How much do teens cost??

[Heatherbell1978]

Inspired by a few threads and now looking for facts! DC are currently 6 and 8 and we're provably in a bit of a sweet spot financially with them as far as buying them 'stuff'.

Neither gets regular pocket money, 8 year old has never really asked! Both happy to wear whatever I buy and thankfully not too brand influenced (yet!), generally happy with getting stuff at Xmas and Birthdays. I do pay about £275 a month in wrap around care and need to shell out for holiday clubs. Don't do loads of expensive days out but occasional trips to zoo etc.

Appreciate that pocket money will become a thing soon and phones in the future.

What does your monthly outlay look like? (I have a boy and a girl if that makes a difference)

I would say you're lucky they're not too brand influenced yet. My daughter is 9 and is very into nike etc...

I find that it varies quite a lot from month to month depending on what’s going on. My DS likes branded clothing but isn’t bothered about really expensive designer stuff, and is happy having a few items that he really likes rather than a bursting wardrobe. Still at school so wearing uniform helps with this, it might change when at college. The only hobby we pay for now is a gym membership and gaming subscription. Topping up his school dinner money account is quite a big outlay. His social life is quite expensive 😆 he likes eating out with friends and doing activities with them etc.

I've consciously always bought them non-branded clothes (Next,M&S etc) so they've always been fairly unaware of brands and it's only now DS is 8 that he's becoming aware of Nike etc mainly through his football. We did buy him quite a cool pair of Pumas recently that he loves but trying to hold off on the branded wardrobe as long as possible...

I'm still waiting and DS is 17.

Most of the costs for us have been food, college transport (over £900 a year), and adult sized clothing and shoes. Tablet, phone, headphones have been for birthdays and Christmases. The huge expense next will be driving lessons.

DS is 12, and he couldn't care less about brands. I've noticed that his clothes are getting more expensive now (I buy basics from Next and M&S, and a few t-shirts etc. from indie brands). We've agreed that if he starts to care more about brands, I'll pay the equivalent of a basic item, then he can make up the difference of the item if he wants to - there's no sign of him actually wanting to do this yet though 😄. I do buy him good shoes, trainers, outdoor kit etc. I try to keep his clothes pool relatively small - so probably more uniform and less casual clothes than you might expect - and this works well for us. I'm sure it all adds up over a year!

DS gets £6 pocket money per week, and usually spends it on computer games or Lego. He isn't into much socialising yet, so I imagine that will increase significantly over time. And he got an iPhone in Year 6 - this seems to be relatively standard around here.

I guess all of the other costs add up as well - school bus, comic and magazine subscriptions, swimming lessons etc. But at least childcare costs have stopped now that he's older. I try to make sure that he gets something useful that he'll probably keep each birthday and Christmas, e.g. a good penknife etc. And we use the library, so he only tends to collect books that he loves. He's also helped to sell some of his old things on eBay.

Food. My god they can eat.

Clothes. Mine aren't interested in brands either but their clothes are still more expensive than when you could get a whole outfit for £16. Also their massive jeans with no Lycra in take up half a washing machine load.

Hobbies. Remember when you introduced them to swimming or football or gymnastics when they were in primary school and you thought it was was delightful? Well now they are good at it so you have to drive them to training two weeknights a week and to competitions an hour and a half away at weekends. And buy the kit that they need that they grow out of almost instantly.

Driving lessons. Absolute nightmare. 💰

Secondary school. Much more expensive uniform. Definitely at least one trip away to Belgium. A phone. Headphones. A laptop.

It's mixed. Oldest (15) isn't into sports brands but she does like UO which is pricey. However she will happily supplement that with H&M or Shein.

Shoes at expensive - converse or Dr Martens. But her feet don't grow anymore and DM's last forever so the £140 makes up for a lot of other pairs.

She gets £20 a month from each of me and her dad - she doesn't go out much so it does her. She does like concerts though so that can be expensive but usually will come at least part from birthday /. Xmas.

Youngest is 11 and very different, brand and appearance obsessed. Always wants to be out with friends and buying crap.

She would spend£100's a month if she could.

A fortune! Mine were/are very brand influenced so it cost a lot to clothe them and feed them. Football kit and subs (had to be the best), cricket kit and membership, musical theatre costumes, brownies and cubs.
Daughter had a pony so she cost a lot to keep but sadly she's gone now.
Money to go out with friends. Cinema and McDs then quickly escalating to Gaucho.
Son - the north face jacket for school, daughter Canada Goose. Both iPhones. Son went from kickers which were about £60 to Prada shoes for school. £400. I haven't bought myself anything other than second hand for years. Glad they are both now adult and working!

Expensive things for us are school transport, music lessons, adult size shoes (and trainers and cadet boots and parade shoes and walking boots…) when they go through their growth spurt. Bracing ourself for driving lessons which are £35/hr and we have money saved to go towards university. We give £5 a week on top of paying for phone and bus which I think is less than a lot of his friends get but he has a part time job lifeguarding.
If you can put some money away for them now you will thank yourself later.

Plus driving lessons and a car each. Money for festivals after GCSEs. Money for first holidays. Laptops. Yep, they cost a fortune, much more than when they were young children.

We have 4 - they (and we) couldn't give a stuff about brands luckily, but our big costs are pocket money/allowances until they get jobs, phone contracts x 4, shoes x 4, stuff for back to school x 4, driving lessons, clubs and activities, and now uni. We will have 2 there next year so will be supporting them to the tune of £1k a month. Oh, and food/utilities as one is partial to at least one long shower a day! Am looking forward to 50% of them being away from home during term time next year 😉

Mine aren't into brands, don't have expensive hobbies, don't get pocket money and don't eat the massive amounts of food people always mention on here.

DS1 does have a pair of Vans that were £70, but they've lasted 2 years. They have cheapish phone contracts (less than £20 each)

For us it’s tech. Dd is now 20 and at university but it’s the cost of things like iPhones, phone contracts (even the cheapest one she can do with is £20 a month for what she needs), laptops that need certain programmes / specs etc, then things like hair straighteners for Christmas (she only likes / wants ghds) blah blah. We’re coming to the end of paying as parents now (thank goodness) and it’s been those things which have been a drain. And the endless petrol for taxi of Mum (rural living, admittedly of course our choice but still hugely expensive). I always laugh when people with small kids say they couldn’t buy branded things / iPhones etc - it’s easy to say that when they’re little and the peer pressure isn’t there. No one wants their kids to feel left out.

*wouldn’t, not couldn’t.

DD is 16, DS is 11.

Neither get pocket money.

We pay out just over 200 a month in extra curriculars for the pair of them. We also save for both of them (not a fortune but it all adds up). DD gets a tenner here and there from us to go out with friends. Her grandma gives her 20 quid a month that she keeps for stuff she wants. DD has a phone (DS doesn't yet) on a cheap contract (about 13 quid a month)

In terms of clothes, I buy lots of their stuff on vinted and in charity shops, with occasional new stuff for birthdays or Christmas.

DS feet growing at an alarming rate so he gets through school shoes, trainers and football boots (studs and the other type for AstroTurf, I think?) very quickly.

Neither are on school dinners which helps bring the cost down.

Don't want to tot it all up, but I'd hazard a guess that the money you spend on wraparound will go straight to other stuff when they get older.

@sawandnotseen, I know it's about personal priorities, but spending £400 on Prada school shoes while only buying secondhand items for yourself sounds unusual. I appreciate that some people might find some of my choices unusual as well though.

There is no way a 14 and a 16 year old don't eat more food than a 6 and 8 year old.

Three teenagers here. Their combined phone bills are around £90 per month. School lunch money is £120 ish (30 a week) plus they take food to school as £2 a day doesn't get much.

One constantly wants new clothes - they don't get everything they want obviously but it is constant.

Eldest has a job so I don't spend anything on him other than phone bill and lunch money.

Grocery bills are high, a meal out is almost impossible, birthday presents tend to be much more expensive as they can't be fobbed off with a pack of new pens and a plushie from their fave film 😂

Teenagers are expensive. We have recently shelled out thousands for driving lessons and he can't even get a re - test booked after he failed with first one cos the system is fucked. So that was literally money down the drain (he's off to uni in September and we can't get a test booked before that)

I found the gifts got more expensive (hair straighteners, phones etc) but they didn't want the party so we spent about the same overall. They eat a lot though! Love their Rustler burgers for eg (🤢).

I found the biggest expense is later teen years when they're studying and still at home. One of mine needed a lot of equipment for her studies and supplementary classes. The other works but lives at home. She gives us some money but not enough to cover her share of bills (on low wage).

Me and dh often remark at how rich we'll be when they leave home. But the youngest is off to college and is being supported by us. Ouch.

Mine are 11, 14, 16. It's not so much monthly costs but one off big ticket items. Neither of my teens are particularly in to branded clothes, though one had DM boots for Christmas. They do do a lot of activities though.

Things I can think of off the top of my head that I pay for my teens that I probably didn't pay when they were younger, annual costs per child:

£500 Annual bus pass for school
£240 new Chrome book (every 3-5 yrs)
£150 new phone (every 3 years)
£250 pocket money (£5 per week)
£800 lunch money (£4-5/day X 39 weeks)
£80 bronze DofE expeditions
£250 silver DofE expeditions
£900 school ski trip
£350 school language trip
£500 climbing
£660 per instrument lessons (2 each)
£80 hockey
£72 cadets
£180 other cadets
£200 cadet camp
£360 driving school
£180 trampolining
£100 various other school trips/performances
£150 prom outfit/ticket etc
£xxx unknown petrol and time to get them about everywhere!
£xxx unknown clothing/equipment for all above activities

So just on costs above I reckon we've spent around £6k on one teen and about £3.5k on the other, plus food, clothes, petrol.

Other costs:
Private ADHD/autism assessment plus counselling sessions and medication reviews £5-6k

Braces £4.5k

We are very fortunate that we can afford these things, obviously there are quite a few non essentials in there, and we did say no to another couple of expensive abroad school trips. We could cut back if needed but we've always said if there's something they want to do, we will do our best to facilitate it, if it's within our abilities to do so.

Actually not too bad. Neither cares about brands, and both would rather wear the same few things until they have holes in than engage in any conversations about shopping, so clothes cheap. Phones only eight quid a month each, with a new phone bought every four or five years. Just bought older one a laptop. Pocket money not much, they're not fussed about going out or buying stuff. Main costs are private school fees (obviously a choice, on the plus side they cover all activities so no extra clubs etc), school uniform, food (they eat a lot and they like nice food, so any eating out is much more expensive now) - and oh god, the braces!!

I don't have DC but I can see from two of my nephews that it varies enormously even within families. One never seems to ever want anything, not interested in clothes, trainers, hobbies, anything much really. His brother is the type who has to have everything expensive all the time and has a never ending wish list of branded clothing and trainers, certain types of food, latest phone, hair cut in the fancy salon etc etc etc. He could probably blow through hundreds, if not £1k+ pm if he got everything he wanted, which he doesn't, far from it.

But you just have to do the best you can with what you have. MN will tell you that they 'have' to have X, Y or Z but the reality is that they don't need a lot of it and if it's not within your means it can't happen.

If they don't want things now and you have money available that you feel you should be spending on them, just save/invest it. Then it's available if things change, and if it doesn't, you'll have a great chunk of money that you'll be able to give them for driving lessons and car, towards university costs, or even a house deposit. Far better use of money than spending for the sake of it now, because you feel that you should.

Oh yes, travel. Holidays are more expensive now (the 15 year old now counts as an adult everywhere, I wouldn't do a family room any more, they need a bit more entertainment than a bucket and spade, and eating out costs a lot more), plus we've done a couple of overseas school trips, maybe £500 a year each on average. Plus music lessons and instruments.

And agree about kids not 'having' to have stuff. There is just no way on earth I would ever buy my children a Canada Goose coat or a brand new iPhone. It amazes me that some parents don't seem to feel they have any choice over these things. Just say no!

It's entirely up to you. Our teens have a set budget of £1k a year. All clothes / treats come out of it and it works well for us (and them).