Allowance - how much?

[allaboutthecrisps]

Our DD is 14 and we think it might be time for her to have an allowance. She is very sensible and not very practised at shopping/ getting into and back from town on her own.

We would continue to buy school uniform and a pair of black shoes.

We think her allowance would cover all other clothing, haircuts, presents for friends, usual pocket money spends (books, occasional sweets, electronic things like headphones etc.), any lunches out with friends (not with us, we'd pay for those - lunches out with friends are v. v. rare and cheap), travel to/ from town (she can walk if she wants but there are bus options too).

We were thinking of £50 a month. How does this compare to what others get?

This will not be directly tied to household tasks as we're not sure that's an idea we really want to get behind given that household tasks are something we all have to do without financial reward, but just for context, she is pretty good at this kind of stuff. Today she made me lunch and is cleaning the bathroom for example, and takes full responsibility for her own room cleaning and tidying.

That doesn't seem a lot to cover all those things to me.

Honestly I think if shes supposed to buy all other clothes other than uniform then £50 is stingy. You're expecting that £50 to go very far.

I think a monthly bus pass, two batch clothes shops a year, and 50 per month for weekend spends would be more appropriate.

Have you costed up that great long list of things you think she should be able to cover on £50 per month?!

Because I for one would love to know how you calculated that she'd be able to pay for all that on £50pm.

We think her allowance would cover:

- all other clothing,
- haircuts,
- presents for friends,
- usual pocket money spends (books, occasional sweets, electronic things like headphones etc.),
- any lunches out with friends (not with us, we'd pay for those - lunches out with friends are v. v. rare and cheap),
- travel to/ from town (she can walk if she wants but there are bus options too).

£50 a month won't cover all of those things, and I don't think it's fair to expect a teenager to run a monthly budget to include more expensive essentials like haircuts.

We pay for everything and then give £10 per week just for fun money. At this age managing a budget is just about allocating how much fun you can have for your money before you run out. The rest are adult concerns.

This is very dependent on what the usual things she would have access to costs.

My haircut is £9 and I go twice a year so this isn't a significant cost. If she has a £25 hair cut once every 2 months it would be a quarter of her allowance.

I think I would think:

1. Lunches - presumably £10 say, once a month?
2. Presents for friends (and family)? If so then Christmas might be at least £50 and then family presents £30 (2 parents and a sibling) and then 4 friends at £10 each would be £120 (so £10 a month) before anything like mother's day or father's day or grandparents. (£20 running total so far, or possibly £32.50 if she has a haircut every couple of months)
3. Books/sweets etc isn't going to be less than £10 a month really surely, even if it's just 1 book and two bars of Cadbury's. (£30 or £42.50).

So that then leaves somewhere between £7.50 and £17.50 for any public transport costs and any/all clothes and shoes. Presumably most children will need trainers and sandals at a minimum which would be £20 a pair unless they buy very cheap shoes. £7.50 would give £90 a year, £17.50 £210 a year (minus haircuts). So it might be okay if she doesn't have regular haircuts and doesn't spend more than £10 a month going out with friends, or if she doesn't need to buy family presents from it, or if she doesn't need many non-school clothes. But for all those things it might be quite tight?

Working on a 4 week month that's £12.50 a week. I appreciate she may not go out much but if you expect her to cover all that it doesn't sound enough to me.

How much do you normally spend on her clothes/hair cuts at the moment?

My teen gets £10 a week, a bus pass, phone paid , haircuts , cinema membership , all family days out and all clothes unless non essential so if she wants £100 trainers she would pay £40 towards them . Or she wants a t shirt when she has a wardrobe full etc.
So the £10 is just non essential clothes, lunches and days out with friends and gifts for others.

£50 a month for everything is incredibly stingy!

My son's had £35 a month the last couple of years, and we pay for his clothes, his haircuts, his music lessons and while he was using it his bus-pass to get to school.

(Admittedly, he's just given up his small job because he doesn't need the money more than the socialising time...)

How much would you normally expect to spend on her clothes? What would a suitable haircut cost? Do you want her to be able to keep up her wardrobe without much thought or to have to balance a new lipstick against a box of chocolates?

(oh yes, we pay his phone too)

I have a 15 year old ds. I pay for his phone, gym membership, bus pass, school uniform, hair cuts and two £50 clothes shops per year. He gets £30 a month for fun money. Often it's not quite enough and he has to earn more or cut back spending - like we all do. I think it's fine OP

I'd not be expecting £50 to cover the haircuts, new headphones/electronics or clothes.
£50 for travel, odd lunch or cinema, Birthday, sweets/a book- yes, although I'd probably be looking at paying it weekly to make it easier to manage and upping it to even £15 a wk.

Thanks all. This is very helpful. To answer some of the questions (and to think more myself), she has an easy to manage straight haircut of long hair so we go around twice a year and it's £15 each time. There is no need for a bus pass as we are close enough to walk everywhere, so bus would be an unnecessary extra (happy for her to pay for this 'luxury' but it's not essential and in reality she does around twice a year. She has an excellent school library and borrows a lot of books from friends plus has a kindle where you can borrow from the library so in reality spends less than £2 a month on books I think. We pay for her phone at £10 a month. She is fully grown so there is no need for a new wardrobe as she grows. I think I have spent around £100 on clothes for her over the past year, in addition to pricier items she has requested for birthday/ xmas. They buy us a nice bar of chocolate at around £1.50 each for birthday presents and we don't exchange presents at other times other than Xmas when they don't buy us anything. We are very happy with this as there is nothing we really want as we're not hugely materialistic. I'd buy her trainers too as she needs them for school though if she wanted a more exoensive than they need to be pair she could top up (she is not into trainers at all, she loves her DMs which she wears all the time). If we went by what has happened in the past then Xmas presents for friends is £10 all in. She made earrings for friends this year. Very thoughtful but not expensive. There are around 6 friends she is close enough to to buy birthday presents, and that would generally be around £50 all in. I think we have had to live off very little money when she was little so we are very good at not spending. She would not spend as much as £10 out at lunch, though neither would we. There are many places where you can get a nice lunch for nearer to £5. It's interesting to hear how much others are given though.

What's fair depends on your standard of living as a family. Remember it is easier to increase it than decrease it if you pick the wrong amount. It makes a difference what you are currently funding, although if course the point of this is she can choose an expensive haircut by walking everywhere and eBay clothes, vs a cheap haircut and new from the shop clothes. Or rags and taxis everywhere. But there should be enough in the pot to maintain her at the same standard of living as the rest of the family, whether she uses it well or not.

BTW we also buy her basic toiletries inc face cleanser, toner and moisturizer (supermarket own brand but seems fine and is the same as what I use), so she would not have to get that sort of stuff though if she wanted pricier extra she would.

£12.50 per week approx I don't think will cover all that. But many have much less so there is not a right answer . I would cover haircuts which are reasonable ( by which I mean I mean not expensive cut and colour type things ) and clothes when just necessary because of growing out or they get a bit tired or shoes get a bit crap kind of things rather than "just because" kind of clothes - I would count earphones and that kind of thing as presents so you could buy them for birthday or Christmas - I think the £50 would cover coffees or a book or possibly saving up for something - but I would not say £50 per month will buy all non school clothing & haircuts and various earphones etc. And for avoidance of doubt if there is no more money - there is not so not a choice. The way we went was clothes ( where necessary - we paid - haircuts we paid ( but a DS not a DD so they aren't that expensive - well not for mine ) We also paid for a monthly phone bill.

I used to get £50 a month when I was her age. I'm now 32 and I can't imagine it getting as far now.

But, what really matters is how much you can afford.

@NinetyNineRedBalloonsGoBy you spend £100 a year for clothes for a 15 year old boy? That would only get you a pair of trainers a hoody and a couple of Tshirts at best.

Thanks @Love51

That is a really good point. I think £50 really would put her at the same standard as she has been used to or possibly more, but with more flexibility re: how she spends it, which is the point I guess. Perhaps relevant for context, she currently has £6 a month pocket money and that has never been a problem. Her grandad gives her money every birthday which she also uses more steadily through the year so in reality I think she is spending around £12 a month and is already buying the odd item of extra clothing she wants.

That’s very stingy.

@MyDcAreMarvel

She's a 14 year old girl. Not sure if they are cheaper??
Yes around £100 as everything still fits from last year. I got her a couple of pair of trouser/ jeggings (what she likes to wear), pair of summer sliders from primark (still going strong), shorts, top, t-shirt, and a hoodie and swimming costume. I totted up the cost of this and it really was about £100, though we are used to bargain hunting and a lot of it was in the sales.

This was on top of 'school shoes' which are actually leather black converse so she wears them elsewhere too.

I'm thinking maybe we should say we will also buy her bras and basic undies. Notleast as she is very big busted so can really only buy more expensive bras as places like primark don't go big enough in the cup with the smaller band.

Perhaps should also add that we pay for her lunches at school once a week and the rest of the time provide stuff for her to take in as a packed lunch so it would not be expected to cover meals at school.

Do you want her to be able to keep up her wardrobe without much thought or to have to balance a new lipstick against a box of chocolates?

Definitely would want her to balance a new lipstick against a box of chocolates - her dad and I still have to do that though we consider our selves financially secure. I want her to learn ways to live which mean she can feel quite happy without being loaded as I have friends who grew up in the lap of luxury and then struggled to live off the normal amounts of money someone in their early 20's often earns.