AIBU to ask how much pocket money/allowance you give to your teengager?

[cariadlet]

My 16 year old dd would like to have a bank account and debit card like some of her friends. My dp and I have agreed that it will be a good chance for her to practice budgeting if we give her a monthly allowance.

Currently we don't give her pocket money as my MIL already does this (so as not to dripfeed this is a sore point with me as MIL started to give dd pocket money when she was a toddler without consulting me or my dp. I'd have preferred to wait until she was a bit older. MIL has also always given dd more money than I think appropriate - I would have liked her to have a bit less so that she could learn to save for treats from a young age).

DD used to have a part-time job but had to give it up because of health issues.

At the moment dp and I give dd money for her weekly bus ticket to school (next town so needs the bus), £10 a month for her phone (the rest comes out of her pocket money), I take her shopping a couple of times a year for new summer/winter clothes and will buy clothes/shoes in between if she gives me a good reason why she needs them. If she wants to go out with friends she used to use her wages to pay for this. Now she sometimes uses her pocket money and sometimes I'll give her money.

I'd love it if anyone with teenagers could let me know how much money they give them, what they expect the dc to pay out of it and what they still pay for themselves.

I'm supposed to be working so am going to log off Mumsnet for a few hours and will check back in this evening. If anybody takes the trouble to reply before then please don't think I'm being rude and ignoring you! Thanks

I have a 12 year old (so not quite a teenager). She gets a phone contract, paid for, activities and clubs paid for , £5 per week go spend in the school canteen and £5 cash - as long as she hoovers the downstairs each day and does the dishwasher. She also volunteers at a horse-riding centre each Sunday so she gets half price lessons every fortnight, which I pay for.

Ds 17 £20 week end money, has to pay full fare to out of town where his friends are.
Also has bus fare £9 a week and college lunch money - £10 as back for lunch some days, £5 boxing and £5 gym weekly. Written down he needs a job!!
Ds 14 ten a week (£15 lunch money direct payment)
Dd's 13+11 about £5 a week. They don't really do much out of school /with friends yet. Opportunity to earn via chores always there!

My just 12 yo gets £10 per month pocket money and I pay 13.99 for his phone contract, buy all his clothes, books, stationary that type of thing. His phone recently had a new screen which cost £60. I made him pay £10 towards it. He does little around the house. I am thinking of increasing his pocket money for jobs (like the hoover and dishwasher idea along with picking up clothes and bringing pots downstairs). He does tidy his room but only when pressed.

£50pcm plus a very generous phone contract each. Double that over the holidays as they socialise more.

Should add DS also gets up to £20 pw for lunch/snacks and usually spends about £15. He brings change 👍🏻

Teen DSs both have had a job since they were 14, so earn money from that.

I pay phone contracts @ £30 each.

I buy all clothes, pay for all activities and their associated costs, hair cuts etc.

I don’t give regular pocket money as such but will give them £5 or £10 here and there (not that frequently).

£150 a month. We made them write a budget to work out how much they needed. They pay for clothes, toiletries, phone contract, socialising, lunch if they can’t be bothered to make a sandwich, presents for family and friends - basically everything. It sounds like a lot but actually I think we probably do better out of it and we never get asked for money, ever!

DD is 12 and she gets £30 a month plus we pay for her phone contract and all her activities.

She uses her pocket money to save for things and also to buy some clothes and items for her pets. She saved this year to buy a gecko and vivarium which was quite expensive.

DS1 is 13 and gets £30 a month onto his debit card plus his phone bill paid for (£18). He walks to school so no cost for that and has about £15 a week onto his lunch card which is virtually the same as I pay for his younger brothers school lunch.

I purchase all clothes and shoes for him unless there is something very specific he wants which he saves up for himself (he choses them all btw!). He is about 5ft 9 with size 11 feet though so its costing a fortune to keep him clothed and quite honestly I don't think it's fair to make him pay for stuff out of his money as it's not his fault he's grown so quickly!

I have a 14 nearly 15 year old. He has had a bank account and a card for two years.

He has £20 a month out In. He can spend that on anything he wants. Mostly it goes on stuff for the Xbox. But. It is his choice.

He never asks for stuff ever. I had to drag him out a few months ago to get him new headphones and clothes that actually fitted him.

But we put £40 away every month for activities. So if he wants to go out with his friends we can give him some ( he doesn’t go out often ). Mostly the money we put aside goes towards all his scouting stuff e is doing.

This works well. As I said he doesn’t ask for stuff ever really so when he does I generally give him the money for it.

He is currently raising over £4000 so he can go on the scout jamboree next year in America. He is raising all that and the spending money as well.

At 16 I gave £50 pm plus phone contract.
I paid for all clothes but by this age they didn’t want to shop with mum so I would give them a budget and let them lose in topman and H&M.
Toiletries they helped themselves to what was stock piles in the bathroom cupboard. Every 6 weeks or so I gave an extra £15 for haircuts.

Since she started sixth form we’ve given DD £150pcm to cover socialising-including buses and taxis, make up, extra clothes, phone repairs, presents. We pay for PAYG phone, basic wardrobe e.g. winter coat, school clothes and hobby associated expenses. She has a part-time job to top up and has got a decent amount in her account so it works ok.

To put into perspective, job seekers is £73 a week for an adult, out of which bills, food have to be paid

I give my 16yr old £50 a month and I pay his phone contract and gym membership. I also buy his basic clothes/shoes. However, it looks like he has landed a regular job so I will stop the £50 after his first pay packet and he will take on the gym payment.

dD-16. Gets £50 a month from us to cover non-essential clothes & toiletries and going out. She also babysits and earns a good top up from that.
She has had a debit card for a couple of years w contactless. We pay money straight into account by SO. Also do same for DS, 14, but he gets less allowance due to needing less ‘stuff’ and not having a love of buying tat. I will give him extra cash though sometimes. I also won’t allow him to take his cash card out the house as he’s lost it twice (found it 2nd time but we are talking space of 2 weeks). He uses it for online purchasing.

We pay for phone and lunch money.,

£50 a month + £20 SIM only contract (he has a hand-me-down iPhone X)

My son is 16. £35 per month. I pay for the phone, clothes, lunches etc. However at the moment he gets nothing until he sorts out his routine of keeping his bedroom clean and doing some other chores.

I give my 16 year old £50/week. He pays for his own phone, breakfast on the way to school, toiletries and all socialising.

I think possibly I'm giving him too much.

DS (14) has a job delivering the local papers and earns about £20pm. He gets his phone paid for (£10pm), school lunches and all reasonable clothes and shoes. I’ll also give him extra if he’s going out with friends, which isn’t often.

DS (15) has SEN, so cant work so he gets £20pm as pocket money and all the same as above.

Both kids have bank accounts with debit cards.

15 year old DD only gets £20 per month, but I pay for everything, so this is purely for odds and sods, she mostly saves it up to buy presents for the rest of the family, which is lovely. Xmas and birthday money she will spend on clothes and make up that I deem unnecessary!

My 2 DS are both 16. They get their phone contracts paid for, all school clothes and school expenses paid for, any books they need paid for. They also get £40 a month in their account (each) to cover their socialising and clothes. If they want picking up I would do that (free) plus if I couldn't and they get a taxi I pay for that for them (as I would rather they were safe and they don't go out that much. Sometimes if they seem to grow out of a load of stuff they get a one off £100 or something for new jeans/coat which I add to their bank account. I also put £40 a month in a savings account for each of them which they don't touch.

We have just started giving DS (14) an allowance of £40 a month. We pay for his phone contract, not sure how much that is as DH sorts it. I am expecting him to buy his clothes apart from school uniform, and have said I will buy him one new pair of trainers per year but if he wants another pair he will have to pay.

The allowance also needs to cover socialising and computer games etc that he wants. So far it seems to be working well, he’s bought a few clothes and stopped asking for a couple of quid every time he goes out with friends! He is also saving a fair amount because he wants a gaming chair for his room.

13 yr old gets £40 a month into her account (£30 from me, £10 from GP’s) and her mobile phone contract of £18 per month. Walks to school and takes a packed lunch.

My 16 year old DD gets £100 a month into her bank account.

She has £25 a week cash in addition to cover bus fare (£7.50) and any spending on food she does. She can add whatever she wants to the Ocado order to make pack ups and take drinks from home to make the cash go further or so she can save it.

Her phone contract is paid. I buy all her regular toiletries and most of her makeup, but don’t buy some things I loathe e.g. fake tan.

In theory she covers anything like lunch with friends she chooses to do but I’d say I largely give her extra money if I know she is doing something.

If we shop together I pay so today she has had 2 new bras, multi pack of pants, an eyebrow pencil, a new winter coat, hat, socks without having to use her own money. I’ve also bought heap of top shop stuff and stationery during October.

She still can’t make £100 last a month. Biggest offenders are getting acrylic nails put on, copious fake tanning and purchase of trashy clothes from boohoo or pretty little thing as wear once to a party outfits. I couldn’t give her more into her bank account and expect her to budget for more of what she needs as I know she will always prioritise these purchases above the things she actually needs.