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Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

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Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Teenagers

Pocket money/allowances

31 replies

wishfort · 02/05/2008 08:48

I'd like some guidance on this. DD is turning 13 and we've said an allowance, for her to budget, is the right thing from now on. Any ideas as to reasonable levels of pay and what they should cover? We are in Australia but understand (duh!) exchange rates, so.. go ahead..please.

OP posts:

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Simply · 02/05/2008 08:52

Ah, I'll watch this thread with interest. My dd is 13 and I think she needs to learn to budget (this was after she spent £7 in town one Sat on fripperies without actually planning to buy this stuff). I suggested an allowance but we haven't given any more thought to it. Sorry I'm not any help to you though, wishfort.

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seeker · 02/05/2008 08:59

My dd is 12. She gets £20 a month and I put 10 a month on her phone - if she uses more she has to pay for it. I buy her one magazine a fortnight. I give her the very minimum for lunch at school - if she wants treat-y stuff from the canteen she has to pay for it herself. I pay for all her out of school activities. I buy clothes she actually needs (often from ebay and charity shops, but she is cool with that - loves a bargain. I also sell her stuff on ebay for her and she gets to spend half what I make)

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malovitt · 02/05/2008 09:04

My son is 13 and gets £50 per calendar month.

This has to cover his bits and bobs, swimming, cinema, CDs, snacks/ drinks/ice creams but not 'necessary' clothing or footwear which I pay for.
Bus travel is free here in London so that helps.
I've found that having to spend his own money on snacks and drinks has seriously cut down on the amount of rubbish he used to consume. It's also cheaper for me - those odd pounds here and there really used to add up. I put £5 per month on his phone as well, if it goes over this amount, he has to pay it himself. It hasn't so far.

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AgonyBeetle · 02/05/2008 09:14

Dd1 is 13, and gets £10 a week. She makes her own packed lunches to take to school, but if she isn't sufficiently organised to do this, then she has to pay canteen lunch out of her own money (the aim being to encourage her to be organised!). As long as she doesn't buy snacks every day, this seems to go quite a long way, and she has enough left over to save for bigger purchases.

Snacks, cinema and birthday presents for her friends have to come out of her allowance. I give her extra money to buy clothes that she actually needs, if she wants extra it's subject to negotiation.

I put £10 a month on her phone.

It seems to work reasonably well.

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Simply · 02/05/2008 09:16

Oh, this is going to make deciding what I'm going to do with dd (and ds who is 14 and is a saver rather than a spender) so much easier!

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smartiejake · 02/05/2008 09:27

My dd is nearly 12 and when she moved to secondary school we upped her pocket money to £5 a week. She buys her own snacks, sweets and magazines out of this but we buy her clothes. When her phone needs topping up(£10 about once a month) we give her half towards it and if she uses it too much then she has to fork out for the difference.
If she goes out with friends to the pictures or ice skating I will give her the money to get in but she would buy her own snacks.

She's taken to looking for 2 for 1 offers on multi packs for sweets and snacks which she then keeps away from the rest of the family's stuff.

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mumblechum · 02/05/2008 09:31

My ds is 13.5 and I've just upped his allowance to £30 from £20 a month, but his grandma also sends him £25 so he now has £55pm.

He's games mad, and the basis of the recent increase is that he has to pay for games, cinema/snacks while out with his mates out of that. Otherwise I was finding that I'd be shelling out an extra £10 a week for cinema etc. I think this way I'll be slightly better off .

I pay for all his clothes, top up his mobile (only once in a blue moon), pay for all school trips, lunches etc.

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AgonyBeetle · 02/05/2008 09:33

It's very sweet when they discover bargains! I buy a few extra things sometimes that I know she likes in her packed lunches but I wouldn't normally buy (sunbites crisps or fruit corner yoghurts) but only v. occasionally. Yesterday she came in all excited, desperate to go to Morrisons at the weekend, as they have a special deal on Fruit Corner yoghurts!

And she went to the Traid shop (2nd hand) last weekend, came back v. happily having bought a new pair of jeans for a fiver, and two tops for £3.50 each.

I am in the main quite generous over giving her extra spending money, but she does understand that it's linked to her behaving well at home and making a useful contribution to family life.

Most of the time everyone seems to be happy with the arrangement.

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bogie · 02/05/2008 09:43

When we fostered my sisters children they were 12 and 13 they got a £1 or £2 a day and they had to do one little job to get it (i.e wash the pots, hoover the living room).
We still bought all there clothes, shoes a magazine or treat every week when we did the super market shop.
When they moved here they had no idea about money how you got it what things were worth, they thought you could just go into a bank and ask for it?
Dp showed them his bank statments what came in and went out and what he did for a job, asked them what they wanted to be showed them what they could earn doing the job they wanted, what qualifcations they needed. It really made them realize how to get on in life.

By the time they left us they had saved up for an xbox 360 (£280).

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mumeeee · 02/05/2008 20:51

DD3 16 allowence has just gone up to £30 a month,ahe had £25 before. I pay for school uniform,basic footwear,all school activities,some of her youth club activities and I pay her Drama club fees.
She pays for all other clothes and footwear,mobilr e phone credit ( all though I wuill sometimes top it up),going out with friends and any stuff she wants Eg CDs ,make up ,special toiletris and most of her youth club activities.
DD2 18 also got £30 a month but has now got a Saturday job, so does not get this any more. I am still paying her drama fees but once she has had a couple of pay packets I'll ask her to pay towards them,

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wishfort · 03/05/2008 05:35

Thanks for all the ideas; we now have 2 weeks to make decision.

OP posts:

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MumRum · 04/05/2008 18:25

My DD is nearly 12... this has really opened my eyes....

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MotherOfGirls · 04/05/2008 18:35

My DD was 13 this week and we decided to start an allowance of £50 per month, which we pay by direct debit into an Abbey Account for 11 - 16 year olds. She gets a cash card to use the money machine but no cheques, visa or overdraft facility.

We hope this will cover all her expenses, including presents for friends (this always seems to put a hole in my budget) and clothes. We will buy everything she needs for school. She also had a mobile phone for her birthday and she will have to top that up herself.

I'm wondering if we are being too optimistic about the clothes, but she does enjoy bargain - hunting!

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mumeeee · 04/05/2008 18:52

Motherof girls. £50 should be plenty. As I have said DD216 now gets £30 she used to get £25. She has alays had enough for everything.

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mumeeee · 04/05/2008 18:53

That is DD3. DD2 18 used to have the smae but this has stopped scince she has had a Saturday job.

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MotherOfGirls · 04/05/2008 18:58

Thanks mumeeee. I'll stand fast on the amount!

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noddyholder · 04/05/2008 19:05

My ds is 14 and gets £30 into his account and 5 on his phone.He runs out most months but seems to get by.It seems his friends all help each other out when skint He would love 50 but I think its too much at 14

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ScienceTeacher · 04/05/2008 19:11

I give my 14 and 16 year olds £5 a week, directly deposited in their accounts.

They have plenty of opportunity for earning more money from us, and they have 'businesses' at school that are very lucrative.

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mixformax · 04/05/2008 22:39

Makes interesting reading. No idea that there was an account for 11-16 yr olds that gives a cash card!. This could work out very useful - currently DD and DS1 get £20 pcm each from ex-h, via me. Usually means i have no cash and we end up losing count of who is owed what. Now I think they can each have their own account that Dad can pay into, and they can keep their own finances!

Thank you Motherof Girls! (and the rest of contributors... )

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MotherOfGirls · 05/05/2008 07:41

Glad it was useful info, mixformax.

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ajandjjmum · 05/05/2008 10:39

DS (16) and DD (14) have both had an account with Barclays, which has the cash card. About 12 months ago DS's card was upgraded to a debit card - so he can spend what is in his account - but no overdraft. He's fairly tight, so I knew it would be safe! I wouldn't risk it with DD yet.

They both have £30 each per month, but I'm thinking of sharing the 'family allowance' beween them, and then they'll be responsible for everything.

My big bugbear with DD is school shoes. If she is responsible for buying them, maybe she'll chose more durable styles - or am I being too hopeful here!!

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PenelopePitstops · 05/05/2008 10:43

my sister gets £14 a month and £10 for her phone.
This is for unecessary clothing and anything else mum wont pay for. But mum does often pay out for cinema trips and meals on top of this. she is 14 btw

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Loshad · 05/05/2008 16:30

My older two (14 and nearly 13) get £5/week basic, can earn another £5 for helpful (ie jobs I hate doing) work around the house. They get £2.50/day for school lunches, although the oldest is currently on pack ups, as he can't stick to his budget and I then get stroppy letters from school as he's "overdrawn" on his account!
I top up their phones when required, but being boys that is hardly ever (they use less than £2/month on average).
If they want to go into town I usually, but not always, give them their train or bus fare if I'm not going to run them in in the car.

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serin · 06/05/2008 00:23

Scienceteacher, what lucrative businesses do your boys have at school? am genuinely interested but have visions of protection scams or selling knock off dvd's!!!

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waycat · 06/05/2008 06:20

DS1 and DS2 both get £20 a month direct bank transfer into their account, plus £20 a month cash in hand. From the cash, they have to pay me back money for their monthly magazine subscriptions, plus any deductions I make for bad behaviour.

Their money is theirs to do what they like with - once it's gone it's gone, and they are both learning that now. They are learning to save for special things like bits for their laptops, extra magazines, etc.... Obviously, things like clothing, school trips, etc. I pay for, although they do use their own money for spending if they go on a school trip.

I started pocket money a few years ago, and have given them several increases when I saw fit, and I think it has been a good thing as they are both learning the value of money and the fact that it isn't an endless supply.