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 ?

Voxi offer unlimited social data. It's about £12/month I think. They hardly use the phone / text aspect of their contracts, and almost all phone use is Instagram or Snapchat, so free to use.
The phone itself is usually a birthday present of the cheapest current iPhone every 2-3 years (if they want to upgrade to a premium iPhone, they can add their own money).

I think around £6 and £9

£8 each/ month

14 and 16 yos

£12 x 2 phone contract. They just got new phones for Xmas. Got an excellent deal with 3 which is 100gb of data.

@Beaconoflight

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

Show them this thread!

Mine are 15 & 13 and phones are £16 & £14

They get paid for school credits and we pay for food and tickets if they go out

Oh and they try and weasel out of chores occasionally but in general are good boys and do them without complaint. I would be cancelling the 18 year olds contract and pocket money under those circumstances - a grown adult doesn’t get to behave like a spoilt brat and still get the benefits of mum’s purse.

£25 each contract , 16 and 18 year old
No allowance really but help with driving lessons ,clothes etc
Ds16 has a part time job alongside college so pays for lots himself
Ds18 just working temp full time and saving for uni hopefully so again pays for his own things apart from phone which is still in contract

14 year old £40 a month on a capped contract. £20 a month on allowance. Allowance is only paid if she completes what is expected.
She also get £10.99 a month on the Xbox game pass. But I cancel it if again she isn't doing what is expected.

Yes they help i house as well , 16 year old is better than 18 and they prob could both do more at times but in general they do help

My 15yo dd has a reconditioned iPhone, I spend £10 a month on it.

I give her £20 a month pocket money.

Her chores are putting away dishes daily, keeping her room tidy and helping me with housework when I ask her to (once a week usually for example hoover and dust living room.) She also helps with the pets, walks the dog and feeds them. If I ask her to do something she will do it (will occasionally grumble but will still get on with it!)

Once she's 16 she'll look for a Saturday job.

If your kids are being lazy I'd sit them down, outline their responsibilities and have set consequences for if they're not met (no phone, no pocket money, no driving them anywhere etc.) You have to stick to it though even if they kick off!!

My oldest is 13. We bought her an iPhone secondhand and pay around £8 for the monthly sim. Also £20 a week pocket money. She does very occasional chores and we're revisiting as she should really be doing more.

We buy handsets separately from contracts and spend £10/month on the contract.

Have never related chores with money. Everyone in the house needs to contribute to chores.

£10 per month sim only with Voxi & £15 pocket money per week.

Ds has to keep the main bathroom clean (we use the en suite) pick up after himself, put dirty clothes in the wash basket and take his turn with the dishes and looking after the dog.

Wow, we pay £31 a month and that covers 4 phones on a BT family plan, so just under £8 each. Think we get 12G of data each not sure but none of us have ever run out.

Buy the phones outright, most often Motorola for £120-£150 ish. They get replaced after 3 years for birthdays etc.

My 17 years old thinks she shouldn’t do anything as she is studying for her a levels. I’m feeling overwhelmed.

From personal experience I found it helpful to have a part time job when I was doing my A levels, it made me manage my time better.

Set up a chore rota with a daily ten minute job for everyone? They can spare ten minutes a day, and it should help you all not to feel overwhelmed. If she is planning on getting a job or moving out for uni then she needs to start learning how to study and manage to run a hoover round etc.

My 17 years old thinks she shouldn’t do anything as she is studying for her a levels

A+E doctors who work 60 hour weeks still manage to do chores at home!

Currently pay £29 per month for dds phone. She’s currently studying for her A levels and has chronic fatigue so doesn’t help much at all at home. She also works in a cafe on a weekend. I haven’t taken the money off her for her phone, but she buys her own clothes etc and puts petrol in her car.

Unless you are made of money, YABU to be spending anywhere near that much on them.
My dc have always paid their own phone contracts out of their pocket money, then earnings from their jobs, and their pocket money was a fraction of what your dc are getting.
I can't understand why anyone would throw £40 a month at a phone contract, let alone for someone who isn't earning.

I haven't voted, as I suspect that isn't quite what you are asking.
I think YABU to spend so much on phones
I think YABU to give them so much pocket money
I think YANBU to expect them to contribute to jobs that need doing around the house.

@Howshouldibehave

My 17 years old thinks she shouldn’t do anything as she is studying for her a levels

A+E doctors who work 60 hour weeks still manage to do chores at home!

Quite! I'd be shocked if she genuinely hasn't got a spare 10 mins a day to wash / wipe the dishes or put the vacuum around etc. I did 4 A levels, had a 1hr commute each way to college, played music at county level which involved rehearsals a couple of nights a week (and often a weekend or evening concert too), had a 8-hr Saturday job and was still expected to do chores at home (probably 10 mins a day and a bit longer on Sunday - clean the bathrooms, wash the car etc). I'd probably be a bit more lenient in exam week, but other than that, nope. My arse she hasn't got time to help at home!

That’s ridiculously high - I only pay £6 a month for my own phone! (Giffgaff)
How long is left on the contracts? I’d be minded to stop paying for them if they don’t start earning them.
Do you work?

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

At 17, all mine were studying for A-levels, whilst working in their PT jobs, completing DoE Awards, attending other hobbies, volunteering, seeing their friends, having driving lessons, AND doing their bit around the home.
Does she not have the same 24 hours in a day, or 7 days in a week as the rest of the population ?

Mine have payg phones, I spend £10 a month on top ups, they get £2.50 a week pocket money, anything else is dependent on chores, which they don’t do, we’ve been doing the ONS survey for about a year and they get £25 a month off that, going to be a shock when it finally ends!

@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

Tell her it is good study habits to study a subject for 30-40mins then have a 10 min break, stay away from phones during the break and do something physical like chores before going back to study the next subject for 30-40mins.

Dd1 is almost 14 and got her first contract phone. It’s £26 a month iPhone 12 and I’ve said we’ll pay for 3 years until the contract ends then she can continue the sim only contract which is £6 a month or upgrade as she’ll be 17 and I’d expect her to have a Saturday job at that point. She’s amazingly helpful around the house although is only able to follow one instruction as a time. A list of 3 tasks means something will be forgotten but not because she’s not willing. I wouldn’t tolerate a dc not being part of the team at home. I’m pretty strict on that but we have 3 dc and both work so it’s essential for our sanity that dc pitch in. Dd3&4 have reconditioned phones with pay as you go Sims.

Dd2&3 not 3&4 I don’t have 4dc!