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?

DD17 gets a packed lunch going to school, so obviously that is paid for as part of the shopping.
Phone- i top her up by €10 per month (she uses home WiFi
Clothing- she gets at birthday (sept), Christmas and summer from us up to €150 each time. But she is in school so wears her uniform 5 days of the week.
She gets a lift places from us as we live rurally or I will drive her to the nearest bus stop.
HOWEVER she does have a holiday/weekend job that pays her €10.20 an hour (she does a max of two 4 hour shifts) so she had a lot of her own money for whatever extras she needs. She saves quite a bit too though.

Her hobbies I pay for too as she has been doing them since the age of 4 (and they were my idea as such)

It’s probably the most expensive age. We have
Occasional socialising (cinema/pizza)
Clothes - some charity shop/Primark
Music lessons
Sports lessons
Phone
Spotify
Make-Up/skin care
Then other things like school trips/D of E
She’s not designer clothing orientated or hardly ever asking for anything than the most basic - but it’s still expensive.
She’s looking forward to getting a job!

School lunches @ £3/day = approx £60 pm.
Bus pass card that auto tops up when low approx £30 pm
Phone £27 pm
Pocket money £25 pm
Extras- trips/school equipment as needed. Climbing approx £30 pm, extra money for seeing friends/food when out etc probably £40-50 pm.

No wonder I don’t ever add it up!

Alot

Why do very few of you send your teens in with a packed lunch?? If my dd wants to buy lunch then she has to use her own money!!

14 years old, £50 directly into her account each month for her to spend as she wishes. We buy her all necessaries, including clothes. Her money is more for a bit of independence to choose things and buy birthday/Christmas presents.

She takes a packed lunch, she got fed up with queues in the school canteen - was spending about £20 per week there beforehand.

Clubs - drama, music, swimming. Probably about £50 per week now I think if it.

We sub her if she’s going out. She’s cost me a fortune over Xmas with ice skating (4 times at £13 a pop) and lunches or whatever. We always give her £20 if she’s going skating or to the cinema, inclusive of the cost of the ticket.

On a wider basis, I save £400 per month towards her university costs and first car. Started saving when she was 12. It feels like a lot of money to be putting away, however I should hopefully have 21k for university accommodation and 5k for a car when required. She may not need a car until she’s much older.

She hardly ever asks for anything. Concert tickets are a fortune though. And merchandise. And school trips....god I don’t want to think about it.

DSS is 15 he costs us the following a month

£85 bus pass to get to school (not his fault)
£40 phone contract
£85 pocket money -£20 a week for which he has to hoover his floor of the house clean his shower room and help tidy up after dinner every night.
He has to use his pocket money for socialising eg going to the cinema nandos etc.
£85 a month school lunch money. Refuses to take packed lunch as it's embarrassing.
£80 hobby. Loves an expensive sport.

With regards to clothes we buy him what he needs eg 1 pair of trainers at £150 is enough! Will buy Hollister etc. He recently decided he wanted Armani tops and Calvin Klein pants etc and they were a present from Santa.

He also doesn't stop eating and costs a fortune to feed.

A lot one DS does ballet and that alone is £100 a week not factoring in fuel, clothes etc.

He does seem to live a somewhat charmed existence. How many hobbies does he have, how many fees can there be? He could find free hobbies. Socializing with friends doesn't always have to cost money. People generally don't need much new designer equipment, more often they want. Taxis, for a teenager, seems like madness to me though I may be old fashioned. But that's exactly what bikes are for. And buying lunch every day? That's exactly what sandwiches are for...

My teen is 15. He costs me £15 per week school dinners, £3.50 pw (I’ve divided annual fee by 52) is £3.80. He pays for his own fee’s for another team he plays at (£3 a game). I give him £25 pocket money and he doesn’t have clothes monthly. If he needs trainers / football boots or clothes he gets them and he buys some with his own money.

Ah, is this the thread that made some people think teens cost £1k/month. My teens don't have hobbies, not ones I fund, anyway.

Per year I reckon my teens cost between £1k & £22k, depending how you count. Median = about £300/month including all food & travel.

...The Q to buy canteen food at school is so long that most kids seem to prefer to bring own, rather than waste lunchtime in the Q.

£15- 20ish for school lunches
Phone is about £22 but will reduce this to sim only when her contract is up .
Hobby is £15 a lesson and she usually has one a week but 2 in the school holidays .
Clothes etc for hobby but most of it is mine.
She doesn’t care about clothes/ trainers so gets hoodies leggings when I see them in the sales .
She doesn’t wear makeup and uses whatever generic shampoo we have in the shower .
I give her £20 if she’s going out with her friends which isn’t very often .