To ask you how much you spend on your teen’s phone every month ?

[Beaconoflight]

I spend £40 on each contract (I have 2 teens 15 and 18) plus £40 and £60 of pocket money. Yet they refuse to do anything to help, they are rude and think I’m unreasonable. Am I ?

Last year primary son has old iPhone and smarty sim £8

17 year old. I would cancel contract and she pays for own phone

17 year old daughter - £10 giffgaff and a reconditioned phone as part of birthday/Christmas present.
She gets £10 a week pocket money as she volunteers at a charity shop on a Saturday. If she had a part time job that paid money then we would reduce her pocket money,

£40 is an astonishing amount to pay given that they don't ever use them because they have no time to do anything except study

@Beaconoflight

I don’t know how to make them see they have it good.

Take their phones until they realise they’ve been disrespectful and start to pull their weight. That’s what I’d do I think, but my DC are very little still.

£8 sim only on a hand me down phone. I don’t spend £40 on myself let alone a child

£5 with Lebara on a SIM only plan with 30 day rolling contract. That's for 1000 mins, unlimited texts and 2Gb data. 2GB is plenty for essentials such as getting in touch with friends / using the map / checking emails / looking up bus times.
If she wants to top up the data, she has to buy it from her pocket money / allowance as I consider it a choice (entertainment) rather than a need. She can download songs / podcasts / TV programmes etc. at home on WiFi to listen to / watch on the school bus.

16 year old - £20 a month for unlimited text/calls/data. She doesn't qualify for EMA so I give her £80 a month for spending, travel and any college expenses. Travel by bus is now free though so I may look at reducing it.

She saves for any large purchases and she does anything I ask her to help with around the house. She's never rude to me.

The younger teens have the same phone deals but different pocket money as they both do sports that I pay for. They're never rude to me either.

£8 each, giffgaff

I have a 14 year old and i think i paid 20 pound the whole year and i think most of that was in the summer when he went out he is mostly on his xbox or at football and when he uses his phone its in the house with the wifi. Hes wanting a contract for his bday i have said no as he doesnt use it enough to warrant me wasting money on a contract i have told him if he wants one he has to get a job and pay for it himself..

£17 for payg. His iPhone was a Christmas present a year or so ago.

£14/month contract phone. £3.50/week pocket money. No chores but my only teen has SEN.

Mine have the cheapest giffgaff sim which is £6 a month. Started out with cheap phones, Alcatel or similar as the "you need a phone for communication purposes" phone. Anything more expensive has been a birthday or Christmas gift. And by expensive I mean the 15 year old got a £130 phone for Christmas and is delighted so we're not talking latest expensive phones! We always buy the phone outright, no contracts. Do the same for ourselves.

No set chores really, just general expectation that they live in the house, wear clothes and eat food so should probably contribute towards putting laundry on, clearing table etc plus keeping bedrooms in a reasonable state. I don't care if rooms are messy but they need to be hygienic.

Well tell them you're burnt out and you'll be cutting your hours to keep on top of chores or hiring a cleaner so wont be able to afford their phones or allowance.

£10 each - sim only. Phones were £150 ish

@RealBecca

Well tell them you're burnt out and you'll be cutting your hours to keep on top of chores or hiring a cleaner so wont be able to afford their phones or allowance.

This is a great shout - halve their phone and allowance and that should pay for a cleaner.

@Beaconoflight

I don’t know how to make them see they have it good.

Take it away from them.

Oh goodness I spend much more than this! Do they not go over their allowance?

@Beaconoflight

Thank you so much all for your input. My 17 years old thinks she shouldn’t do anything as she is studying for her a levels. I’m feeling overwhelmed

It's called life isn't it? As you get older, you have more responsibilities

I have an 18 year old, also doing A Levels, I cut him a bit of slack if he's particularly bogged down with homework - a bit like I'd cut myself a bit of slack if I'd had a long day at work - but ultimately I expect him to pull his weight.

We pay about £45 a month for his phone, no allowance as he has a part time job. In return I expect him to do the bulk of his washing ( I'll Chuck the odd item in to fill the washer) and generally tidy up behind himself.

Dd15 has the free sim contract I get free with broadband and we rent a phone from music magpie which is £10 a month.
She gets £10 a week and for that she does the dishwasher and bins every day, keep room tidy plus hoover her room and change her bed weekly.

Ds17 contract is £25 I think. He works nearly full time and pays rent. When he turns 18 the contract will be transferred to his name.

They both have decent phones that were birthday presents...circa £450 each but they're expected to last them at least 2-3 years.

Monthly cost £10 a month pay as you go Vodafone...unlimited texts and calls and I think 3GB data.

The rule is when you're out of data in a month...you're out of data!

I think I pay £30 ish for ds(15) but I didn’t have to pay much (if anything) upfront and it was a Christmas present. He gets £10p/w pocket money. He does do chores at home, but they’re not linked to receiving pm - they’re more that we both live here and are both therefore responsible for keeping it nice. Similar set up with ds1 when he lived at home. He also insisted he pay for his own phone / contract from the summer before uni. He takes a lot of pride on working for his money / budgeting well / being independent.

@nightmarelife

Oh goodness I spend much more than this! Do they not go over their allowance?

If you shop around you can get some good deals. DS1 gets unlimited mins and texts, and 100gb data. £10 pm. (Its usually £20 but was a black Friday deal)

DS2 gets a lot less data, but uses a lot less.

Ultimately though if they run out then they run out.