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?

Mine got £25 a month at 15 then £40 at 16. Dd gets £150 a month now but she's at university so has to buy food

£100 a month for my almost 16yo. She’s applying for every job under the sun now she has her NI number but her birthday isn’t until next month. She’s praying that she finds even a Christmas temp job as her £100 doesn’t go far (I agree with her!).

She is a social kid and is regularly out and about. We live in the sticks so quite a bit goes on bus fares and food when out. She also likes to pick up stuff from Vinted, in addition to the stuff we buy her.

I will slip her an extra £20 here and there over the summer holidays.

I might need to review my 14yo's pocket money - she only gets £5 a week. 🙈

My dd is 14 and very young for her age, I don't give her pocket money as she would go straight to the shop and spend it all on sweets. Instead I buy her robux now and again, and give her money when she goes out with friends, every fortnight or so. I think 20 pw is plenty, I would assume he doesn't go to the cinema/McDonald's every week.

Not where I live! £6.99 for a regular Big Mac meal.

£20 a week is pretty generous. Anymore is crazy. They don’t need to be doing an expensive trip and food out every week. What happened to kids just hanging out?

dd gets £20 a month from us and has a part time job which she earns about £50 a month from. Even without the part time job I wouldn’t be giving her more on a regular basis. I obviously buy her clothes and pay for specific things she wants to do, but they don’t need to doing paid for activities all the time.

Do the need to go to the cinema and mcdonnalds or similar every week? Surely they can hang out with friends for free.

Precisely.

Maybe it's because although we are pretty affluent ourselves we live in a fairly deprived area and lots of ds's friends families struggle to pay their essential bills, they certainly did not have spare cash to be giving their children each week. They considered ds very privileged because I gave him £8 per week.

I think if you only have one DC then £20pw is plenty. We have 3 DDs, not old enough for spends yet but when they are it will probably be £10pw each. We couldnt afford any more than £30pw. But we will also be paying for their phones, clothes, food etc so I think thats more than enough just for social activities. Kids dont go out spending every night, and if they do they'll soon learn they cant afford to do that and will have some budgeting to do. I definitely agree to teach them about money from a young age but il also be encouraging mine to look for PT jobs around 15 like I did. If they want more money for more social activities then they should be earning it

A school trip shouldn't come with conditions. She only gets £5 a week as it is and you'd consider using that towards the shool trip?That would be pretty mean if you cam afford thr trip
As for the park run how does volunteering there relate to paying for a trip? People should volunteer because they want to, it should be used as a tool. For 2 years, my son did a voluntary job but ir was entire his choice. We were proud of him for doing it but when moved on after 2 years we didn't say he had to stay to get his allowance from us!

@Elliebellie87 @Bbq1

I do actually agree with much of what you say.

She gets £20 per month, and she doesn’t spend it. She’s honestly got thousands in the bank which she’s saved. So I don’t want to increase the amount she gets in pocket money, but at the same time I feel its important that she makes a contribution towards this trip (which is not educational, it’s a World Challenge event where they do some volunteering and learn scuba diving or similar). I’d obviously pay the full amount if it were a trip she needed to take as part of her A levels.

And I’d increase her pocket money if she needed more so that she could socialise with her friends. She doesn’t need more, she saves it all. So I won’t be increasing her pocket money.

My dilemma is that its not practical for her to get a part time job. So how else do I get her to make a contribution? If not financially through her pocket money, then what is her ‘pay back’? You’re right that volunteering should be voluntary. I’m going to try to think of a better way to see that she’s earned her place on the trip.

More than reasonable !
I give my 16 year old £25 per month and his dad matches that so it’s £50 per month . I could not afford £20 per week . However , he is autistic , he doesn’t go out alone so it’s not like he’s out with friends etc and if he does do any meet ups with friends I tend to pay . He doesn’t manage money great , most of it is spent on sweets so any more would be a waste.

He has just been awarded PIP so he will be having £170 of that per month to try and encourage him to manage money etc and save , the rest of it he will have technically but it will come back in to the house towards rent , bills etc but I will be giving it to him with a list of what it’s for and ye will be sending it back to me this again is to teach him how to budget etc x

None. He got a Saturday job and pays for his own treats. He gets free bus travel (Scotland) and knows how to look for bargains if he wants something.

We still cover essentials obviously - clothes, shoes, food at home etc. We also pay for his phone. I'll treat him to a MacD's or fancy coffee if we are out together and will sometimes buy snacks if he has friends round. But sometimes he will offer to treat me/get the snacks and I think that's a good thing.

It's really taught him the value of money, knowing that, say, a game is 4-6 hours worth of work etc (just an example).

My 16 year old gets 150 a month and we pay for her phone

Mine gets £25 a month plus we pay for his phone, clothes, toiletries

You didn't say in your original post that she doesn't spend at all and has literally thousands saved. That changes things to a degree. If that's the case, you wouldn't need to reduce her money, just take some of her savings towards trip if thats what you want to do or pay for the trip and tell her spends on her trip will come from her savings?

On £20 a month max.

Looks like the son has a MN account

I think £30 per week is reasonable.

@Elliebellie87 my 2 year old has thousands in the bank. Because I save his child benefit and any money he gets for birthdays/Xmas and from his old clothes and toys that I sell on Vinted.

What is the £15 per week for if he also gets given his PIP to spend and if this is gone you give him money each time he goes out? Sounds like he had an awful lot of spare cash, does he save any?