Monthly budget for 17 year old

[roaringwater]

How much do you think it's reasonable to give a 17 year old girl as a monthly allowance?

DD is starting sixth form college in September - she's also 17 in September.

I want to start giving her a monthly allowance in order to teach her how to budget, value money etc. This needs to cover:

Clothes
Make up
Basic toiletries, toothpaste, sanpro etc
Some money for lunches at college although she tends to take a sandwich / salad from home.
Stationery
Socialising
Occasional salon appointments, e.g. eyebrow wax (yes, yes, I know this isn't essential, flies in the face of feminist principles etc etc and no, I'm not getting into a discussion about it)

Her dad pays for her phone and will continue to do so. Travel isn't really an issue as we live in a city centre and literally everything is walkable. I don't expect a big outlay on college textbooks but tbh I would pay for these.

I know it's a case of "how long is a piece of string?" but I'm interested in what other Year 12s get.

She is determined to get a part time job, although this might prove harder now with All This Going On.

The purpose of doing this is so that she doesn't start university clueless about how to manage her own money like I did.

@passthemustard yes I think you have.
This is the point I was getting at before re knowing the value of money and by teaching kids it starts them off on a better foot in life. @Itwasntme1 took it a bit too far in what I was saying.
Passthemustard you aren't unreasonable to ask for board money when she's at university. I paid my parents each month from when I started university. Allowances and pocket money stopped when I turned 16.

@Someone1987 very easily.

Costa trip with friends and cinema £20 gone
One sat shopping trip £50 buying a few bits in primark and lunch
Nails £15
And she is saving for a car.
And so on. Her allowance in no way takes away from our ability to help her get on the housing ladder and she is very good at managing her money and saving for things. She fritters some money, yes but as do I.she is not irresponsible however and when she is 16 she is keen to get a job.

@fussygalore118 fair enough. I guess teens do way more these days. I've just had my baby boy, what will he expect by teenage years . Now I feel old ..

I didn’t get an allowance after 14, at 17 she could have a job to cover luxuries.

@Someone1987 lol I dread to think ;)

Teenage socialising definitely costs way more than when I was a kid. But there were no costas, primark or glossier shops about lol

@raspberryk that's really odd because my niece has a Saturday job in Clarks shoes and my friends 17 yr old has a Saturday job in a local book store...obviously before Covid

@fussygalore118 that's true! There seemed less to want/need too. I feel for teenagers now tbh, they seem to have to grow up fast and too much pressure on social media as well.

Different experiences and areas will vary. I hardly see any teenagers just working weekends in our area.
Even when I was younger I had to have permission from my school to work so many hours on a Saturday or Sunday. I could only go over so many hours in the holidays.

We did £10 a week but paid for clothes, toiletries etc, so that was really just for snacks and meeting with friends.

Where I live lots of teenagers have part time/weekend jobs ... (obviously not at the moment), I don’t think our local schools have any restrictions but councils do have ‘rules’ on how many hours young people can work.

My sister raised 3 girls, 4 years between the oldest and the youngest.

My sister paid all school items, enough clothing to go through the year including all school required ones like PE kits (no uniform country) and coats.

Toileteries and sanpro was bought by my sister with weekly shopping, only make up or any fancy items were to be covered by the girls.

The girls had to cover all socialising, gifts for friends, books and any fancy stationary outside the mandatory ones for school.

All three are very budget-savy, have no debt and managed through higher schooling (so 15-18) with hardly any issues.

I know they got sometimes extra funds for birthdays/Christmas and the grandparents may have given them some cash on occassion but they did have to look at the money.

@raspberryk I find that really odd...how and why would a school have a say over teens having a part time job!! It's none of their business to be honest!!

The town where I live has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, and jobseekers and benefit claims are well above the national average. Not sure if it makes a difference. On the whole it's quite a deprived area.
Slightly different area to where I grew up so it's not a direct comparison to when I was a teen and working a Saturday in another close by town in the county.

I went to a strict grammar school and here were rules about how many hours you could work outside school.

Strictly speaking they were guidelines - but of the school felt you were dedicating enough time To your a levels you could be asked to leave.

raspberryk I find that really odd...how and why would a school have a say over teens having a part time job!! It's none of their business to be honest!! confused
It is if it affects your studies and their results tables.

I didn't. I got a part time job at 16 and bought everything from my wages. It taught me a lot about managing my money and has done me well in adult life. I don't even spend £250 per month on myself like some are suggesting and I have no dependents and am on a decent wage!

@raspberryk that is utter bull I'm sorry, schools have way more pressing matters than trying to police a 17 year olds Saturday job!! I would like to see how that would play out...a child has a right to an education. Most teenagers sleep until 2 in the bloody afternoon anyway so what the harm in doing 4 hours good work? They have NO RIGHT to police a child in their free time!!

Dodolallyou clearly have never had the experience of a grammar school.

Pregnant? Goodbye
Grades slipping? You might be better served elsewhere.
Below average gcse results? Not allowed back for a levels.

Letter came home about worrying trend in part time jobs. I can’t remember the max hours - but maybe 8.

Just because you haven’t experienced this doesn’t mean it’s not real😊

@Itwasntme1 no I didn't go to a grammar school...I went to a private school. So I wouldn't have a clue. As for kicking you out for being pregnant, I really don't see the problem if your grades are stable!

Different schools different rules. So I absolutely Believe some schools will police part time jobs.

@dodolallyjust because you've bit experienced it doesn't make it bull. It's quite common. My ex's private school didn't allow part time jobs.
My state school policed them

Blimey. DD got £25 a month from the age of 15 until she started uni. She doesn't have a big social circle or spend ££ socialising to be fair. If she was given a bit extra on days she did go out more, she appreciated it as a gift rather than expecting it as her allowance..

At the end of her A levels she got a part time job, minimum wage for her age. If I'd have given her £250 a month she'd not have got the job. And if she had still got the job she would have had to work a LOT of hours for what others are giving their dc for nothing. Where's the incentive?

She's in uni now (apart from the pandemic obv) and has continued to live frugally while having what she wants, and managed to save £1k each term from her maintenance rather than needing regular handouts from us.

I think the ability to get a job depends on where you live.Apart from the supermarket there is nothing around here and you would need a car for anything else(and I can't afford to pay for driving lessons,a car,petrol and insurance so that my DD can work on a Saturday)

I'm in Wiltshire and my DS14 had to apply for a work permit from the council and have it signed by the school before he could start work.

It is really interesting to read the different experiences. I honestly had no idea such large sums were involved.

Needless to say money in my family was very short when I was a teen. Small ad hoc sums as a young teen, and nothing from 16 when I got a Saturday job in Sainsbury's (£130/month), even better when I defected to Macdonalds (£5/hour!).

Some of my friends had allowances AND Saturday jobs so were very rich by comparison. They were the ones who learnt to drive, got a car bought by their parents and could then ferry the rest of us about .