Teenagers renegotiating allowance.

[StrumpersPlunkett]

I am aware there will be variation but we have been on £1 a year each month.
So aged £12 it was £12 per month.
Apparently this is not the going rate.
We can afford more but just don’t want to spend more than we need to

My 2 get £25 per month direct into the bank. They are 14 and 17

They both get the same? No inflation for age?
I feel v tight now!

My 16 year old gets £10 per week, but I pay for most of her clothes.

Yeah they both get the same. They hardly spend any of it anyway

Mine gets 50 a month
Age 16
At the moment not much to spend it on

Depends what it’s intended for. The range is between a few sweets each week all the way to phone,clothes, toiletries, entertainment being the child’s full responsibility.

So I’d start from considering what it is you expect the pocket money to cover then assess a realistic budget for that. Plus perhaps some defined tasks that can be done to earn more if required

What does the £40/40 cover. Do they pay for phone/clothes or do you?

At the moment we cover phone clothes toiletries train tickets

Depends what it's used for. My DC get £40 a month but that's expected to cover buying presents, socialising, going out for McDonalds/coffee and also if they want to buy something that is above the basic version of an item provided by us. Mind you, they've built up a hefty surplus over lockdown with limited options to spend it. We also pay for their phones

My DD used to get £5 a week when she was at secondary school. Increased to £25 a month on 6th form - mobile phone paid for by me.

DS (17) gets £35 a week - he has to buy his lunches at college out of that.

It leaves him with £10 to £15 a week for himself. We would bung him a bit extra in non-covid times if he was going to the cinema and then Nando's with friends, for example.

We buy his toiletries, clothes and trainers (within reason), and pay for his phone.

The £1 per year of age per month is pretty generous if also paying clothes phone and travel.

I think it depends

• what you expect them to spend it on
• how much independent socialising they do.

So do you expect them to buy family Christmas and birthday presents? Who pays for their phones? Do they go to McDonalds / Cinema / Cafe with friends? Do they need to pay bus fares into town?

I've heard of £1 per year of age, but per week, surely, not per month. Otherwise a 12 yr old is getting only £2 something a week, and a 16 year old less than £4.

Ours currently get £50 pm (15) and £75 pm (16). Revised annually on birthdays, jumps up more at some points than others. That's probably average to low compared to their friends, but we pay for everything they need, where as some have to pay for phone/clothes/toiletries etc out of their allowance.

Mine got £40 a month from 12-16 then £60 from 16-18 then £120 throughout university (to cover food, loan top up is from trusts that has circa £12k in it each)

@mrsm43s if you pay for everything they need, what are they spending that (very generous!) allowance?

If mine ever wanted a raise we would make them write a business case (and invarably give it anyway). It made them think about why and justify it.

DS got £25 a month at 13. I increased it to £50 when he was 16 on the understanding he also got a part time job.

I definitely recommend getting them to set out their arguments though, with pros and cons, what they will give in return for said increase, and options - teaches good skills that will be useful as they get older.

Mine (15) gets nothing. I pay for his phone.

He is perfectly aware that he can earn £10 a week for unloading the dishwasher every night, not leaving dirty plates all over his room and spending 30 mins on a Saturday morning shoving a hoover around the upstairs for me.

He chooses to do absolutely nothing. So I don't give out money.

Mine get GBP40 a month (going up to GBP50 as from next month) and they’re 17 and 18. BUT, they do a LOT at home for that. EG dog walking, feeding, training, small pet care and cleaning, cleaning own rooms and bathroom, cooking meals for the family at the weekend, random stuff like hoovering and dishwasher as and when I’m too busy, bit of ‘labouring’ in the garden if I need help, bit of garden maintenance like weeding, mowing etc., driving to the supermarket or pharmacy. Basically, they chip in whenever asked and lots of times without being asked. I pay for their school, travel (though I’m driving them atm due to very reduced bus service rurally), essential toiletries and their phones. They pay for their ‘luxury’ toiletries, make up, clothes and going out (not that they can atm). All that is heavily subsidised by the fact that every birthday and Christmas present from everyone in our family is Cold Hard Cash

I got £2 a week when I was younger!! I am 34 now though...

My 13yo gets £10/week but I still pay for everything she needs. It just means she doesn't have to constantly ask me for money and she can save for something she wants that I wouldn't ordinarily buy her on a day to day basis (like records or endless rubbish from Amazon)

That should be school travel, not school, travel. Tsk. Bit like Let’s eat Granma........

That seems really low to me. We do 1€ per year in school a week, with there being 4 weeks a month. So 1€x school year x 4 deposited monthly. So my year 12 DC gets €48/ month.

This is purely disposable. We pay for phone, basic clothes, toiletries, school lunches, bus pass etc. They can use it for extra designer clothes, extra apps on their phones, extra tech gear, extra outings with friends (pre Covid).

Generally when it comes to clothes, from age 15 or so, we agree on a list of what they need...ie x shirts, x trousers, x shoes etc and then give them a lump sum each season (autumn/winter, spring, summer). They then budget it and buy what clothes they select themselves.

My y11 gets £15. it should be £25 but lockdown and other things we haven't upped it.
When she starts college I expect it to be £25 plus £50+ 'college money' which is an estimate of food and other college expenses.
(Split like that because if college is dropped out of then the £50 would go.)
If she wants to buy own clothes then there would be extra on top to cover that too. (But DD hates shopping for clothes so I suspect not.)