Pocket money and spending for your DCs? What do you do?

[sparklins]

DS is 8 and we are starting to discuss pocket money and spending.
Currently also looking into a child account/card with parental controls as currently DS seems to think the money on the screen is a magical entity that is always there 😂


Me and DP would like a bit of advice from the wise collective of mumsnet to figure out how we are going to work it so would love to ask a few questions and get some insight if that's ok?

• how much pocket money do your DC/s get or got at different ages
• what are the general rules about spending their own money
• what are the rules about any monetary gifts £10 and over from family members (DCs have a couple of DGMs who like to gift 10-20 each from time to time)

[skyeisthelimit]

DD is 14 now so has a proper junior bank account, but she also has a Revolut Junior card linked to my Revolut card. There can be a £5 charge for the card but I got it free on a promotion. There are no further charges as I won't pay for one of those where they charge you to save your own money.

DD gets £5 a week into her bank account to spend on whatever she wants, and her mobile phone SIM at £10 a month. If she goes shopping with friends I will give her enough money for the bus and food, and also extra money to buy clothes with.

When she was younger I saved every penny she was given but now she is older, she is allowed to spend her Christmas and Birthday money on whatever she wants. My view is that is was given in lieu of a present and therefore for her to buy her own present and it's not for me to insist that she saves it.

@Greydogs123 I just read that as "MY daughter gets a pound per year" literally, and though wow that's tight grin] before I read on and understood what you meant grin]

[TheHopefulMum]

Our two DC's aged 9 and 7 have GoHenry cards. If they are helpful around the house, basic things like picking up after themselves etc and their behaviour is good they get £5 a week on this for whatever they want. They mainly save it and will go to the shop every once in a while.

They both also have normal savings accounts and any birthday or Christmas money gets put in here. That's not to say they can't spend it if they want to, however 9/10 they never want to as they have everything they need and want.

[LunaLoveFood]

We have a rooster card (which has now been taken over by natwest) which is linked to chores. Ds8 almost 9 gets £5 per week and has been able to save up for roller skates and lego sets that he has wanted and it works really well for us.

[Greydogs123]

MY daughter gets a pound per year, so at 9 she is getting £2.25 a week. She’s amazing at saving for stuff she wants outside of Christmas and birthday. She has a savings account that she doesn’t really know about at the moment which we save a bit each month in for when she is older.
Tried to get a hyper jar account, but for some reason it didn’t accept any of my proof of identity, so we continue the old fashioned way of money in a piggy bank. If she wants to buy something online then she just gives me the cash.

[maybein2022]

Mine (9 and 13) have go Henry cards but my older one (13) has said it’s too babyish now, so will get her a proper debit card too.

They get pocket money and can spend it on whatever they want, I don’t interfere. It comes with no conditions though, because my (very personal) view is they should be helping around the house as part of our family team- NOT for financial motivation- although I know some people have very successful systems for jobs = pocket money.

My younger one tends to save his up and then buy bigger items like a video game.

If they get given money it’s up to them if it goes in their Go Henry or a savings account but obviously if it was a lot I’d say some needed to be saved- but generally it’s not a lot.

[broodybadger]

Mine have base pocket money and then can earn more for doing larger jobs in the house that save me money.

DD10 and DS 11 get £5 a week base and can earn a lot more for doing non standard chores

Washing a car (we have 2) - £5
Cleaning the windows - £5
Full downstairs clean - £5
Full upstairs clean - £5
Mowing the lawn - £3

They can choose what, if any they want to do the week before so it's fair between them.

The younger ones (under 5) don't get pocket money.

[Sunnyqueen]

Mine get a tenner each a week but is deducted if there is any bad behaviour but that doesnt happen too often thankfully! I keep meaning to get one of those gohenry cards for my eldest but not got round to it yet. My friends recommended it to me.

[dancebob1980]

Just popping in to recommend hyperjar as a way of getting a free Mastercard for kids that you can easily transfer money on to. Look up the app.

Mine (8 & 11) love theirs, and it really makes them pay attention to how much they have and how much things are.

They even went food shopping on their own, and I could quickly transfer money when they called from the till to say they were £3 short!

I confess we haven't really got on top of the amounts we give them. They get £5 a month from grandparents, with the chance to earn extra from us.

We can put birthday money on to the card. I let them buy what they want, but do try to point out when I think they should buy something else, if it is not worth the money or they want their 637th cuddly toy, etc.

[MsChatterbox]

My 4 year old gets £1 a week. So far he's saved for 10 weeks to buy a flash toy and is now over half way through saving for some dinosaur eggs he has to dig. I've told him he can either save it for things like that or spend it on sweets etc in the shop each week. He chose saving! I think 8 year old would need a bit more each week but I guess that depends on your budget.

[Michiru]

Usually £5/w at that age. This covers general niceness and chores, too, with the argument that employers would pay them if they were fine and did what they needed to, but could deduct money (sack them) if something was amiss.

Birthday money etc. is divided evenly between a savings account and their pocket money, so they can buy something bigger, but can't spend it all at once.

No rules on what they spend it on, but we do occasionally have discussions about the point of owning 10 of one item.

[Spiritqueen1111]

I have a 15 and 11yr old, I give them £5 a week into their own bank accounts (I have main access to them) and they are able to spend that on what they like. I would like them to save it to buy something for themselves but they don't ask for much and the little they do ask for they get it on bdays and Xmas. They usually spend it on their games or at the shop on food treats.
I do say to them they have to help me around the house for that money but they have started walking to and from school themselves so saves me spending so much on petrol and getting stuck in the school run so I'll accept that

[APurpleSquirrel]

We've just started giving DD (8) pocket money - £1 a week. She is free to spend it or save it on whatever she wants (nothing illegal obviously).
Previously we've always put any birthday or Christmas money into her bank account (we have access to it, she does not).
Her birthday was earlier this month, & atm she has kept all the money in her purse.
She has talked about buying herself a new backpack which I'm happy for her to use her birthday money on. The rest of it, I will probably have a conversation with her about possibly putting some of it away in her account especially as Christmas is coming up.

[sparklins]

hopeful bump for the friday night crew!