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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

Appropriate pocket money for 14 year old girl

43 replies

tooposh2push · 09/08/2010 14:05

Would be really interested in what other parents do about pocket money.

Currently we give DD £5 / week, plus occasional opportunities to earn more doing chores. We pay for all toiletries etc, clothes, mobile phone and transport so the £5 is just for entertainment.

I'm starting to feel this is a bit mean and would be better to give her more (maybe into her bank account) but expect her to buy more for herself.

Any feedback much appreciated xx

OP posts:

BelligerentGhoul · 09/08/2010 14:12

It's such a dilemma! I have 15 and 13 year old girls and they each get 30 pounds a month. To be honest though it doesn't go very far after a couple of trips to the cinema and a coffee or two with friends. This month they combined their money and bought an i-pod shuffle, so I will probably give them a bit extra.

asdx2 · 09/08/2010 14:14

Dd now 17 got £10pw but we paid for all clothes toiletries and trasport and put £10 per month on her phone. It was pretty much in line with what her friends got tbh.She was able to earn more by doing some extra jobs such as ironing or cleaning the bathroom.

sarah293 · 09/08/2010 14:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

BitOfFun · 09/08/2010 14:18

My 14 yr old has about £25 a month from me, but I top her phone up. She pads it out with birthday money or extra chores.

upahill · 09/08/2010 14:23

Well I don't know about girls but I have a 14 year old son.

He gets £10 a week for saving.

On top of that we pay his train fares to Blackpool from Wigan for most days and a fiver a day entrance into RampCity.
I give me him about a fiver a day in the school holidays for getting food and drink while he is at Ramp City.

We buy toiletries (Lynx, hair products and stuff)

We put £20 a month on his phone.

I give him about £75 a month for clothes.

He buys his own stuff for his BMX (inner tubes and things)
I pay for his skiing at Chill factor. (probably about £75 a month.)

I usually give him bits of change if I've got a bit of money about me.

HTH

GetOrfMoiLand · 09/08/2010 14:27

DD gets the child benefit (so £80 a month). She buys her own clothes out of that, apart from basics. Buys her own toiletries, well that's the theory but she swipes mine usually.

She also give her school dinner money and bus fare every month, and it is up to ehr to budget that. If she runs out, tough, she walks/starves.

She does about 3-4 hours a week chores, when worked out the allowance said she would have to work for it. She does dishes every day, cleans bathroom 3 times a week, mops house when asked, cleans 2 cars every weekend, cleans bedroom and other ad hoc as and when.

Her phone is on a contract so I pay for that as well (tenner a month).

GetOrfMoiLand · 09/08/2010 14:28

She gets the opportunity to do extra jobs for more money - she painted the fences (a godforsaken job) and DP paid her for that.

Original poster

tooposh2push · 09/08/2010 16:35

Great feedback mumsnetters thanks so much . I think I will up her a bit but tie it to budgeting for stuff and also more effort with her room etc. Hope this might contribute to general growing up / independence.

OP posts:

BrigitBigKnickers · 09/08/2010 16:52

My DD starts with £3 at the beginning of the week. Each day of good behaviour adds 50p (and bad it gets deducted!)

She can also earn a bit more by doing chores such as emptying the dishwasher and tidying the kitchen ( usually give her 50p for each time she does this.)

She can get anything between £5 and £10.

I will pay for her travel to see friends (she goes to a school in a nearby town so quite a few of her friends are not that local) and I buy most of her clothes and essential toileteries.

She has to pay for half of her £10 monthly phone contract.

shongololo · 09/08/2010 17:00

ours is nearly 14 and gets £35 a month.

However, this has been reduced to £15 per month until she can show she can keep her room respectable (after I had to spend 4 hours cleaning AFTER she had cleaned it. Gross.)

we buy toiletries, basic clothing.

She pays entertainment, phone. gifts. Makeup. Additional clothing.

She does sometimes get a freebie phone top up if she babysits her brothers.

She is expected to do chores for this. This includes watching her brothers on occassion, she has to clean the kitchen on SUndays, she helps with cooking once a week, she keeps her own room tidy,

Toughasoldboots · 09/08/2010 17:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SuzieHomemaker · 11/08/2010 13:14

DD aged 14 gets £60/month into her bank account. She buys all casual clothes/shoes plus personal toiletries/cosmetics and hair cuts. Essentials such as underwear, school uniform and phone top-ups are paid for by the management.

She dresses well, is always clean and tidy and isnt excessive with her phone use so we are happy with this arrangement.

cloelia · 14/08/2010 21:56

My dd aged 14 has just done a budget for us and we have agreed an allowance as follows: £45 per month to cover:
£20 clothes
( I will pay for school tights(
£7 toiletries (I will pay for sanitary stuff)
£5 going to cinema
£5 bus fares for outings
£8 presents for friends and for family
We shall see how it turns out ... she does not need bus fares for school and I will pay for hair cuts and her phone.
Good luck!!

sue52 · 15/08/2010 12:08

My DD gets £10 per week. We pay for her phone, clothes and toiletries she pays for the cinema, skating, trips to starbucks. I plan to review the amount on her 15th birthday.

hopeless1 · 15/08/2010 21:01

Hi all,

This was a good subject as currently we are giving our DD who is 13 £10.00 per week, I was beginning to think I was being too generous, as we pay for school dinners, clothing, toiletries (she usually pinches mine) and also put £10 on her phone monthly. It would seem that we are more or less in line with everyone else. I was considering giving her more so she could pay for clothing, but at the moment she is just frittering the money way we give her during the school holiday which is £20.00 pw. She does however pay for her own bus fare and something to eat when out with her mates. She earn't £80.00 the first week of holidays when down on the farm but had spent it within 3 days !! Do you think we should give her a clothing allowance at the end of each month and if so how much?

Loshad · 15/08/2010 21:09

my oldest 2 (dss rather than dds) 16 and 15 get £6/week basic. We pay for their phone contracts, school lunches and bus fares, uniform, toiletries and some contribution to leisure travel (and i do a fair bit of taxi-ing for them). They can earn more by working - eg lawn cutting, hedge trimming, fence repairs etc.
We buy them some clothes, they occasionally save up and buy themselves other bits and pieces.

DandyDan · 16/08/2010 16:01

My 14 yr old gets £5 per week.
We pay £10 per month on his phone but he usually doesn't use it, so this is more like a quarterly top-up.
We buy his toiletries, clothes as and when he needs them.

cardibach · 16/08/2010 21:30

My 14yr old daughter gets her phone contract (£20/month - if it is over this she has to give me the difference from her money)and £20 per month. Her grandparents also give her £10/month. She buys clothes which are not needed for school, entertainment and presents. I don't pay her for jobs around the house as I think that since we both live here she should contribute.
She has a summer job to supplement this.

I sound a bit mean compared to some of you - must make sure she never sees this forum

TidyBush · 16/08/2010 21:53

This is a really interesting thread. My DDs are 16 and 13 and each get £15 per month from me and DH plus £2 per week from my mom and dad.

I also pay for their contract phones (£20 per month), toiletries, bus passes and essential clothes. They can spend for England and get through their allowance within days.

Any jobs around the house are expected as a contribution to the running of the household.

They don't know that I also save £100 per month for each of them.

However, I'm never sure what to do about the fact that DD1 has always been into music and performing arts and we spend about £40 per week on her lessons and groups. DD2 has never stuck at any hobby so doesn't have a regular amount spent on her like DD1 does. I do occasionally slip her the odd itunes voucher and pay for gig tickets a couple of times a year. But I know that overall DD1 gets more.

If I gave DD2 the equivalent in cash she'd waste it in no time at all. So I have thought about putting a bit more aside for her now to help her out when she want driving lessons etc.

Does anyone else have a 'high maintenance' DC who gets more than the other(s) and if so what do you do?

TidyBush · 16/08/2010 21:54

Forgot to say sorry for the highjack tooposh

chenin · 16/08/2010 21:56

How things have changed... this all sounds a hell of a lot of money...
Correct me if I'm wrong Upahill, but aren't you spending/giving your son just about £400 a month? Yikes!
When mine were this age and upwards, they both had small part time jobs which paid for all their luxuries and their phones (if they didn't earn, they had a mobile with no money on it!) I bought everything to do with education and bought them clothes every winter and summer (or gave them the money to do so.) Everything apart from that, they paid for. It has given them a terrific work ethic. I can't get over some of the sums of money shelled out on here.

TidyBush · 16/08/2010 22:02

helliebean I agree and have had a serious discussion with my two just today about the need for them to work if they want more.

DD2 is going to see about a newspaper round tomorrow and DD1 has spent the evening filling in online application forms for local restaruant chains.

Have laid it on the line to DD1 about us not being able to support her at uni so she's got two years now to get some money behind her.

chenin · 16/08/2010 22:10

I agree Tidybush... their 'needs' (if 'needs' is the right word!) just get more and more expensive. I just don't agree with allowances. I worked part time from a young age... it gives you a huge sense of worth. Maybe I am just an old fossil and times have changed... altho my youngest is only 18. She is off to Uni and works at Burger King part time earning anything up to £125 a week in the holidays. This is her 'freshers fund'!

TidyBush · 16/08/2010 22:21

DD1 thought that Freshers Week was put on (and paid for) by the Uni .

It's been really useful for her to meet up with some of her older friends who've done their first year at uni and have told her just how much they've had to scrimp to get by.

I worry that we've spoilt them too much but hope that over the next couple of years we can undo some of that and get them both working so that they appreciate their money and hopefully develop a better understanding of the fact that it can be spent far quicker than it's earned.

marriednotdead · 16/08/2010 22:28

This is really interesting and quite scary to read.
Have never got round to regular pocket money with DS (13), although have been meaning to for a while.

I top up his phone now and then (he doesn't use it as much as most teenagers) and buy all his clothes/toiletries. If he's going out I'll pay whatever is required. Large purchases tend to come out of his Christmas/birthday money.

DSS is same age and would be hard to give one without the other but he seriously does not deserve pocket money any time soon (scammed huge amount from his mum recently) .
Not sure what to do now.

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