How much pocket money for 15 year old?

[Simionfab191]

DS is 15. We're thinking £20 per week on the understanding that homework is complete, room is kept tidy and bins are put out. This is to cover food when out with friends/girlfriend, cinema trips and to allow him to save for any particular clothes or video games he wants. We'll still buy his basic items.

Does this sound reasonable?

Not pocket money as such, but my 15yo gets £10 in his bank each week for random ebay or xbox purchases. I kind of have an open purse policy in my home with my dc, where they just help themselves out of my purse if they need money, the rule is they tell me when they take money. My mum thinks this is awful, but they are good kids, both teenagers, not frivolous, help on the farm and in the home a lot, so I see my money as family money.

My 15 year old only gets £8 a month but I would give her money to go out friends and buy everything she needs including school food so she doesn't seem to want or need more. My 17 year old gets £32 a month which includes buying lunch two days a week. She burns through it but also earns money by working too. My 13 year old has a paper round to supplement his £8 a month.

my 13year old DD and 15 year DS get £5 a week each

What about the future though? Learning to budget is important as is understand you can't just help yourself from somebody else's purse. I'm with your mum on this. Why not set up a purse/wallet for each of them and give them money each week/whenever? As teens they should have their own purses etc.

There aren't any jobs available here for 15 year old, paper rounds are like hens teeth.

We only have 1 child so we can manage £20 per week.

14 year old DD gets £20 a month from us and usually £20 a month from her grandmas.

I give her extra money for food/drink if she meets friends in town, buy her basic necessary toiletries, her clothes, and we pay £25 a month for her phone.

Thanks for all your replies.

Those of you who mentioned budgeting are right. This is a big part of it, learning what to spend and what to save for big ticket items. I think £20 a week will allow him to do that with Christmas and birthday money to manage as well as the £10 here and there off grandparents.

£20 is fair i think

What a depressing view of teenagers!

Wow Id love to be the kid of some people on here. Who has a spare 80/90/120 per month to give to their child?
I give my 17 year old 60 per month. I pay for his bus pass and his phone contract and all his clothes/toiletries etc. He knows thats all hes having and rarely runs out. And if he does he just waits til next payment.
With regards to a job, its just not that easy. You are looking at zero hours contracts at KFC etc or retail working every spare hour you have, just not practical.

It depends completely on where you live and what sort of socioeconomic group you are in/mix with. If you've brought your dc up in an expensive area and all their friends get 30 then giving them 10 is just mean. It's not their fault you live the life you do. You have to expect to ensure they are on par with at average kid in your area

Ours get £10 a week. The 16yr old works one day a week in a cafe for about £8.50 an hour. I pay for phone, and most clothes/shoes/toiletries etc.

Ds just 18 (last month). He is at college and trying to get a little job. We give him £60 pw between us and my mum gives him £25 pw so £340 pm. He's expected to buy 3 lunches a week from it and pay his monthly gym, £50. Also expected to pay for rehearsal rooms for his band out of that and social stuff with friends. We pay for travel, clothes, toiletries and tickets to events we are also going to with ds. Dad pays phone, i pay guitar lessons. Teenagers are expensive but we can only do it because we only have one dc

My 15 year old gets £30 a month plus gym membership and his phone.

DS2 who is 13 gets £100 a month which seems enough for his occasional cinema and milkshake habit

DS1 is 15 and gets £25pm to his bank and £25 goes to an easy access savings for him that he can’t see (it’s in his name). He chose this as he knows he’d dip into it a lot if he had access himself. We also pay his SIM (£15) and cover all clothes, shoes, protein powder etc, so it’s just for his spends.

Interesting that you’ve asked though as I was wondering recently if it’s enough. He’s beginning to go out a lot more with friends and his savings have dwindled quite quickly! I was considering giving him £50 and saving the £25 still on the quiet when he turns 16 next year. Or maybe just a straight £100 and let him pay the phone and manage the rest. I’m conscious of the budgeting lesson(s) he needs to learn!

He’s tried really hard to get a job but it’s near impossible for them these days before they’re 16. He is a spring baby so he turns 16 right before GCSEs and I’d rather he just waited til he leaves school at this point now I think.

Mine gets £50 pm plus phone and school lunch money. We pay for basic clothes, with special branded items for Christmas or birthdays.
£30 per week but seems far too much. Older DC at university wouldn't have this much disposable income without their part-time jobs. If he wants cinema tickets every week I'd be giving an annual pass for their birthday.

My 15 year old gets £8 a week on GoHenry. It’s enough, as she doesn’t go out much, if she needed it we would supplement it. She has no travel costs regularly, we pay for all the clothes she needs, haircuts, hobbies, extra if she buys lunch at school instead of a packed lunch (PE day), phone. So it’s just for going out with friends, a bit of makeup etc and she saves in it too. She also get’s birthday money from relatives.

Thank god for this post! My two get the same.
We couldn't actually afford 20quid a week each. Me and OH would be made up with £160 a month 'spends' Imagine!

The kids 20mth/5wk covers any tat, sweets, junk they want. if they want something costing more, art/craft stuff, maccies, cinema etc they know that those are not weekly occurrences and to save for a few weeks. Usually happy with £1 bakery or Aldi biscuits.
They occasionally get £10 pocket money from grandparents.
They can earn a bit more from us every now and again doing 'yard work' and windows, stuff we might potentially out-source we offer kids first dibs for payment, they usually jump at the chance. we get the windows and car washed this way ;)

We pay for £5 each phones contract and we're walking distance from most stuff so bus fares not needed.
Toiletries in the main family shop, most basic snacks covered also.
Games at xmas and birthdays, unless they save or pool funds.
Scouts is paid for for one so we buy any art stuff for the other who has no paid for hobby/activity.

We and hopefully they do not feel hard done by with this amount. I'm not sure if we were wealthier we'd give them very much more.

We used to give £30 a week until she managed to get a job ( no where near me would take on a under 16 ) she works 12 hrs a week at w supermarket and has nearly £600 a month, so saves half spends half ( she pays her own petrol etc but we pay her car insurance, phone bill)

15 years old should have jobs, not pocket money.

I completely disagree with this. Life isn't fair and teens should know that.

My dd get £40 a month
Her phone is paid for £20
So £60 a month in total, but she buys her own clothes out of that (except school stuff) I provide basic shampoos and conditioner etc so if she wants something fancy she buys it.

DS gets a base of £20 per month with the opportunity to earn more either by working for me or doing extra jobs at home like washing the car. He has an unlimited bus pass for the county and everything he needs is bought for him. The only thing he tends to buy when out is food but if he's run out of money he just eats before he goes.

Until they are 16 it’s very difficult - There are very few places that will employ a 15 yr old.