How expensive is your teen?

[Aliksa]

MN lore says that teens are super expensive.

Maybe I’m just “not there yet” as we haven’t got to driving lessons and whatnot. But my teen dd15 is not that expensive.

She has a few hobbies but the price is same as always. And some school trips have been pricey. We have been lucky on vacations as we’ve managed to choose places where we have two bedrooms without ramping up the cost too much.

She does eat a lot of fresh fruit, and yes that’s very expensive.

But she doesn’t spend a lot on socialising or clothes/makeup/tech.

Am I just lucky, or is it all still to come?

At 16 it would be a good life lesson for your DD to get a p/t job and buy her own stuff. I work with a lot of 6th formers and I hear constant chatter about working, getting overtime, saving up for this and buying that. It’s a good life lesson for them.

Mine aren't hugely into brands etc but do have pretty expensive hobbies and also love socialising

My teenager nearly 15 is pretty cheap apart from lots of fruit / protein. Costs a lot in trainers as feet grow fast. Mens 11 currently and nearly six foot. Cheap hobbies army cadets, cycling, likes to cook, hillwalking, padfleboarding, wild swimming. £10 phone contract. Driving lessons and uni costs still to come.

The only thing my 16yo costs besides the usual housing, food, etc.. is his weekly travel (£17), occasional clothing and shoes, a monthly haircut (£20), his gym membership (£34/mo) and £5-10 pocket money per week depending on whether he’s done his chores. So not a whole lot.

The main expense for my teens was horse riding and climbing. they weren't interested in clothes, fashion, make up etc. We were always happy to pay for sporty outdoors stuff, but were quite glad when they grew out of the riding as the lessons were really expensive!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5260121-how-much-does-your-teen-cost?page=1

Another thread here. Seems there is a huge range.

It’s great if they aren’t into fashion. One of my workmates asked me what I was buying my DC for Christmas last year then told me their DC wanted a Moncler coat. I thought it was their 18th or something, then she told me her DD was 12 😮

Mine is really cheap. She is up for 99p buy it now on eBay 😂.

Mine are 14 and 15, nearly 16. Eldest is expensive in that she's just finished school. So 6th form clothes, socialising, transport, post exam holiday to France with friends, Prom... I've easily spent an extra £1000 more on her than my youngest this year.

I'm very much looking forward to her getting a part time job!

But it's most definitely driving that will push costs up. Learning is expensive, provisional Insurance isn't too bad, but the insurance when they pass is absolutely horrendous.
Then uni! I work with a lot of parents to 17-25 year olds so hear a lot.

I also pay
£120 a month for a specialist dyslexia tutor for dd
£80/month for a science tutor (my son finds the lessons at school too easy and likes to be stretched)
£80/month maths tutor for other DS who mucked around for a couple of years and is now playing catch up

Oh and at least one of them is likely to need expensive orthodontics

15: £400 a term for dance/drama.
About to start costing £45 a week to get to college.

13: £100 a term extra curriculars.

Neither fussed on clothes. Food bills moderate.

Mine might be too if she doesn't tidy her room soon

DD's 13 only hobby is horse riding and she's in Pony Club so competes egc. It is insanely expensive.
Clothes not so much and she buys "dupes" of make up etc. However she has been in adult sized clothes for 2 years so that's ££.
Braces = 2K as had been waiting on NHS for 18 months with still another 12 month wait to go
She never really asks for much so we probably buy her more precisely because she never asks
Food = v. expensive as she is a pescatarian so trying to get enough protein etc into her is ££ plus the endless bloody snacks now she's on school holidays!
School trips: approx £500 per year
Saved up for driving lessons already as we live rurally so it's an essential that she learns to drive.
Once GCSEs are over she will have to get a part time job.

My 16 year old has recently given up some ‘after school’ activities so cost has gone for those.
she’s into Vinted, they all are. So that’s good!
she gets £20 a month pocket money.

I buy them the odd things, when we go into the city. I will treat them to something. This is like once every 3/4 months.

They eat healthily. But we all do.

Laughing nicely at your wholesome teen where the only extra cost is fresh fruit!

DS had a sports hobby but it was local and not too expensive. He was not in to designer gear and he had a paper round at 13 for 3 years and then worked as a kitchen porter in a pub during sixth form. He had 12 driving lessons which we paid for and passed first time so I was delighted with that. He then got a place on a degree apprenticeship which meant no tuition fees and he also lived at home and had a decent wage of 34k. He has just received his final results and he got a first class with honours and has a job with the people that sponsored him. His wages are about to go up to close to 40k which is very good for someone that young.

Added that he does eat a lot of food, we eat mainly Chinese food with some English food as DH is English. But it means it’s lots of veg and rice with some meat and fish, I buy food in bulk to keep costs down.

Horrendous - begged for tickets to a very expensive international sports event. Flights, tickets and hotels cost 1000’s and now doesn’t want to go cause they’ve realised they’ll need to get up early to fly 😑

They started eating adult-sized portions in their teens and there were a few years where they ate so much food it was astounding. Clothes weren't too bad and holidays were no different. When they hit 18 they went to Uni and we paid £6k+ a year to subsidise their loans. Now that was expensive!

I have 3 teens currently. All very sport (think almost pro athletes level of activity), very tall and skinny. They eat like locusts. 12 eggs and a loaf of bread can go in one day. we worked out they need to eat 11,000 calories between them due to their age, height and exercise level. That's 6 times what I eat. So it's like having 8 adults to feed every fecking day.

They also go through shoes especially trainers very fast and are all ridiculous sizes (13,12 and 9) so hard to find cheap ones.

Their activities are expensive. They do chip in and all work but still a cost.

On holiday it's like taking 5 adults (then 8 for the food!).

They will come on cheap family activities (walking in the hills) but do love going to watch sport or cinema etc. We tend to pay but obviously all adult prices apart from the 15 year old. Meals out are crazy so we rarely go.

The cost escalates behind anything when uni starts 😭

I have more than one teenager and get are all so different.

The dermatologist cost €150 on Saturday and doctor cost €200 yesterday. Medicine €50. So €400 in 3 days. That’s unusual but also these big bills just appear and need to be paid.

Gym costs €600.
There are no part time jobs here. Driving lessons have not started yet.
Clothes and food very expensive too. Uniforms are expensive to replace.
€80 per week on maths lessons.

No childcare bills though like young children, but I am still losing sleep 😂It’s hard in different ways at every age I think.

It's not pocket money, extracurriculars or clothes here either. It's a big enough house, holidays that suit us all, fresh fruit/protein as she's sporty, haircuts at £35 every 6 weeks - and I am aware that that's cheap!... All while still not being able to work quite full time as she needs a lot of emotional and practical support (she is high-masking autistic).

Thanks to Covid DD's riding hobby stopped and never really re-started. But the costs would have been the same, similar to other hobbies she still does.

She moved into adult size clothing by 12, luckily she isn't into brands or following any big fashion trends. We bought more expensive 6th form clothes (business smart dresscode) but most lasted the full 2 years and some tops she also wore outside school when she needed to dress up a bit.

She got decent pocket money for all her make up, socialising and fandom (big Swiftie) but she also learned to save.

I know plenty who have a p/t job, but for a variety of reasons a job wasn't right for DD.
In our area it's very much word of mouth for under 18th and we have a large college who compete with the 6th formers.

But what can rise costs are school trips - again, thanks to Covid, DD actually missed out on 3, so we saved money as even a 4 day trip in Europe is now £1K easily.

Costs ramped up at 6th form age where we had to pay for the bus to college at £80 per month. also the right trainers and bag and new clothes as school uniform no longer needed.
Driving lessons which were about £100 per month, along with insurance on my car at £90 if I remember right, then bought a car for her which was about £6k and insurance on that, paid for 3 driving tests and when she passed it meant she could drive to college which was great but we couldn’t cancel the bus contract !
then…..university for an amazing opportunity at a career specific university in
London so had to go there, so bought all of the clothes, kettle, air fryer, new bedding, pans etc etc which was ££££, the accommodation to live in London is 1k per month and as we don’t drive her there and back at start and end of term because it’s London we contribute to the train tickets about £40 each half term.
whilst still paying for the car which sits on the drive as she uses it when home from uni to get to work etc.
she is DD2 but DD1 didn’t learn to drive due to Covid and went to a normal uni with slightly less expensive accommodation, but was still about £600 per month and for one year we had both of them to pay for!
we also pay for their phone contracts and tech needed for uni eg phones and laptops.
i know we are extremely fortunate to be able to financially provide for our children and we prioritise this, and our children are very grateful for their opportunities and know how lucky they are to be able to pursue their chosen careers with our support, so I don’t begrudge it, but the costs of 16/17+ teenagers are eye watering and need a significant amount of financial planning for.

My 14 year old DD plays volleyball which costs me about 500 euros a year.
I pay her 25 euros a month pocket money.
Her shoe size hasn't changed in ages so shoe costs aren't high. Clothes are maybe a couple hundred a year but I don't think she's going to grow much more so won't need to replace outgrown clothes.

School trips are rare and nothing too expensive, the most expensive was about 50 euros. They don't do fancy trips in her school but in 9th grade she will be doing a German exchange but no idea what that will cost, schools aren't really supposed to charge for trips here.

When she goes on days/weekends out with friends I bung her an extra 20 euros.

She really isn't that expensive at all, its probably all covered by child benefit, her disability benefit and her orphan pension so I treat her quite a bit when we go out for a day out together.

I'm on my third teenager (boy) and my daughter isn't far off. None have been as expensive as small children! They eat more, but that's about it. No more childcare, uniform costs are gone or greatly reduced, they've dropped hobbies as they've got older - though DD still does Scouts and horse riding.

We give DS2 (13) and DD (11) £25 a month pocket money each - they can save/spend as they wish but both usually save a good amount. They can then make big purchases themselves, frequently.

DS1 (17) has a job alongside college so basically self funds these days. We, of course, will cover any needs he has but he largely refuses our paying for things now and goes out and sorts himself.

I've loved having teens - best age so far. Though I do sometimes miss the toddler snuggles.