Clothing teens.. who pays?

[AwkwardFucker]

My teenager is sending me broke.. no one tells you this shit when you’re planning a baby.

We gave her 200 a couple of months ago to buy some clothes as she said she “had none”. She spent 100 on ONE item of brand name clothing and a couple of other bits and pieces. We refused to give her more.

She’s just asked for 300 for more clothes because she once again “has none”. She has more clothes than the rest of the family put together.

I’m obviously happy to clothe her as needed, and buy the expensive brand name stuff for Xmas/birthday etc, but I can’t afford to keep handing her a stack of cash because she doesn’t like her current clothes anymore.

I’ve suggested a part time job, but she hasn’t bothered to look or do anything about it.

Apparently wearing last seasons clothes will make her a social leper. Am I meant to just keep coughing up to keep her in the latest fashions?

@AwkwardFucker well she is emotionally blackmailing you by saying she is a social leper with last years clothes so that pretty much is demanding .
Either way it's your child and your rules , I believe teaching a child to budget early on is the way forward so that when it comes to uni and living as an adult they will manage their money ..

I would take her shopping yourself and monitor what she is spending on an item and it might be a fun day out too?

@BlueNeighbourhood Well I suppose it depends on your personal finaces doesn't it? If £10 is all you've got spare its all you've got. Those kids won't be buying at £100 jumpers because its out of reach for them.

Mine are 18 & 16 now both working, but I still buy for them if I see something they need or would like.

Blueneighbourhood

If a child is in care most local authorities expect a 15 year old to have pocket money equivalent to what their peers might get and many of them publish these figures. I used those figures as a guide to set my own kids budgets

Aged 15 that was per week

£9 pocket money
£10 clothing allowance
£5 personal toiletries allowance

plus basic phone contract, travel to school & school uniform

So £24 per week cash. Less if the child has no interest in buying their own clothes/toiletries and is happy for you to buy everything they need.

The clothing allowance doubles at college age and pocket money increases to £10-12.

@BlueNeighbourhood You sound pretty privileged. £40 is plenty if you're not a big spender.

Cinema trip with friends once a month in my hometown:

Cinema ticket £6.75
Bus fare £3.10
Sweets/popcorn from Poundland: £2
Total: £11.95

Jeans and a couple of tops from Primark: £20

That leaves £8 for toiletries, stationery etc.

That's assuming the parents pay for their bus fare to school. If so they might not have to pay for the bus into town either as they'd have a weekly bus ticket already. The rest of the socialising has to be 'free' visits to friends houses, when I was a teenager we didn't spend all our time buying expensive Starbucks or Nandos in town we just went round eachother's houses and occasionally bought some junk food to share from Lidl etc.

And if Primark is too cheap/naff then instead of buying a £10 pair of jeans every month they could always buy a £50 pair a couple of times a year.

A teenager will always say they haven't got any clothes to wear if they can fleece their parents for £200.

Buy her school clothes and basics. Setting a limit on Jean's, t shirts jumpers.
Any designer, she buys herself or gets for Christmas.
She does sound spoilt.

My DD isnt quite a teen yet but I dont have anywhere close to the disposable income to spend on designer labels for myself, never mind her.

The way I do things is that I pay for anything DD needs - uniforms for school/clubs, underwear etc and the basics like jeans/tshirts/skirts/jumpers etc.

The "basics" are generally unbranded/supermarkets/high street shops, wherever has the best deals tbh, but I do give DD the option to upgrade her stuff using her own money. Eg DD needs a new jumper as last years is too small. I recently was in the supermarket and saw some lovely jumpers for £10-15 but DD had her heart set on one she had seen in a local shop for £20

She was given the option to get one of the supermarket jumpers or I would put £12 towards her jumper and she would have to pay the other £8 from her own money. On this occasion she decided the jumper was worth the £8 "upgrade" but in the past she has often decided that, when it's her own money on the line, the "upgrade" isnt worth it.

If it isn't something she needs and is purely something DD wants then it is either bought for Xmas/birthday (if it's around that time of year) or she has to buy it from her own money.