE amount - but there is a wide variety on all the pocket money / allowance threads, so I guess that depends on how well off you are.

I do think it would be unfair to treat them so differently though. It sounds to me like ds is using money very sensibly, in that he is saving up to get what he wants. Might not be what you would choose to spend your money on, but clearly has grasped saving up for something, which strikes me as being one of the reasons we give our dcs pocket money.

[ConfusedTeen]

I got £5 per week and once I got a job, that stopped. If I wanted more money I had to earn it. I done chores like cleaning the kitchen, walking the dog, cooking some dinner!