How does pocket money work in your house?

[applefigs]

DS is 6.5 and I want to start giving him some pocket money. I have set up an account where he can have a pre-paid card, but maybe it's better to have physical coins so he can better understand the concept of money?

How much do you give your DC? Do they have to do specific tasks/chores to get it? Via bank account or cash?

DD1 is 5.5, and she gets £1 a week – a physical coin. We'll move to a card later, but at this stage, I want the physical coin to help reinforce how much she's got, that it can only be spent once, and also help with learning the different coins and their values.

For us, it isn't tied to chores. She does chores because she's a member of the household. She gets pocket money because she's a member of the household, and, budget permitting, we all have a certain amount of money to spend as we like.

We tend to buy things for the kids that they really want so they save and work up to it.

We live in SE England and they can't buy much at all for less than £5. Obviously they can buy sweets but I'm trying to teach them that money goes further than sweets ... except a couple of quid doesn't.

I have a 4 & 6 year old and don't want to start with a fiver now as where do we go when they are older 🫣

Will be reading other responses with interest x

That's a very timely thread as I am thinking about the same for my 5.5 year old, I was thinking a pound a week, pocket money isn't because I want him to buy loads of useful stuff every week (like an allowance) actually I want him not to have enough money and therefore to budget and not spend it some weeks.
Although I don't think I need to teach him delayed gratification as he has been able to defer meal times ever since he was a toddler with no issues....😐getting him to the table is always a challenge.

DS is now 5 ~

I put £5 every week/birthday money on his GoHenry (I did change his DOB on the app for this 🤫) which is mostly saved but he'll use occasionally if he wants a bigger toy.

I'll give him 20p/50p in cash for little jobs around the house. Not normal 'pulling his weight stuff' but more like when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to go upstairs for my shoes 😂 This goes in his wallet and he uses for sweets/hot-wheels.

I prefer it this way as I don't want him thinking he can regularly spend all his GoHenry money on sweets/kinder eggs 😂 But gives him another means to pay and he can count out his coins/physically plan his purchases.

DD is 10 and gets £5 a week into her Junior ISA, and £5 a week on her gohenry (plus extra for finishing any missions etc). She's brilliant at saving.

I think this is a healthy approach to take. We did this. Pocket money increased a bit each birthday. 16 year old gets £12.50.

12 year old gets £10 a month
6 1/2 gets £5 a month,
Both given at the beginning of the month

I used to do coins at £2 and £1 a week respectively. However as I never use cash myself I really struggled to have pound coins and had to keep going to the bank to withdraw bags of coins!

Also younger DD needs to spend money as soon as she gets it, and you can't get anything for £1! At least with the fiver she might get something and she knows it's then gone for the rest of the month!

We don’t give coins per se, we have a big whiteboard and created a ‘heart chart’ - each heart is 0.25p and they get them for making beds, helping unload dishwasher etc.

They can ‘cash out’ whenever they want, or they can save them. My daughter has 60 hearts, she has her eye on something in particular so will likely build hers up for a while. I found when I physically gave them a £1 or so a week, they’d just spend it in the shop on tat. I like it’s something they can see and it’s similar to a little savings account.

Completely agree with @skkyelark with the whole "For us, it isn't tied to chores. She does chores because she's a member of the household. She gets pocket money because she's a member of the household, and, budget permitting, we all have a certain amount of money to spend as we like."

Mine are now adults, good at budgeting and it started young. They can apply what can I buy for £1 when looking at things they like and save up too if needed. I never paid them for chores as they are non-negotiable, just like doing laundry and wearing clean clothes. They would lose tech for chore refusal but would still get the pocket money because tech had way more sway than money. However, they never forgot chores because they had a physical tick list to set them up for success rather than remembering to empty the bin etc.

No one pays any adult to empty a dishwasher so I don't believe children should be paid for chores either. We are teaching them to become fully functioning adults, chores are just part of it.

When DD was little it was £1 per year of age. Now she's £14 she gets the child benefit and uses that for all her wants. I buy her needs.

100% agree with this, we never incentivise chores - you do them because you live in the house and as a member of the household, you contribute to keeping it clean and running smoothly!

You're paying your 5 year old to run upstairs and get your shoes?! We do little favours for others in our house, help each other out, nobody is paying anybody else. I know it's not the point of the thread but it's far nicer to ask your dc nicely if they'll please get your shoes not have them thinking that helping family members out always leads to being paid.

Pocket money starts after 5th birthday and they get 80p per year of age per month. The idea is it will still be fair for each child if we increase the 80p due to inflation. Pocket money isn't tied to chores. It is only taken away if you have been careless with other people's things and need to pay towards replacing them. It's paid in cash.

DS1 is 6 he gets a physical £2 a week if he completes his chores for the week - putting away his clean clothes, getting his school uniform ready and helping set and clear away the table.

@Bbq1 I knew as I was typing it there would be better examples, but couldn't think of any 😛 I would say 90% of the time he'll do whatever without being 'paid' but if I have a bit of change nearby I'll spice up the deal! It's deffo not an every time sort of thing 😂

I pay my daughter a £ to give me her signature ‘facial’ which includes wiping my face with a damp flannel and smothering coconut oil all over my face 🤣. She’s pretty much started a business out of me. I’ll take anything for a lay down and a bit of pampering 🙌🏼

@Ladyluckinred I'm taking notes 😂😂

I'd pay for that 😊

I have an image of your lo 'helping' everyone as much as possible as he gleefully adds to his towering pile of cash 😂💰

10 year old gets £22 a month.

Never ever tie pocket money into chores - they are done because everyone living in a house needs to play a part in maintaining it. If you pay them for it it feels like a choice

My 7yo gets £10 a month, started at age 6. I would give less but I rarely have cash so set it at £10 then it’s easier to withdraw if she wants cash. Often, she’ll just ask me to buy something and then I tell her that’s it spent for the month. She wants a Little Live Pets toy at the moment which is £60 so I’ve said that if she saves her money for 3 months, I’ll match it.

My kids get £2 per week, starting from about age 5 years. The oldest is still on £2 per week at 14 years, which I hadn't really planned but works well!

I started with coins, but within a year or so I got tired of needing £6 on coins each Saturday and moved to a card with an app that is on my phone and theirs once they have them (Rooster).

The £2 per week isn't dependant on anything. It happens automatically. Then they can do extra chores for more money - babysit a younger sibling is 50p per 30 mins (started quite young; 30 mins while I had a bath sort of thing), washing a car is £5, dishwasher is £1/£2 depending on how much I don't want to do it!Cleaning their own rooms is just part of normal life, but if they clean a communal room then I'll pay.

One child has a much more active social life, which costs money. I give that child extra when they go to town as £2/week won't go far!

We don't tie pocket money to chores, I don't want to breed a sense of entitlement with it, fact is chores are a fact of life and part of being a respectful person to live with is all chipping in in some way. They need to do chores because they see they need to be done, not because they get something from it.

For us pocket money is more tied to school work and behaviour, do well in school and it stays, play up in school or misbehave at home, the privilege is reduced/lost/deferred.

At that age, yes, coins. We started with that. Then we moved to putting some of it in a building society account with a book and they went to get money out if they wanted larger items. Now they get about half of it in there and half on a Starling card.

Ds gets £2 in cash, when it builds up and he wants to buy something I buy it and he pays me the cash ( which i put in a drawer ready to start paying him again.) He's 9.