To think £5 a week is enough pocket money?

[Childrenofthestones]

12 and 15 yr olds.
We pay everything else, phone contracts, bus fares when they go out with friends, treats etc. They do no chores for this.
Is this enough?
I guess I am asking is what is the going rate?

Teens can only have £20 per week if their family have that to spare. Bills and food have to come first. Young teens cannot get work as easily as they used to.

I think that short lived EMA was a fantastic thing for rural teens from less well off homes. Lots of families with teenagers really struggle. They might want to give but can't.

Not saying this is the OP situation.

It depends what you mean by treats etc?

It's fine for the 12yo it's what my 12yo has bit the 15yo will surely be doing more?

Surely it depends what they are expected to pay for with it?

My 12 and 14 year olds get an allowance of 20 and 30 euros a month respectively (the equivalent of £3.50 and £5 pounds a week). This to cover discretionary spending like magazines, makeup, clothes that they want but don't really need, etc.

The 14 year old is a weekly boarder and she also gets 10 euros (£7) a week living expenses, so she can go out for a coffee or a sandwich occasionally (school food dreadful for veggies apparently) and buy stationery or a book for school if she needs it.

Not enough.

You can't learn to budget and make plans about your money with just £5 a week.

If you feel that you are spending too much in total on them, up the pocket money and reduce the number of things that you just pay for.

Make sure you TELL them, of course.

e.g. "Your pocket money is now £15 a week. but any time you want to go out with your friends you are paying the bus fare and buying your own snacks".

My 12 yr old gets £5 a month

We pay for school dinners, clothes, toiletries. They save up to buy books (pocket & birthday money). They don't buy magazines or snacks en route to school etc. We pay for their (occasional) trips to town or cinema.

We gave them a choice to have pocket money like this or a larger monthly allowance from which they would have to budget and pay for more of their things. They chose this way, but I'm sure things will change as they get older and socialise more or want to buy their own things.

The only thing I know for sure is that it will get more expensive!

I was the same Toughasoldboots. My parents weren't stingy but I was never given cash - it was always 'I want to go to the cinema' and given just enough money to get a cinema ticket.

With the result that I was terrible with money later!

a 15 year old cannot have any kind of social life with a fiver.

It's enough for the 12 year old if the 15 yo wants more can they get a paper Round or babysitting job? 5is probably not enough but I would give more and pay for less so they can learn to budget.
Think I used to get 10 a week from mum plus 1 or 2 from grandma then babysitting money which j did most weekends but that paid for all social life including bus fares phone and toiletries plus some clothes. 15 years ago.

DD gets a fiver a week - no chores etc, we pay for everything. I am just setting up a bank account for her for which she will have a debit/cash card. As yet DH and I have not agreed how much should be transferred into the account for her.

My kids are small so no personal experience but £5 in cash really doesn't go very far these days. If you don't have it, you don't have it though.

Perhaps it is worth taking it from another perspective and treat them more as young adults? Why not sit them down and say "we've been thinking about your allowances and what it buys you, but also all the "hidden" allowance that you probably don't take into account when you complain about £20 a month"

You could trial for a month or two calculating the actual total cost of their allowances in terms of bus fares, "taxis" to friends homes [in petrol terms], clothing, mobile phone costs etc. Then tot it up. After that, they can either have the lot as a pot at the beginning of the month or stick with the current arrangement.

Money for chores you would otherwise outsource is an obvious solution - you can take a car to a car wash and have a small army of unfortunate people wash it, hoover it and dry it for £10 in London. It's a good solid hours work for one person though and my god you would think twice about spending it on tat and picture text messages .

A friend gives his teens their pocket money on a Monday morning before school. There's a bedroom inspection [they live with their Mum Mon-Fri] and if it's not up to scratch when he's heading out the door at 6.30am, there's no cash.

Oh I'm going to fully exploite mine when old enough! It costs £12 for 5 shirts to be ironed here at a shop, so I reckon I can offer mine £5 each to do the Same job if they want extra!

okay we give ours (13 & 14 3/4) 10 per month, but buy smellies and pay £7.50 for their phones

they also both have a small paperround which gets them 20 per month and eldest has a w/end job.

youngest will have w/end job next year.

i do feel they need to understand the value of money.....

i don't think a few hours a week effects their schooling eldest has all A/A* for GCSE and youngest is towards the top in set one.

We gave the boys £20 a week from their 13th birthday.

We still paid for mobile phone contracts, toiletries, most clothes etc. We paid for match, gig, cinema and theatre tickets when they come with us but they pay their own when they go without us. I don't expect them to do a set amount of chores but do things as we go along. eg, they would get the wash on, pick some shopping up, hoover up. Most times they had to be prompted but things like sorting the washing and stripping their beds they did on their own accord.

My 15 year old son gets £15 a week. For that he must do the dishwasher twice a day ( more if needed), bring his own washing down and take clean upstairs and put it away, shampoos the stair carpet once every week or two and have a shower every night. He can earn extra money by cutting the grass, cleaning the car out, mopping the floors etc and it works great for us. My 11 year old gets nothing and neither does my 7 year old. They also have no real responsibilities but now my 11 year old is in seniors thats likely to change soon.

My boys are 14 & 16. They get £100 per month and we pay for their phones (capped) and school lunches. Toiletries are part of the regular shopping, it never occurred to have them buy their own.

They're expected to do chores and keep their school work/marks to a certain standard.

my dd who's 11 and just started secondary school now gets £50 a month BUT that has to cover phone credit (and phone if she breaks it or wants a new one before xmas/birthday!), socialising with friends, all clothes (except school uniform), shoes etc, make up when she gets into that etc. We basically now pay for her essential items and everything else is down to her. I hope to think it will teach her how to budget, save, and just manage money responsibly.

It's what I gave mine at that age. Certainly for DD2 it was not enough. She has a busy social life and was constantly asking for money. She is in college now. She gets £20 a week to pay for stuff herself and is budgeting well. It's a lot less stressy all round.

should add we also make them do chores etc to pay for half of any school/guide/scout trips.

Teens can only have £20 per week if their family have that to spare. Bills and food have to come first. Young teens cannot get work as easily as they used to.

yes but £20 a week is the rate of child benefit for the first child, £13 for subsequent children. you are basically giving your children their child benefit to support themselves. it is money designed to support them afterall.

My boys are 14 & 16. They get £100 per month and we pay for their phones (capped) and school lunches. Toiletries are part of the regular shopping, it never occurred to have them buy their own.

I will buy my dd our normal shampoo/conditioner/bodywash/toothpaste and deodorant and sanitary products when it comes to that but if she wants anything fancy, nice perfumes, hair products etc then she will have to fund them herself.

Notaprincess, you are presuming everyone gets child benefit.

I really think a fiver isnt enough, especially for the fifteen year old. That'll just about pay for a drink in costa. I get that u don't want her wasting money, but do u want her to be the Odd one out amongst her mates? If you can afford it, 10-20 a week's better I think. Although if you do up her pocket money, I would tie it to chores and give extra responsibility. Nothing strenuous, just taking the bins out now and then, making tea onde a week. Having more money will give her budgeting skills and also a bit more independence. Consider buying toiletries, school trips etc, but anything she wants like day out with mates, non essential clothing, gym membership, encourage her to buy herself. Then when she's an adult all the things she's got to buy won't be such a shock.

DS1 has just turned 12 and started high school. He now gets £4 a week, but we pay for his phone. He is expected to buy himself any treats with that, and he also buys his own hair gel. It will increase as he get older but at the moment he doesn't have a lot of outgoings. He would use it for bus fares to meet friends though.

I give my 11 year old £7 per week and I pay for his phone contract which is £10 per month. I buy all of his clothes and toiletries. If he needed extra money for a trip to the cinema I would give him a top up as long as it isnt more than once a month.
When he is 15 I imagine his pocket money will be somewhere between £10 and £15 per week with me still paying for his clothes and mobile phone.
£5 really doesn't buy a lot these days.

14 and 15 year old DSs - we pay for phone etc and tbh they don't really spend much as they don't go out and socialize. They get £30 a month and don't have specific chores but are expected to keep their rooms clean and clear up after themselves and not to moan when asked to help with the shopping etc. DH still hands them a couple of quid to go up to the park and buy a snack sometimes at the weekend.

The money is paid straight into their bank, DS1's just accumulates and DS2 spends his on Steam games.

They are also expected to work hard and behave at school.

They'd both like to get jobs but nothing really available round our way and they also are quite busy with activities (Scouts/swimming/DofE etc)