How much do your teenagers cost you per month?

[bodgersmash]

Before people say he needs to get a job - DS is too young for a proper job, has applied for paper rounds without success so far.

He's costing me a bloody fortune at the moment and I'm trying to work out what's reasonable and what's not.

If you have teens, how much do they cost you per month? And what are your "rules" about handing out money for clothes, shoes, trips out with friends and so on?

At the moment we have...
-lunch money for school

• phone bill
• clothes and shoes which seem outrageously expensive even for "regular" brand names like Nike
• hobby fees
• hobby uniform and equipment
• money to socialise with friends
• taxis for lifts to places when I'm working

It's all really adding up. We're not short of cash but I hate the idea of just handing out money willy nilly with no parameters. I don't have many jobs at home that need his help, but he does help out when asked to do so.

What do others do with their teens?

I have 4 teenagers, they are very expensive. DS1 we support at Uni with accommodation costs, pay to maintain his car ( insurance/ tax/ repairs) as he needs it to get to valuable work experience opportunities. Ds2 we give him £100 a month, he does work part time and we have recently paid for driving lessons. Ds3 has £120 a month allowance for clothes etc, bus pass is £400 a year, he is not interested in getting a job ! DD is 14, costs quite a bit in football subs, hairdressers, clothes etc. The boys costs huge amounts in food and clothing when they were early teens.

I should also add we pay for 3 youngest phone contracts.

Mine cost me my sanity! Can you put a price on that

How much is phone contract? Some are ridiculous, and there's no way I'd have a teen with an expensive contract.

The only thing I'd say was too much was money for socialising with friends. I'd say he should save his birthday or Christmas money, or do jobs for family members to earn himself some cash.

@Louise91417

Phone contract is not much per month tbh - he has an old-ish iPhone which he paid half for and I pay the bill on a sim only.

It's clothes and shoes that stagger me - £40-£50 for hoodies, £80+ for trainers, football boots, and astros

It just seems that everything is so bloody expensive. Not sure whether to increase his allowance and make him pay/budget for everything non-school related out of that or what the solution is.

My DCs seem to think I have a budget roughly on par with Bill Gates.

Give him a modest clothing allowance and introduce him to the concept of charity shops. Our teens happily get all their clothes there.

Each time they grow, then obviously shoes (+ sports footwear) does have to be replaced, but even during a growth spurt that isn't a monthly expense. I've never paid £40 or £50 on a hoodie. If they wanted something that expensive then it goes on their birthday or Christmas list and / or they save up pocket money towards it.
I do see 'subs' and costs of camps etc as being part of the cost of having dc - I encourage them to do such activities so wouldn't put it in their budget as I would be disappointed had they given it up.
Lunches -yes- and the amount of food in the house - yes - is a big cost whilst they are teens, but it is still cheaper than paying for child care.

We pay for:
School lunches
Phone bill (£12 pm)
Hobby fees and kit/equipment
Clothing/shoes as and when they need replacing or need more clothes. But for clothing we don’t buy designer/expensive clothing unless it’s for a birthday/Christmas presents.

My son (15) referees once a week and gets paid £20 per match so he is expected to pay for trips out with friends, any extra clothing he wants etc from that money.
We’re in London so he has free bus travel to get around with his friends

Teens 15 and 13

• Expected to mostly take packed lunches; they get enough lunch money for approx one meal a week at school

• £5 per month PAYG phone

• Music lessons (although relatively cheap through school) £12 a lesson

• £9.50 a month gym membership

• DS climbs which is £10 a week, otherwise their hobbies are free :)

• £30 monthly allowance (to cover birthdays, going out, non-basic clothing)

• They are mostly expected to buy "basic" items of clothing - they both have one pair of more expensive shoes (£60 Vans/Converse) and 1 branded clothing item. Other than that they only get expensive clothing for birthday/Christmas.

• If we/friends' parents can't offer lifts, they get the bus (£1)

Lunches are around £60 a month each , mobile £15, clothes I tend to buy twice a year to match seasons and they aren’t into brands. Hobbies minimal costs and they get an allowance each month to fritter away on bits and pieces.

Bloody fortune! Each DC get £50 month lunch credit, £25 mobile, £10 pocket money, Music lessons £70, Sports clubs £50. I buy all school wear and travel cards and basic non-uniform clothing. all in about £250 per DC.

My teen is only 13 but there's no way I'd spend that much on clothes for her!
Mine does have a job so she buys clothes out of that if she wants anything more expensive than primark.
We pay £25 for phone (half each), school food is capped at £5 a day (she's also there for breakfast).
I'd sit down and work out a reasonable amount then give him a monthly payment and he budgets for his own things out of that. It's amazing how they suddenly don't want the expensive items when it's 'their' money they are spending on it.

Mine has her £80 cb and buys most things from this.
Sibling pays her phone contract, very cheap though. We pay any transport, isn't much.

Too much I don't add it up often as it's a bit scary...

Youngest worked out we spend about £3k per year on her hobby if you include all incidental costs...

£200 each on allowance,phone contracts
and contact lenses
Clothes about £1k a year each
£20 hear and there for cinema, pizza etc
It's really why I work

5adult DD's here. Back in the day we paid all phone contracts, all expenses connected to education and extra curricular including all sports gear/educational trips etc. Basic clothing i.e uniform, coat, shoes, boots, trainers [Branded!] and a fairly basic wardrobe as per their fashion choices within reason. On top of that we gave them the equivalent of the child benefit by way of a monthly allowance. It was their choice what that was spent on but it was mainly used for socialising and buying any high end clothing not met by the standard wardrobe purchases. I'd say cover the basics and then give them an allowance for the rest and let them learn that money is limited not endless!

Loads. Both at uni. Both have pt jobs.

Loads, just loads.

I currently pay £15/week school dinners, £10/week sports, £30/month phone contract, £5/week pocket money (her dad gives her the same). So roughly £150/month.

I will buy clothes that she needs but expensive items are for birthday/Xmas. Make up, socialising etc is largely for her to pay for but I tend to be more generous with pocket money in the summer holidays to support this.

Kids cost alot. You have to feed and clothe them. Sport and extracurricular activities cost too (my sons rugby was about £300 a year due to club fees, match fees, transport, decent mouthguard etc).
The main cost difference between my kids is one is totally obsessed with clothes and goes out alot. The other is happy with supermarket clothes with the odd branded item and can go out to a shopping mall all day and only spend £6. Happily the spender now has a part time job.
Budgeting is a skill we should all make sure our kids have.

As expensive as I allow. DD is 13 and I pay £9 a month phone bill and give her a fiver a week pocket money in exchange for her doing the dishes and helping with the laundry.
Her hobby (Guides) is £2 a week and lunch is £2.50 5 days a week. So that's roughly £87 a month. Clothes and shoes are bought on an as needed basis so definitely not every month. And even then she's not getting top of the range crazy priced stuff.

DD1 (18) - in theory £5. That's the cost of her mobile phone, SIM only contract I set up for her years ago and have kept on as she's just gone to Uni. At the moment her load/grant is paying for everything else, but we have chosen to send her some money for groceries voluntarily. Pocket money no longer paid, but I've still bought her a few bits and pieces and sent them to her at her flat.

DD2 (15) is at home. She costs £5 phone. £30 ice skating lessons. Perhaps £25 on smellies/clothes/fripperies a month. And £30 school dinner money and £25 pocket money.

16 yr old.She gets £80 pm.Takes packed lunches to college.
£20 pm contact lens,£10phone,SIM only.I have bought her a base wardrobe including winter coat and boots.
Bus pass is £980 a year.I also buy all the materials,school payments for her coarse materials.
Her father gives me £85 pm.He to obviously(self employed)can't afford more but can afford a £6000 adventure holiday for them both.

Clothes/shoes/football boots - I've saved a fortune buying on Ebay. You can get great 'nearly new' bargains. With shoes, I usually buy for the next size up, so I've got time to search/bid before my son has suddenly gone up a size

Phone contract £30 pm
Lunches £100pm
Pocket money £80pm
Gym £16pm
Birchbox £10pm

Any expensive items she either saves for or will get from birthday/Xmas money.

She rarely asks for anything additional to the above