To ask what you give/or not in terms of pocket money?

[Lilacroses]

Dd is nearly 11. When she is older we plan to give her a sort of allowance so that she can get used to managing money (treats, comics, milkshakes) but now, while she is still in primary school we are not sure what to give in terms of amount and wondered what you do. Also, do you give pocket money dependent upon chores/music practice etc?

[chocolate140]

My 14 year old DD gets £30 a month to spend on trips out with friends, junk food, clothes (or whatever crap items teenagers like to buy) Once every season we go shopping and buy clothes, any other clothes she wants after that have to come out of her allowance. I pay for her phone contract.

She is still expected to keep her room fairly tidy, load/unload the dishwasher, clean up after herself. However if she were to clean the whole house properly she might get £30-40 extra. I expect that when she turns 15 she will receive maybe £45 a month.

[stealthsquiggle]

My DC are 10 and 6. At the moment they both get £1 a week - no conditions, except that they need to remember to ask for it. They don't always remember .

It's basically for things we don't want to fund and that they don't need - so the acid test of "well if you really want xyz you can get it with your money" is applied. They never have money with them when we go out (DD's would burn a hole in her pocket if she did) so it's generally us paying and them paying us back as soon as we get home. DD is more inclined to spend than DS, though.

DH did pay DS for 3 days hard labour as a builder's mate last summer (DH was doing the demolition/clear out before builders started on our bathroom, so DS did work hard). He earned £50, and we gave it to him as a £50 note. If it had been in smaller denominations it would have been spent by now, but because it is a single £50 note any prospective purchase has to be weighed against giving that up - and so far nothing has passed that test

[MRSJWRTWR]

DS1 (14) gets £30 per month paid into his bank account. He pays for his Xbox live subscription which is about £5 a month and then for all social activities and 'stuff' he wants. I still buy his clothes, toiletries, school bits and pieces etc. He also gets £5 per week cash from his Grandad. He is quite good with his money and saves up for things he really wants (he bought himself an electric remote control car last month for £180). Has never spent it all and asked for more.

DS2 (7) gets £2.50 per week from his Grandad which goes into his purse and sits and sits there accumulating until we are in town for one thing or another and he enjoys spending some of it. I don't give him pocket money but sometimes, very rarely, there is something he asks for like a Skylander figure he is after or a DVD he sees and I will get it for him.

[flipchart]

DS2 is 13 and he gets £20 a week. His older brother got the same and we have only just stopped now that he is working.
He started getting this amount at 12 and before tthat we didn't bother with pocket money for him, just gave him cash when he needed it.

We pay for his phone and subs to Ice hockey (plus kit, games etc!!) and scouts
He uses family toiletries.

We also pay for the extra holidays ( scouts trip to Switzerland for skiing etc)

I have expected the boys to do stuff around the house since they were toddlers!!!!

[pyrrah]

beastofburden - totally agree... what the heck does a 5 year-old do with £5 a week!

Even more mad, one of DD's school friends got a mobile with monthly credit for her FOURTH birthday. I was a bit about that idea (she doesn't have separated parents or anything like that.)

[minidipper]

DC got £3 a week at primary and that went up to £5 when starting secondary. Grandparents give them £2 when they see them which is about once a month and the tooth fairy forks out loads too.

They have to buy most of their magazines with that, though DH is a soft touch and endlessly treats them to expensive computer or music magazines that I'd make them save up for.

Really like the idea of giving them a Christmas budget. Will do that this year.

[whodunnit]

Aagh DD2 gets £52 per month !! I am not so mean and unfair! I just have a dodgy keyboard!

[whodunnit]

DD1 (15)gets £70 per month
DD2 (12) gets £2 per month
DD3 (7) gets 75p per week

we worked out the monthly pay for eldest two based on them buying birthday & xmas presents, and paying for their own aerobics classes plus a snack after, plus £3 and £5 per week on themselves. They babysit for me in return for phone credits, and can spend their money as they wish, but would have problems if they run out. Has not happened so far. Extra cash for jobs is available but never taken up. Works great for me inthat I pay out once per month not three times per week at every activity. If they blow their money and have none left fo presents, then they will have to make them or be imaginative. We shall see how that works at Christmas! I also like the fact that they get paid on my payday whatever day it falls on, and so sometimes it is a long month. Welcome to reality, DDs!

[cammocklass]

DD1 who is 16 gets £15 a month. We started this when she was 14 and it is paid into an account that she has a debit card for. She loves clothes etc as most teenagers do and has a regular weekly job to top the amount up. DD2 gets £2.50 a week and will also get £15 when she is 14. DS, 9 gets £1.50 and often fills the log basket. DD1 and DD2 have mobiles which I pay for-£10/month pay as you go. They do have to do regular jobs around the house and I will pay them for doing things like filling the log basket, cleaning the car. They all do jobs for their grandparents-waitressing at parties, painting garden benches etc which they are paid for, much more generously than I pay them.

[Wuldric]

DD (15) gets a phone contract (approx £30) and an allowance of £75. We pay for all hobbies, music lessons and clothes on top. She is currently angling for a clothes allowance but it ain't gonna happen.

DS (13) gets a phone contract (approx £30) and an allowance of £50. We also pay for his travel card (£50 a month). Again, we pay for all hobbies, music lessons and clothes on top.

None of the above is conditional upon doing chores. They are expected to help and nowadays they mostly do help. Without (much) yelling on my part.

[MeAndMySpoon]

DS1 (5) gets £1 a week (when we remember!) and is very good at hoarding it in his money box and then buying something substantial every so often, like an Octonaut toy. Theoretically he gets 50p base rate and 50p as a bonus for doing certain things, like making his bed, getting his clothes on quickly and without moaning, carrying plates to the kitchen after meals, and so on. We've only had to call him on it a couple of times. I do buy him stuff a lot though - lego minifigures come from me rather than pocket money but that's because I have rather a sad thing about them. I also let him get about 75p's worth of pick'n'mix on Saturdays in addition to pocket money, but only if we're in town. I think it's helping him save and calculate money, but I think the model whereby 10% is for charity, 30% for savings etc is a lot better. All the same, I do balk at giving my 5 yo £5 a week...

[olibeansmummy]

Ds is 4 and started school last week so we said he was now 'big enough for pocket money'. He gets £2 a week to spend on what he likes, so far he hasn't spent anything though.

[Bodicea]

We used to have a little chart with jobs on it that we ticked each day to earn our pocket money. Feed the dogs 10p, take them for a walk 30p, empty dishwasher 20p, Hoover the house 80p. I cant rember exactly how muh but it was something along this lines. Obviously it should be a bit more now due to inflation but I think it was good for me that I didn't just get handed money for nothing. If I wanted more money for something I did more jobs and my mum got a cleaner house! So everyone was a winner.

[comingintomyown]

lilacroses the kinds of jobs are ironing, empty the dishwasher , hang out /put away washing, clean inside my car, clean the toilet, water the pots or anything else I cant face and think I can get away with !!!

I should add they never got any pocket money until they were 12 and 14 respectively but I have always tried to get them to bit and bobs that were age appropriate.

I went for a high amount because then we all know where we are and actually if you tot up a couple of quid for lunch in town, a trip to the cinema etc it adds up. In the holidays £80 isnt especially generous but in term time it is and I have pointed out they can save for time off school.

Now they are 14 and 16 respectively I am saying your allowance is separate from chores and you do those because thats the real world and I cant cope on my own not just to get money.

They have picked up lots of things like DS will say Why would I spend £5 at Kentucky for lunch when I can eat at home for free and DD who set up an Amazon account has discovered what we all know about too much Amazon browsing...

[shameaboutray]

DS is 14 and gets £30 a month, but that's partly as I receive DLA for him and a lot of extra tax credits, so it seems fair enough that he should get some of it directly. Plus he'll get his DLA in his name independently when he's 16 so he needs to learn to manage his own expenses. He rarely spends it, only on occasional sweets and games.

It's not linked to chores as he's gradually learning life skills through home and school. Typical reward schemes have never worked for him so it wouldn't make sense to link the two.

[78bunion]

It depends on the income level of the family too. What is mean in one family is not in another. Mine received from me £100 a week at university on top of fees paid and rent paid but that simply reflects what I happen to earn (which is a fair amount) and amounted to less than school fees had been.

[pokesandprodsforthelasttime]

My 6 year old gets £3 a week

[gingysmummy]

my ds age 7 gets £20 a month he has to earn it thought and buy all his toys, sweets, mags etc out of it,it may seem a lot but when i was calculation what he was getting for treats when we nipped to shops it works out a hell off a lot cheaper,plus it teaches him to save for e.g a game or holidays.He also treated me to a ice cream yesterday which was v lovely off him.plus it won't be going up for good few years

[Jux]

DD is 14 and we give £5 a week, not dependent upon chores. Her mobile is on contract, and because I have been a very long term customer it has been given a discount so costs me £5 a month for unlimited texts and more minutes than she is likely to ever use (while she's at school, anyway. I may have to review this in a year or so though!). I am considering opening a bank account and putting her pocket money in there once a month though, so she can learn to budget.

We do give her extra spending money when we are on holiday.

[GooseyLoosey]

The dcs (9 and 10) get £10pm in a Halifax account for which they can have a cash card. This was to get them used to Banking.

They also get £100per year in the same account which they are obliged to save.

[snowlie]

We give our dcs (10) £2 a week, it accumulates on a spreadsheet rather than as physical cash or in a bank account. They save all their money like this including birthday money etc. Mostly they use the money to buy things we won't buy them like extra sweets, toys, frivolous clothing or a taxi home when we are insisting on walking.

They are really good at saving for things they want, we don't give money for chores as we feel that is their contribution to the household and learning to look after themselves, we will however deduct money for very poor behaviour.

[soimpressed]

DS is 8 and gets 50p a week. He can get extra for doing chores and I've offered a pay rise if he does basic tasks like get his bag ready for school and keep his room tidy. It seems he doesn't need the money that badly!

When I was 13 my parents gave me extra pocket money but expected me to pay for everything except school uniform and school shoes. It was a disaster as I bought clothes and shoes in jumble sales, saved money by never eating lunch at school, stole money and hitchhiked everywhere. I spent all my pocket money going to see bands and buying music.

[MadeOfStarDust]

My DDs are 11 and 12 and get £5 a week each - they can spend it how they like - but do not get any extra for sweets/milkshakes etc when in town. They do get £10 paid on to their payg phone - anything extra comes from the allowance..

We pay for days out - like the cinema/swimming etc.

Again - we do not link to chores/ music practise etc as we expect a certain amount to be done anyhow...

[duckyfuzz]

DTDs are 10 in DEc, we give £2.50 a week cash and pay £10 a month into a savings account which they can access. Not related to chores etc. We give a bit extra for hols, they use their own to buy each other a Christmas present, don't currently buy for friends at Christmas but not doubt this will soon change!