Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Talk to me about pocket money/allowances for dc, please!

39 replies

tenlittlecygnets · 20/04/2020 17:20

How much do you give your 13yo and 16yos? What do they have to buy/wjhat can they buy with the money?

Curently we give ds £2.50 per week but he can do chores and earn more. He just buys what he wants - we buy him everything he needs.

dd 16 gets £40 per month but this includes her buying any clothes that are not essentials, plus going out money. She had a PT job too. She does no chores (at least, she didn't before lockdown...)

Would be interested to hear from others! Are we being mean??

OP posts:
onlyfoolsnhorses · 20/04/2020 17:27

£2.50 a week for a teenager sounds mean. I would up it to £5 a week or £20 a month

TinklyLittleLaugh · 20/04/2020 17:45

DS is 13. He gets £25 a month pocket money and earns £15 a week doing his paper round. This means he has upwards of £85 a month to spend, which is far too much to be honest.

As above, he buys what he wants (Adidas trackies and computer bits) and we buy what he needs. Currently trying to get him enthused about saving.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 20/04/2020 17:48

Oh and chores wise, he is generally helpful; emptying dishwasher, laying table, going to the shop, but doesn’t have any set responsibilities.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
pukkapine · 20/04/2020 17:58

We just started an allowance for DS 13. He gets £100 per month but out of that he has to buy school lunches (if he wants which is where he can really save if he takes a pack up), clothes (except uniform) toiletries, going out, gifts for family and friends for bdays and save 20%. He's saving for driving lessons/car as a long term goal.

pukkapine · 20/04/2020 18:00

And chores... he rotates each week with siblings: one week is daily dishwasher, next week is cook on a sat night for family and next week is sweep daily. He also does extra things when asked. During lockdown he's doing one extra chore per day.

couchlover · 20/04/2020 18:03

Our 11 and 12 years olds have £5 but they loose money if they don't do certain things; Washing brought down on a Friday night, bedrooms tidy on a Saturday morning, getting up during the week for school. If they don't do those three things they loose £1 for each thing. The other £2 might be lost if they generally misbehave or are unhelpful when asked during the week.

Its rare they get a full £5. Currently they spend it all on sweets. As we are on lock down we are saving it up for them so they will be pretty rich when they can finally go shopping again!

reefedsail · 20/04/2020 18:04

£2.50 a week is a bit mean for a 13yo if you can afford more.

My 9yo DS gets £30 per month on a GoHenry. This is what he has linked to his PS4/ Roblox account, so anything 'pixel' related has to come out of that. He is not allowed to buy sweets with it, but otherwise the money is his own.

okiedokieme · 20/04/2020 18:14

Mine get £60 a month in return for chores. They are now at university and this is doubled in term time for the one who lives away

fussygalore118 · 20/04/2020 18:42

14 year old daughter, she gets £100 which needs to cover clothes, any toiletries etc above and beyond what I normally get, pressies for friends and any socialising @ we pay her phone separately.

Dalrympy · 20/04/2020 21:56

13 yo gets £10 a month into her account and she gets her phone paid for too. She buys a few clothes herself but mostly I buy that stuff.

I think she probably does need a little more.

SpnBaby1967 · 20/04/2020 22:11

My kids are 11, 8 & 7 and all get £10 per month. They're all pretty good at saving as well tbh. They tend to save it up to buy something, usually lego for the younger two and art supplies for my eldest.

I realise this will need to increase, but we also couldn't afford the likes of £100 each. Maybe £50 would be the max.

delilahbucket · 20/04/2020 22:27

DS is 12. He gets £3.50 a week in exchange for set chores. He sometimes works for me when I'm busy and he gets £5 per hour and that's usually the maximum he does before he gets bored! He hasn't really started going out yet but he was just starting to toy with going to the cinema with his mates before lockdown happened. I pay for his phone but that is only £10 a month. He never buys anything so his money just builds in his spends account.

Ifeel1000yearsold · 20/04/2020 22:29

14 and 16 year old both get £5 a week. I buy all clothing and toiletries. They do the chores they are asked to do.

bebanjo · 20/04/2020 22:39

I was getting £5 a week when I was 14 in 1984.
DD is 13, she gets £15 a week.

FAQs · 20/04/2020 22:44

DD 15 gets £40 per month but this will go up to £82 when she starts 6th form in September and needs to buy suits for herself.

SilverGiraffe7 · 20/04/2020 22:59

Mine (aged from 8 to 15) get a third of their age per week which seems to work. I buy all clothes / toiletries etc. but they can 'upgrade' using their money if they don't like what I'm prepared to buy Grin

Orangesandbananas · 20/04/2020 23:01

I'm not very generous with mine - 13 & 16 and they get £5 a week.

But DS16 gets money when he needs it for going out, and he had a part time job before lockdown. I'm thinking about giving him a proper allowance now his job isn't possible.

DS13 gets bought the odd thing here and there when his pocket money doesn't cover it.

I cover their mobile phone costs and gym and sports club memberships too, and usually say yes to various expensive school and scouts trips.

I like my method as I can just spend as they need - I feel if I gave a generous allowance they'd have more disposable income than I do, plus all their clubs and holidays!

Original poster
tenlittlecygnets · 20/04/2020 23:27

Hmm, thanks all! Dh and I also cover phones for both dc, all clubs, school lunches, etc., and also gym membership for dd. Also all the school trips they want to go on!

Have just transferred dd £150 for buying clothes for sixth form.

Looks like we need to pay ds more...

OP posts:
Jimdandy · 21/04/2020 06:15

Stepdaughter 15 gets £10 per week. Can earn more if age does extra jobs. Is expected to help around the house.

6 and 4 year old get £5 a week each purely for toys/tat only. I started this because I my daughter was getting a lot more than than my son as she likes hair clips and shiny things and lol dolls and he never asked for anything and it was getting hard to treat them the same.

If he builds up excess I put it in his account

Passthecake30 · 21/04/2020 07:04

Ds (12) gets £15 a month, dd (10) gets £2 a week. Dd just saves every single penny, ds sometimes gets things hobby related. Ds doesn’t go out and about with friends yet - he might’ve started this Easter hols I guess if we were not in lockdown - I have assured him that he will get some spending money in the school hols. I’ll also increase his money if he wants to save up for certain labels - however, he’s not shown any interest yet.

ellanwood · 21/04/2020 07:12

DC got about £30pcm at 13 and £50pcm at 16, plus I pay for their phone contracts - another £20pcm. They are never paid for household jobs as I explained to them we aren't either. No one is. You clean the house and cook because it's your home and your family and you want home life to be nice. I have paid them to do other jobs such as teach me how certain tech things work.

My parents were incredibly tight with money when I was growing up and it left me feeling like I wasn't as deserving or valued as all my friends. If you can afford more than £2.50 a week, give it. It's important for DC to learn how to handle money - how to save up for things, whether to buy something or not. With £2.50 there's no point. May as well spend it on sweets. It's too little to make sense.

TreacherousPissFlap · 21/04/2020 07:18

DS (15) gets £10 a week allowance. He lays and clears the table daily and is expected to do anything else we ask, though I don't think we've ever not paid him due to poor behaviour.
We pay for his phone contract and gym membership and he had a part time job on a Sunday before lockdown started.
I'm currently toying with the idea of passing his child benefit direct to him, then absolving myself of all clothes, travel and college purchases.

Lonecatwithkitten · 21/04/2020 08:19

DD gets £50 per month, I pay for her phone, but she buys non-essential clothes, toiletries and presents plus drinks out etc. She works when she is able to.
This has been the case for a year she is excellent at budgeting and has a savings and current account.
In September she will go to college, I will increase it to £140 per month for buses, lunches etc, but I will buy her train ticket. She needs to get a train and then either get a bus or walk for 20 mins.

Swingingsally · 21/04/2020 08:35

I've always wondered how to do this...

I've not really had any money to give them until recently so when I could about 2 years ago I started to give them 30pm but into their nationwide accounts.
They only have access via a book.
We buy their clothes anyway, books anything they want. Older dd used her nationwide money once to buy something.

One is 13 one is 6. The 6 year old demanded we take her money out of the bank and gave it to her for sweets. There's about 500 + in there now.

Ideally I'm hoping I can keep building it up until they do want to spend more then they will have a little pot to saving and drawing from to learn how to manage it.

As pp I'm reluctant to pay them for everyday chores...

But they don't really want anything bar sweets and tat.... Younger dd wants robux!!
They have other savings in junior isa for driving lessons etc.. It's quite a lot so I'm hoping this amount I've built up helps them manage money.
But as for pocket money.... Not sure... With my younger it would be sweets... And we use small gifts to try and encourage her to work....

mizu · 21/04/2020 08:45

Bebanjo ooh you were lucky! My best friend used to get £5 a week in 1984 and I envied her so much. There were 4 of us and we got £1 a week!! Her mum would buy her Sweet Valley High books too Envy

My DDs are 14 and 15 and get £25 into their accounts each month. I still buy essential clothing and presents for friends. We have spoken recently about increasing it a bit.

I give them a bit more for chores etc but this is not necessarily every week.