Teenager budget am I being too generous £200?

[Nononoandno]

I’m single mum one 16 year old son who goes on and on about his dad paying £400 maintenance and he gives the impression he thinks I spend it 🤔(soo not true). I know for a fact my son doesn’t add up/realise the money that is spent on him on a day to day basis so for transport, clothes, trainers, cinema, days out, pizzas out with his friends, snacks Xbox subscription phone etc.... I’m thinking of giving him £200 per month so at the beginning of each month and tell him that is it and he has to buy all the above including lunches (but not holidays). I think it would teach him an important budgeting lesson... what are your thoughts? Has anyone done anything similar?

I have a 15 yr old DS about to turn 16. Outside of school bus & school dinners which I pay for directly and are fixed costs, I pay for his GiffGaff £10 pcm (iphone 6S) and he receives £40 pcm allowance for all his socialising. I’m considering raising it to £45/50 pcm on his birthday. I don’t expect him to buy any school uniform or clothes out of that but on that score, he is a low maintenance teen. Any named/designer branded trainers/clothes are usually reserved for birthday/Xmas (and I always buy them in the sales.) He is very keen to get a job but not many employ 15 yr olds and I’m not encouraging it until Gcse’s are over. Some socialising on the odd weekend but mainly in the holidays.

There is no way, I would give my 15 yr old what I say effectively an extra £150 pcm as an allowance. He can earn it with a PT job after his exams next year. He does have close friends with a paper round and a cafe job. It also means the end of weekend commitments like sport, music and DoE in favour of RL paid work which is inevitable really.

I bet you that most of his friends would not be receiving £200 pcm even if they were had a PT job and was earning their own money.

DS calls us mean (ha!) and I reply that he may not value the sentiment at the moment, being a mardy teenager but learning to work for the stuff you want is far more valuable than getting it handed to you. As I said, he is very keen in getting a job next year.

My dd is 17 and due to the nature of her course she left home to go to college aged 16 rather than the usual 18 so she has had to learn how to budget.

We get Child Allowance for her and her college fees paid.

It costs £120 per week for her to live in a room in a shared family house. That covers all bills, wi-fi and breakfast and evening meals. We pay that direct.

She then gets the following:
£18 per week lunches
£5 per week toiletries
£20 per week clothes, books and other college expenses
£10 per month phone
We used to give her £10 per week pocket money but she now has a part time job that earns her £40 per week (after travel).

I'm betting you spend far more than that on your son.

£400 per month maintenance would barely scratch the surface.

An adult who is unemployed receives £73 a week (not including house benefit) to pay all bills, food, transport

Mine had jobs at that age as well.
Once they started high school, we gave them $50 a week.
I paid for school uniform and sport.
Their money paid for Phone’s, outfits, outings, lunches, presents, everything. Pre paid phones meant they did not waste calls.
This stopped once they had jobs.
Good luck and help them find a job.

Make him get a job and buy his own luxuries! That's what I've just done with my daughter. Although if she was questioning what I was spending my money on I would tell her to mind her own bloody business!

I wouldn't give either DC £200 a month at 16 (or less tbh) I think he needs a Saturday job.

At 16 I had a Saturday job and was contributing a nominal amount towards my keep, rather than have my parents pay me an allowance!

A really good lesson once he has a job is for him to work out how many hours he had to work to buy an item of clothing/take away meal or gym membership. It brings home the value of money really quickly.

State pension is about £158 per week to pay all bills

Best quote from my son who went to buy socks and pants with his own wages for the first time, “Why do socks and pants cost so much, they’re not even designer ones” he was truly amazed, I just smugly looked at him and said “I know, I’ve been doing it for years, how did we cope?”

I wouldn't give a monthly amount as he could blow it all on a pair of trainers and be looking for more money for a haircut afterwards. We don't give money regularly. If they need something we buy it. They are free to ask for money and we will give it within reason. I'd suggest giving him a weekly amount instead so he'd have to save for a bigger item, while still using some of the weekly amount towards haircut, lunch etc. Or better still, encourage him to get a part time job if there's any available locally.

@Drum2018

I wouldn't give a monthly amount as he could blow it all on a pair of trainers and be looking for more money for a haircut afterwards.

This is exactly the reason I do it! It's a lesson that is much better learned as a teen than when an adult, needing to budget and having had no experience of it. In your scenario, our boys would have shiny new daps and really scruffy hair until it came to allowance day. They'd budget better next time.