How much pocket money does your 12 year old get?

[Dancergirl]

Dd1 is 12 and coming to the end of Year 7. She gets £5/month pocket money, same as her sisters. I know it's probably not much but we planned to review it at some stage plus we sometimes give her a bit extra here and there.

She doesn't spend a lot of money - she likes to buy a few bits from Claires, Lush etc all the usual places. But she likes the cookies they sell at school and drinks from the vending machine. Usually she asks dh for a bit of money most mornings. So we think it's sensible to now increase her money but she has to buy everything non-essential out of it including snacks at school. But how much would be a reasonable amount? She says some of her friends get £20/month! Is that really the going rate??

[l1zzee]

agree - no money for school achievement - agree on the instrinsic reward itself.... no money for helping around the house for the same reason - we help each other.... etc.
I buy magazines and books - plus things they need..... the holiday money can be saved for throughout the year and so far, our tooth fairy has been generous...they buy the little extra things that they would like out of their own money - their treats etc

[betterwhenthesunshines]

Enough so that if he would like to buy something that I don't consider essential, he can save for it. It used to be £1.50 a week when he was 8, but even a Beano now is £2. Then it progressed to having to save if he wanted any Lego...

Now it's £5 a week which gets paid as £22 a month directly into his bank account. I buy presents for friend's parties, essential toiletries, basic clothes and phone top-ups (But we have only spent £20 on his phone over tha last year) but he is expected to buy presents for family at Christmas and birthdays, any fancy toiletries, equipment for hobbies ( lots of making things, batteries etc) He is currently saving for a metal die-casting set - it will take him 6 weeks which I reckon is achievable.

If we go to the fair etc we might give them some money, but if they want to spend more, they have to pay from their own.

No money here for school achievement - that should be an intrinsic reward in itself and based on effort rather than attainment IMO. Also none for general chores ( bedding, helping with washing, setting table, cooking etc when asked) that is part of being a family. I have given them money for extra specific jobs eg cleaning patio windows, gardening, car washing.

[MrsShrek3]

ds1 has a Lloyds TSB account with a card and I pay £30 a month into it. He needs to sort out his own stationary, school bag, mp3 music and extra bits of stuff he wants, random hair products and the like. He saves loads of it and has recently bought a console game, now researching new ipod/mp3s as he doesn't want to wait until his birthday. It's definitely taught him budgeting and given him more control over feeling a bit independent, it's his money and he doesn't feel he has to keep asking us for it. Will be doing exactly the same with ds2 when he is 11.
I pay for phone (contract £8 a month) and clothes, essential toiletries (I don't consider "random hair gel" essential so he picks his own)

[PandaG]

DS gets £25 a month. He has to pay for half of any birthday presents, half of any scout trips over and above normal subs, any snacks or hot dinners at school (packed lunch stuff always available), and trips to cinema etc., as well as any purchases he wants - PC games, new headphones etc. He also has to contribute towards his phone contract, though we pay towards that.

[2kidsintow]

DD 12 has a lloydstsb account, that she opened with her birthday money. She gets £20 a month pocket money. She then pays for all days out and her mobile top up.

She is expected to make her own packed lunch, change her bedding, put away her laundry and occasionally do a few extra jobs.

[ItsDecisionTime]

My DD 12 has £50/month paid into her current account and she has to pay for everything out of that. By everything I mean toiletries, cinema, days out with friends, Xmas & birthday presents, phone top-up. In the summer, she has been babysitting our neighbours toddler (in our house, while I'm there) and she gets £5 an hour for that. She has a Barclays current account which comes with a debit card, handy when she buys stuff online. She never asks for any money as she knows it would be futile. She has £500 in her savings account which she's saved up.

[Ragwort]

My 12 year old gets £10 a month by standing order into his Bank Account - since we started earlier this year he hasn't taken any out .

We pay his phone contract (£8 a month) direct.

He doesn't seem to spend much really, gets the odd pound now and again from grandparents and just uses whatever washing stuff is in the bathroom. Gets Lynx etc for Christmas or birthdays and that seems to last all year as I usually hide it because of the vile smell.

[Dancergirl]

Once a month? Blimey, you're patient! I think I would have lost it before then! What's her room like the rest of the month?

[ConsiderablyBiggerBuns]

My DD(12) end of year 7 gets £20 a month and I also pay for a monthly phone contract at ~£10 a month. She only gets the cash on completion of a number of chores every month including looking after a variety of outdoor animals which involve her getting up very early in all weathers which she is very good about (and saves me some minutes in bed). She does, however, have to have tidied her bedroom at least once a month to get any of her pocket money (apart from the phone). She got her first pocket money for 2013 last month!

[Dancergirl]

Also, forgot to add, I buy everyday toiletries - shampoo, conditioner etc - all my dds use the same one so I include it in the shopping. And yes I pay for her san pro!

[Dancergirl]

Also, forgot to add, I buy everyday toiletries - shampoo, conditioner etc - all my dds use the same one so I include it in the shopping. And yes I pay for her san pro!

[Dancergirl]

Thanks for all your replies. Quite a big range! But I suppose it depends on what you expect it to cover.

I was thinking I might give dd £10 per month. To include - non-essential drinks/snacks at school and then whatever she wants to spend or save. We pay for her phone - £7.50/month. I'm not sure about friends presents though - at the moment she doesn't go to a lot of birthday parties so would it be reasonable to expect her to pay for the occasional present out of her money?

[somethingscary]

£1/month/year of age. We pay for phone (£5/month) & trips out with us & clothes.

[DowntonTrout]

I'm sorry, I don't get the sanitary product thing either. Even though you have explained your reasoning, surely they just get added to the weekly/monthly shop. It's not something to encourage them to scrimp on, like other toiletries/ cosmetics. Especially with tampons, which could be dangerous if they're not changed often enough.

[AtiaoftheJulii]

My 12 year old ds gets, nominally, £25 per month, but the first 4 quid of that goes straight to WWF as he sponsors a tiger (this is something we have done with all our kids when they got to pocket money age). So £21 and he buys everything apart from clothes. He always has plenty of money - bought himself a Nexus 7 at Easter! - and buys birthday and Christmas presents from that too (3 sisters, parents, grandparents at Christmas), although we go halves on school birthday presents.

My older girls buy their own san pro - but I give them plenty of money with which to do so! They do also know that if they add some/razors/hair dye/etc to the weekly shop I won't refuse to buy it (but don't usually bother) and there are always pads in the bathroom for emergencies. I always bought my own tampons and feel like I possibly felt free to experiment with different types because of that. I don't see it's an issue if the girl has the money for it.

[chickydoo]

DS just 14 gets £10 a week
His Grandad also pays £15 a month in to his bank.
I top his phone up occasionally. Probably £10 every 2-3 months.

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

Goodness I was just debating giving my 5yo pocket money to combat the requests for magazines etc and was thinking £1 a week. Some of you don't give that to your 11yos.

Agree on the tampons too. Body spray is a frippery, surely tampons aren't

[cory]

£10/month in Yr 7 here, rising to £11 in Yr 8. But then he knows not to ask me for extra money for anything non-essential. No extra money for chores.

Traditional birthday parties with presents seem to have dried up by this age, so no longer an expense to worry about.

[Takver]

WellHmmm - small school and people don't really do class parties - in practice it is maybe a birthday every couple of months tops, of which some are home made (not odd in our circle, big presents would be awkward anyway as people would then feel obliged to reciprocate). In practice dd never spends half her pocket money anyway. I'm sure this will change soon!

[WellHmmm]

They buy their friends presents, on £10 a month, takver ? What if there are 5 parties in a month. That's £2 a present and none for herself? How does that work?

[WellHmmm]

My dc get 20p per year of life.
12 yr old gets £2.40 weekly,
9 yr old gets £1.80
Birthdays are exciting because they get a raise.
They know it's fair and doesn't change.
They do chores and we give them treats sometimes.

[PareyMortas]

All of mine get £5 per week, they have chores to do to get it.

[Notmyidea]

dds have lloyds accounts for kids over 11. They have a debit card, access to phone banking, but no credit facility. They get a very small amount of interest. (saving for university we have separately which they have no knowledge of at this stage or access to. We're very pleased with it as a "learning exercise," lots of features but they can't get into trouble.
Regarding the sanitary protection; we established quite early on in puberty that dd was much less wasteful and extravagant with toiletries if she was paying. (she'd get dh and I to fork out for Impulse and fancy spot creams if we were paying. If she was Boots own became adequate! So we upped her pocket money and let her get on with it. Sanitary protection is an extension of that, although both girls are more comfortable quietly buying their own than having them tossed in the trolley on a supermarket trip with their dad along, too. They both started while still in junior school and are rather self concious about the whole thing.