Pocket Money

[Seagull]

Big debate in the house at the moment. Would like to hear going rates for 9 and 6 year olds. Please help me to pitch the weekly contribution at the going rate. Thank you.

My nearly 6 year old gets 1.50 a week from Nana, her sister is nearly 3 and she gets a pound. I was sick of seeing it wasted on magazines so this month we are saving it to go to the pictures at the end of the month. Ive no idea what the norm is!

My DDs are 11 and 13. 11 has had £10 a month for the last couple of years. 13 has £40 a month but has to buy her own clothes out of it (except school uniform). We only pay up if they have done some chores. If they do extra chores and behave well we pay extra. We pay monthly so that they learn to budget. DD1 spent all her money immediately the first couple of months and had to go without till the following month, but now she budgets well, and runs a mobile phone. She saved up for a VCR for her bedroom and always has money for outings with her friends. We are pleased she learned this skill so young, as a catastrophe at the age of 20 or 25 can mean losing so much more.

I also think that you should not try to pay them more than you can afford. They have to fit in with the family budget too. I know someone who has a daughter of 13 and never gives her any pocket money. Her daughter works in a stables at weekends and earns her own money.

Mine get 50p a week for the 5yr old and 30p for the 3yr old!! The little one hasn't really got a clue about it yet but big dd enjoys adding up her pennies and knows about saving and her bank account and likes to sign her name at the bank. They are allowed to spend 10p a week on sweets and save the rest in their piggy banks. At the moment they're saving up for "holiday money". They both help with chores like setting the table/tidying but get extra if they help with something particular-washing the car/tidying the black hole that is their toybox. HTH.

My nearly 6yo doesn't get any pocket money since it just hasn't come up. He does have a money box with about £5 in it made up of various gifts from people and he also has some child benefit in a savings account (but he doesn't know about it).

We have agreed to start pock mon wiht our dd who is 6 (and money mad) when she is 7. The others will follow on when they turn 7 and like batey we will be giving them 70p at 7, 80p at 8 etc. I can't bear to see them waste money on sweets etc so I buy those on a sat for them (20p) and the rest like www's son they save in money boxes.
Big gifts at xmas and bday we dont mention and they go into savings for when they are MUCH older and understand the value of it.

I have to confess to borrowing from my dds money boxes when things have been tight though

My sons (3 and 5 years old) earn a jellybean everyday that they do what they are told and tidy up after themselves. The beans are put into little glass jars that they decorated themselves. They get an extra bean if they've been particularly helpful - hoovering, gardening, putting away laundry etc.

If they get seven jellybeans in a week, they get one euro pocket money each and they get to eat the jellybeans (if they have earned less than seven, their wicked father eats the beans!)

They also get 5% interest on whatever is in their piggy bank at the end of the week.

Thanks for all the info. Nerdgirl, love the jelly beans idea. The 5% rate is one of the best around at moment!
It looks like £0.90 and £0.60 would be fair. With a little extra for odd jobs.

My daughter is 6 and I've managed to avoid pocket money so far - once you start you can't really stop. She has mentioned it a few times but I've just swiftly changed the subject. But like the sound of 60p.

I've tried linking p.money to a sticker chart for my kids (6 and 4). They have 3 tasks to achieve each day (eg, put used underwear in laundry basket, put away hair accessories). If they achieve all 3 they get a sticker that day. One sticker = 10 p and they can cash in their stickers at the end of the month!

My dd is nearly 6 and the subject of pocket money has never really came up. But in saying that if my aunt and uncle come to visit they always give her a pound and my aunt who visits every week give her a pound as well. Usually she'll put it straight into her teddy bank, (it's not a piggy bank mummy it's in the shape of a teddy so it's a teddy bank!)If she finds pennies lying on the floor in the house or even on the street(a lucky penny) she'll pick them up and put them in her bank as well. Sometimes we'll let her buy some sweets or put her £1 towards a comic but usually she'll put it away in her bank. I think that stems from when we went to Canada on holiday and told her she should save up all her money to spend and she did. She ended up with over £80 to spend on holiday and was very proud of the fact that she had her own money to spend.