How much does your teen cost?

[candlelightees]

I am a teacher and yesterday I overheard some cheeky chappies saying the government pays for them in the form of child benefit. This opened a discussion. Other students chipped in. It seemed some were self aware, others not so much.

I added up my own teen cost minus the grocery/household share. Didn't realise how expensive they actually are.

Transport- £20
Lunch money-£60
Counselling- £180
Clothes-£50 (always something wearing out)
Horesriding-£100
Pocket money-£100
Phone bill-£50
Total £560

Plus the commom texts. ' please can I have £20 to go out with so and so?' Can I get my nails, eyelashes, highlights done?

I realise a lot of this could be cut. But I think lots of people spend a lot on teens. They are bloody expensive.

The point of the comment @NormaleKartoffeln, was to respond to the ops question 'how much do your teens cost.'

But teens don't have to eat the expensive fruit. Never mind. Moving on.

Gym membership...£30
Phone £10
Pocket money £30

No transport costs
Takes packed lunch to college

Clothes are ad hoc obviously... branded stuff I often buy on vinted or sports direct. He's also happy in primark tracksuit bottoms and other basics.

He doesn't ask for much and is not particularly materialistic luckily!

Per month:
Drama class £72
Scouts £20
Hockey £40
Swimming £45
French lesson £74
Pocket money £40
School bus fare £96
Phone £24
Clothes/sports gear £60
Birthday parties/presents £35
Hair cut £15
Dentist £10
School trips £80
School dinners £60

If she wants to go out with her friends or buy a drink or snack out and about she has to use her pocket money. We buy clothes she needs but if she wants something else eg something branded she had to buy it herself. Likewise with nails she has to spend her own money, hence only once or twice a year!

Mine is likely mostly adding to the food bill. Youngest plays an instrument but is partly funded so only costs me £45 a term. Eldest does military cadets which is only £6 a month (amazing value for what they do).

I have the same sex so pass clothes down, I only budget about £300 in spring and again in autumn to update wardrobes.

Phone costs me £8 a month.

The expensive bit is the 'fun' stuff. Spend £500 each on birthday, £500 on Christmas each, we spend about £8000 a year on holidays (total). Oh and £1200 a year in school trips. Looking at my spreadsheet I have about £1500 saved for school holidays.

So if I add all the above (only half of the holiday sum) and add half of my annual food bill, I would estimate it's about £1100 a month. Although doesn't include savings for them, and I suppose other things that come up as hoc like decorating rooms, tech update etc.

But it is far less than what I spent on childcare in those early days. And much of this is entirely discretionary.

Oh forgot about pocket money, only do £30 a month each currently.

DS15

£60 piano
£15 football
£12 phone
£80 school dinners
£50 other food (he's having extra meals to everyone else)
£20 clothes
£15 bloody game pass
So £252

Meh. He's worth it.

Why on earth are you paying all this out for a 17 year old she should get a job and pay for herself. Why can't she use her pocket money to pay for her own clothes and phone. This is not normal she's spoilt

Allowance £80
Tutor £80
School canteen £60
Gym £30
Phone £30
Essential clothes / shoes £25
Hair / nails - twice a year

The poster who said that food costs are absorbed into grocery. They are, but I was just guessing what proportion of my grocery bill would disappear of my teen moved out and hot a job. To me food is the main have to have of a teen. They can do without clubs. Clothes just have to match your budget.

Like many PPs, we have 2 phones(Christmas gifts),car insurance, driving lessons, bus pass. Once at college, my rule was the equivalent cost of school uniform was theirs to use on clothes of their choice. Any extras they pay for.
Fancy toiletries, trainers, high end clothes, cinema tickets etc., they buy themselves and they top up earnings from part time jobs selling on Vinted.

Lunches god knows the cost per month i just pay it.
50 per week spending money
Phone bill around 70 per month
That's it

Per Month for DS 16
Approx £80 School Lunches
Gym £24
£30 Hair Cuts
£40 Money for Shop when out and about
£40 Two Takeaways Per Month
£20 Toiletries

Plus season ticket for Football Club (more then willing to pay this as it gets him out and about)

Playstation (DH sorts)

Phone £50

He doesn't ask for a much else. Looks after his clothes, trainers, coats etc so they last well and look decent.

Plus DH works away and he looks after younger brother whilst I get an hour at the gym a few times a week. Also keeps bedroom tidy, washes his dishes and gives me a hand with whatever if needed.

My 15 year old:

pocket money - £10
phone - £10
tutoring (math and English) - £190
music lessons (2 instruments) - £270
petrol to get him around for lessons and bands - £30
total - £510

Obviously, there are ad hoc costs like clothes, haircuts etc. But we use Vinted mainly, he makes his own packed lunches etc.

Oh and twice a months maths tuition 100 pound

£70 a month on a phone contract they saw you coming

Ok when DS was 17 and at college ( uni now)

Fares ( had a student pass) £50 ish
Luches £60
Clothes £25
Driving lessons 100

Car insurance £23 ( was £270 for year on provisional

He paid £7 on his phone, any extra clothes and spends from his p/t job.

£100 for the bus! Good god it was £13 for the months when I was at school 😂

Im so sorry for all the parents paying such huge bus fares....it's free in London

£70. school bus fare
£80. pocket money (maintenance from dad now goes to her bank)
£100 maths tutor
£50. Phone
£70 School lunch
£25. Skin care
£15. Haircut (£43 but only cut every 3 months at mo.)
£40 clothes, but not every month
£50? Miscellaneous - school trips, school hoody, money towards lunch out or trip with friends.

£500

She saves birthday/Christmas money plus pocket money for clothes, make-up & books, although occasionally I help with make-up & books. She loves reading.

Just spent a ridiculous amount on her prom dress. She did offer to pay towards it but she's working so hard on her studies, & has a lot to deal with (I have stage 4 cancer, her dad is a pratt, she is autistic) I wanted to treat her.

Tell me about it @overthinkersanonnymus!

It's a private bus company to school, which isn't a public bus (there isn't one), and they have zero competition so can charge what they like. And do.

Your phone bill seems high - we use ID or Smarty and can get unlimited calls for £10-12. Obviously if he is downloading loads of things you might need to pay more.

Clothes for girls seem to be more expensive and haircuts of course. The cost of a new blazer every other term is about the same as your clothing costs for a month!

If it's including their food, for ds2 (17) I'd guess at around:

Food: 150 maybe?
Pocket money : 25
Clothes/shoes : 50

That's it, pretty much. His pocket money is matched by his dad and his grandparents so he gets £75 a month total, but he only needs it for socialising- we buy any school supplies or extras.

His dad pays for his phone, badminton and most major expenses for school like trips. I have no idea how much he spends (we're divorced).

DS2 thinks he's very lucky and is aware that he's privileged, even compared to some of his circle of friends. He rarely asks for anything, but if he wants something expensive (like the new phone he got recently) he'll ask for it for his birthday or Christmas.

@Comedycook thankfully mine can walk to school, but if they hadn't got into that school (no guarantee, weird admission policy) it would have cost us £200 per month to bus them to school because we'd have had to 'choose' that school, because the other options are within 4 miles, awful schools which is why we wouldn't have picked them either way, but even if we were happy with them they were too far to independently get to despite being within the 4 miles limit due to the dangerous roads (including a dual carriageway), so we'd be liable for transport.

Public transport out of London (or big cities at least) is too often shite, and with academies with their own bizarre admission policies the whole system is broken in my town, resulting in kids being car transported to schools other side of town and vice versa. The whole thing is ridiculous.

Just anecdotally reading this thread, the girls are costing a lot more than the boys.