Teenagers and money

[Niminy]

How much pocket money/allowance do your teenage children have? How much do they earn through household tasks? And what is the money expected to cover? Has the amount changed as they get older?

My children: DS1 is 14, DS2 is 12. They have around £9 a week through a combination of chores and pocket money. DS1 spends all his on junk food, DS2 saves all his.

[Outedsochanged]

12 year old, £10 a week. I buy basic clothes/ undies and hobby kit. She has to pay for make up, 'fun/going out' clothes, sweets, going out with friends. She contributes £1 a week for music subscription that she asked for and we decided to get a household version of.
It's plenty, she's lucky. She doesn't spend much on sweets/going out with friends but saves it to have a big shopping splurge every couple of months.

[Niminy]

Thanks!

[Ginorchoc]

My about to be 14 year old gets the child benefit, half goes on her phone contract the other to her bank account which she mainly saves. She still has at least the equivalent of two months in her account. Doesn’t get paid for chores as she has no choice but to do them.

[Ginorchoc]

Oh and she has to buy all non essential clothes, I buy uniform, School shoes, winter coat etc.

[lljkk]

They get their age in £ per month, no strings attached. Can earn more if they do jobs (never do jobs).

I buy essentials & even most of fun days out (=the odd trip to cinema or beach). We ague over what is "essential"

DD is paying for uniform at posh school she wants to attend out of hers, anyway, so she never sees any of it.

[SpecialAgentNobody]

3 teens here, each get £20 a month in their bank account. I pay for their Giff Gaff costs £12 each a month and iTunes Subscription).

They earn an extra £5 a week by doing jobs. One does dishwasher. One does bins. One puts washing away.

Ages 14,13 and 13

[SpecialAgentNobody]

It’s theirs to spend on whatever. I buy clothes, etc. It mostly gets spent on magazines and computer games.

[BrokenWing]

£100 / month into his debit account.

He pays from his account to parentpay system for school lunches, or uses it for spending money during holidays. He pays £12 giff gaff phone from his account too. Pays for any lost school jumpers etc.

Doesn't get paid for chores, they are just expected.

[TeenTimesTwo]

When DD1 was at college she got £25/month discretionary spending money plus £50/month 'college money' (for lunches etc). College money even in holidays. I carried on paying for clothes etc. She paid for phone.

I don't think it is great to give teens too much as it maybe gets them used to a level of spending that is unsustainable when they either go to uni or start work on lowish wage at 18.


DD2, 13, currently gets £15/month discretionary spending. Saves most of it.

[Pascall]

DD (14) gets £40 a month plus sim contract (she bought her phone herself), itunes, netflix and all sporting activites. I also buy all essential clothes. Spends it as fast as she gets it.

DS (12) gets £2-3 a week when he asks for it, sometimes less. itunes, netflix, sim contract (uses an old iphone 4) plus all sports and music activities. pretty good at saving it.

They are expected to help out around the house but they don't get paid for it, but they can do extra things like babysitting, feeding the neighbours cat, gardening or washing cars for extra money. They mostly don't bother though.

[hidingmystatus]

£50 per month, but has to buy own shampoo, conditioner, toiletries, sanpro, makeup, etc. Buys occasional clothes from it too. We pay for phone and essential clothes.
Probably going to change that shortly so she buys all non-school uniform, but haven't thought about it. DD is 16 and about to start Y12.

[mrsm43s]

12 year old £20 p month and 13 y old £25 p month, going up by £5 p month each birthday. Plus phone contract, gym membership, all essentials paid for and spotify/netflix etc all paid for. We also top up over the summer holidays with an extra £50, as they are going out more. DC1 spends every penny the moment it hits the account, DC2 saves and has quite a considerable bank balance!

Pocket money not dependent on chores, but I expect them to pull their weight regardless.

[mycatplotsdeath]

Mine are adult now but they got child benefit paid into their account each month.
They were expected to do household stuff anyway.
When they spent what they had, they were not given anything else

[ChangoMutney]

3 teens between 15 - 18 all get £5 pw plus phone contracts I pay for a multitude of Tv and music subscriptions and everything else they can earn more by doing jobs. The eldest has a part time job.