Pocket money for teens....

[mrssapphirebright]

Apparently iabu to only give my ds 15 £15 pocket money a week.

Lovely people, what is the going rate nowadays?

If you 15 year old wants more than £15 a week, can they not go out and get a part-time job and earn some for themselves

Pocket money for teens is fine if you can afford it.... £15 seems very generous ... even if they need to clothe themselves out of it.... that's some £60 a month...

Mine get £100 per month paid into their bank account. They have to budget it over the month.

I give dd (13) £40 a month. This does not include clothes and extracurricular stuff. I'm anticipating a £10 increase on each birthday, so your £15 is spot on.

Compared to her friends, dd gets about double the average, but I don't ever have to give her extra, which her friends parents often do, and she manages to save a bit for holiday spending.

Kids seem to get Through so much money these days, some seem to get given unlimited funds which I found difficult when my own DDs wanted money for socialising. They couldn't get jobs at 15, no one seems interested until they're 16. I drew up a list of jobs that needed doing around the house with a price attached, if they wanted money They got paid for jobs they had done

Thanks for your replies. The only thing I think my ds can do at 15 is a paper round and there are no post offices near where we live to recruit these so I don’t think that’s an option.

No, he doesn’t have to buy his own clothes from that, unless he wants something designer etc. I often say that I will pay up to a certain amount for something, say trainers and if he wants a more expensive pair then he has to contribute some of his pocket money.

He is not a greedy / grabby teen, he just doesn’t find the money goes far when he wants to spend and save at the same time (welcome to my world). He often wants to save for big stuff like new consoles or big lego sets and gadgets like drones / camera etc and is finding that there is not much left to save when he has spent money on going out etc.

I do empathise, I know a trip to the pool / bowling alley / ice rink coupled with a few drinks and a burger is usually his £15 gone.

Should I be paying for these activities out my own money?

Katedotness1963 - how old are your dc out of interest?

I gave my kids 10p per year of age per week, so my 5yo got 50p - which seemed quite reasonable as he had nothing to spent it on. He dad also gave him 50p at his house and his grandparents would give adhoc money.

Roll forward nearly 10 years and the only change is that several years ago I set up a weekly standing order into their bank accounts as I never had cash available, or would forget or whatever.

So my 14yo is now getting £1.40 a week - which is ridiculous.
I talked about changing it when he went to secondary but he never seemed very bother and always has money (he hates spending so birthday and Christmas money just sits there) so I never got round to it. He is now starting to be more social and I'm going to have to address it.
We have talked about him having an allowance and buying his own casual clothes etc - but he wouldn't, he'd just live in too short jeans and scruffy t-shirts.
I pay for his phone, which is only £5pm and his clubs but that's just scouts which now he is a young leader is free, and running club which is only £1.50 a week.

He'd be in (savings) heaven at £15 a week.

My 11yo on the other time would have his money spent as soon as he received it

My two age 16 and 15 get £40 a month. They don't socialise though. I generally pay for clothes and activities and phone on top of that. DS1 spends virtually nothing. DS2 spends some. They also seem to never have cash for just nipping to the shop so they probably get a few quid on top per week.

I think of he gets £15 a week and that equates with a trip out once a week - then that's fine.
If he wants to save for expensive items then he goes to a trip out once a fortnight, and a cheaper hanging out with friends at other times.
Plus expensive items for birthday or Christmas, or with money from those times.

My friends ds has just got a Peper round and I think he gets £25 a week. Ds1's eyes lit up, and then he considered what he'd have to do, plus there is nothing in our village so it's not an option anyway.

He is interested in lifesaving once he hits 16 though.

Mine are 15 and 17. They've been getting this amount for a couple of years now.

My DC (similar age) get £50pcm plus pretty expensive phone contracts, and the occasional extra £10-20 for outings. It averages out at about £15 a week. I pay for hair cuts and clothes. They pay for local travel and socialising (in theory) but seem to spend most of it on CDs and books then need extra for outings. They really aren't very sociable though. If they were out every week with friends I'd have to rethink.

Mine get a paper round at 13/14. I haven't given my teens pocket money for years. They earn £15-£20 a week depending on the round. I pay for the odd item of clothing if I'm feeling flush but otherwise they get on with it.
The older one has a bar job now and his sibling is hoping to take over that when he goes to uni. She'll then hopefully pass the paper round onto the 13 year old if there's no one else on the waiting list.
The 10 and 12 year olds get £1 a week for sweets on a Saturday.

Mine (16 and 18) get £15 a week each as they're both old enough to get part time jobs if they want more

My teen (15) doesnt get any as he is hopeless at doing his jobs in the house, moans constantly when asked to do anything and would put it all on his freaking pc game 5 minutes after he got it.

I buy his clothes and the odd comic, book etc and pay his phone, trips out.

My tween gets pocket money for doing jobs and he saves it for stuff he wants.

I dont spend £15 a week on my self no way I am giving my teen that to waste on a game!

I do put money in their savings account every month though so they have money for holidays etc.

At that age (20 odd years ago) I got £120 plus a similar amount from working.