Pocket Money/Allowance

[Maglet422]

Hi. I'm new to Mumsnet. Just wondered how much pocket money is a reasonable amount for a 13 year-old girl?

Depends on your circumtances but I have a 13yr old D who gets £10.00 a week and £10.00 top up credit a month but we are a 2 income family. There has been a lot on this debate recently and on several previous threads. The above is about average and I would not look at giving anymore. She has to buy her own make up etc out of this and leisure actities. We only buy essentials (toiletries). Hope this helps.

My 13yo gets £13/month, but we do pay for drama classes on top of this. We keep her with basic toiletries and basic clothes (school uniform and very basic out of school wardrobe), but if she wants more than that it comes out of her allowance.

Dd2 is 13 and gets 30 pounds a month plus 10 phone top up every month-six weeks. She buys non-essential clothes (eg: she pays for silly t-shirts but we'd pay for new jeans if hers were too short), CDs, magazines etc out of that. We buy toiletries (she doesn't wear make up yet) and will sometimes give a bit extra if she's going to the cinema or something.

We would give £4 per week, but we would pay for her clothes, club subscriptions and basic toiletries. And £10/month top-up on the phone. We would give extra if there was a trip to the cinema/bus fare to town (£6 return).

Thank you all for your offerings. I can see there's a huge variation, but it helps to know where the middle of the road is likely to be!

DS1 14 gets £20 a month and DS2 12 gets £10 a month.
DS1 has to pay for his phone, sweets and entertainment. I pay for everything else including birthday presents for friends.
DS2 does not go out on his own yet so that is why he gets less.
As cat64 says there is huge variation. The fact is that because we don't live in a town there is really nowhere for them to spend money. They hardly spend anything from one month to another.

We're exactly the same as Ghoul for our 14 year old DD

We are too - the same as Ghoul for 13yo DD. Live in a city, so expensive to do things. She saves quite a bit of her allowance, but is happy to spend her own money on birthday gifts or non-essential clothes. She does help around the house to earn her allowance and would have it reduced if she didn't, but she hasn't - yet!

DS (12) gets £6/week. We pay for clothes and modest phone cost. He spends his money on toys. He only saves if we make him.

DD2 (11) gets £5/week. We pay for clothes and modest phone cost. She spends almost nothing and has over £200 in the bank despite having paid 50% of the cost of a laptop at Christmas!

I'm afraid that giving pocket money doesnt make them into sensible savers I think that is just down to nature!

I have posted this on chat on the thread about housework and pocket money.
I hav got defensive about hte amount and you can read my comments there.

''Pocket money and housework are not linked in our house.

Atm DS2 who is 11 gets 60p a day monday to friday. Out of that he puts 40p in a pot and takes 20p to school with him.

DS1 who is 14 1/2 gets £10 a week. He also has a job where he earns a minimum of £30 a week. He also potentialy gets another £20 a week if he gets a good school report each week.
Out of that his work money goes strraight into a savings account. If he starts using that money the pocket money will stop.
We pay for his phone and internet (contract), season tickets, ice skating,skiing and equipment, all his clothes unless he wants something extra expensive then he pays the difference,special nights out eg if he is going to a restaurant with friends for a birthday we will give him an extra £20.

Work round the house. Everyone is expected to muck in. Eg plates in the dishwasher, wipe down units, put stuff away. Take on and put back their bedding after it's been washed, go with their dad to get the 'big' shop or at least help put it away, hoover up when I ask. Sure they moan and some times mutter unde their breath but not helping is NOT an option.

The manta they have heard since they were little is 'if everyone does a little no one does a lot''

DS1 (14 in june) gets £5.00 a week, he has to buy phone credit out of this any sweets etc

We buy his clothes, toiletries, school equipment, any clubs he does and the odd cinema trip, and I mean ODD (once every 6-8 weeks or something) and we pay for family trips out during school holidays

ds2 (10) gets £2.50 a week, again we buy everything else for him, so for him the money is for sweets mainly

oh forgot to add ds1 has to walk the dog daily and empty this dishwasher daily

ds2 has to polish a few times a week

Ours got £20 per month plus a £15 phone contract (she's almost 15 and has just had a pay rise to £30). She also babysits for friends which probably earns her another £30 per month. She doesn't spend it all.

I've posted about this recently and before anyone comments I am aware of how lucky we are.

My DD1 is 15 and DS is 14 they each get £35 per week plus £15 combined from grandparents so total £50. When they first started Senior school it was £25 but have increased it it as they've gone out more. DD2 aged 4 gets £5 a week which is pretty much always spent in claires accessories or paperchase.

I pay for clothes, toiletries, stationery, school trips, Birthday presents for family/friends, phone contracts and debit their school meal accounts- ends up being pretty much everything really. As both I and DP work a lot and have a younger child (DD2) I encourage them to be as social as possible- they're out 3/4 week nights and nearly all weekend- so if they are running low will give them extra for an outing with friends such as cinema or bowling but will not give any extra for make-up, Itunes and other non essentials.

I know that we are lucky to be able to give so much but I think some of the above are a bit unreasonable seeing as a hot chocolate can cost over £3 in most of London, and just a visit to the cinema with a drink and some m&s sweets can total £15 (central london so our local prices are much higher) but i guess it depends on where you live and what is normal at school etc as well as how your family works and what your financial situation is.

ds (15) gets 30 euros per month, but we pay for clothes, school lunch and top up for PAYG phone.

He is not encouraged to be out 3/4 week nights as he does his homework then as he is Year 10 and IGCSEs are next year. He goes out to do DofE and scouts, and perhaps see friends, but that's about it.

Not everyone lives in London Ruby, so not everyone will need that level of pocket money. Ds goes to an International school in Brussels but I don't think many have that level of pocket money.

I'd love £200 per month spending money - they'll find it hard later.

As I said "it depends on where you live and what is normal at school etc as well as how your family works and what your financial situation is".

Please don't imply my children are out to the detriment of their studies, because they are excellent students. In a rough inner city school branded as 'failing' they are both predicted all A/A* grades and are always getting academic achievement awards. One of the reasons I reward them so well and encourage them to be social is because they deserve to be with grades like that.

Also they are very aware life won't always be like this, they are surrounded by those with much lower incomes than ours and deep down know how lucky they are. Our family started out in a tower block in bow without two pennies to rub together and the kids remember that so they definitely appreciate what they have and know very well only hard work gets you the success we have now had.

I didn't imply anything - I don't encourage my lad to be out as he is a bugger about doing his homework, and as it is not modular GCSEs, but O level equivalent IGCSEs (straight exams) he needs to put the work in.

As a teacher, I wouldn't advise any year 10/11 to be out 3/4 nights a week either as it does impact on their studies. You can always tell who has been out as they are tired in class the next day.

'I think some of the above are a bit unreasonable seeing as a hot chocolate can cost over £3 in most of London, and just a visit to the cinema with a drink and some m&s sweets can total £15' is what you said. Perhaps for some of the other posters the £50 a week one of your kids gets would be their food shopping, and you specifically quote London prices; as I said, not everyone lives there. We are 20 minutes from the middle of Brussels and a hot chocolate doesn't cost that much here, and neither do the cinema tickets, and Brussels is pricier than London for the most part.

I introduced pocket money for DS a few Christmases ago specifically with the warning that I was only doing it so I could withhold it when he was naughty. I probably owe the child about £200 because I think I gave him about 50p in three years. Now he's 121/2 and at a new school the new deal is £1 a school day for tuck -- he doesn't have to spend it on tuck and I don't ask for it back. So I kind of think that's his pocket money, so it's a maximum of a fiver a week. I pay for swimming, tennis, all clothes (not that he's got an extensive wardrobe) and all toiletries. And I do spring for the odd trip to the cinema but we smuggle in the popcorn.

DD1 (13) gets £30 per month. We pay for clothes (as we see fit, not her), mobile contract, essential toiletrie. school trips and school meals.
She gets money docked if she swears, but occasionally ges extra for specific tasks (ie. if we do a car boot sale together, she gets a share of the profits) although we won't pay her for things she should be doing anyway like keeping her room half tidy.

Her money mainly gets spent on extra clothes, a little make up and the odd coffee / hot chocolate or snack when out with friends.

We don't encourage her to go out during the week unless it's round a friends house, or related to any of her activities.

DD2 (8) doesn't get a fixed amount yet, but will start her off on £10 per month quite soon.

Hi - My son will be 14 this Wednesday and we currently give him £15 per month and top up his phone by about a fiver a month. We also pay for put of school clubs for him like football etc.

My dd (12) gets £10 per month which she saves. I pay for her phone £26pm, all clothes, toiletries, activities etc. I give her between £2/5 per week for extras, trips to the shop etc. If she goes out I will give her money to cover it.

The there is school bus fare and lunches. I load her school account with £25 a time.

Ds (8) gets £10 pm which he also saves. He also gets £2/4 per week to spend in the shop on the way home from school. again I cover all clothes costs and activities.

They save their pocket money for bigger purchases, toys, games etc.

They are quite fortunate, if we have a family shopping trip they will usually get treated to various items.

The activities cost a fair bit, gymnastics, horse riding, cricket, totals approx £200 per month.