Teen pocket money

[Wysiwig]

What is the going rate for pocket money today? Taking into account that there has been a VAT increase

I used to get £2.50 a week. It never seemed like quite enough though, so a bit more than that would probably be better.

Now I'm 17, I get £100 a month including money for lunch at school. My friends all say it's a lot, but when it comes down to it, it isn't at all. I have to buy my own lunch even if I make a lunchbox so there's no avoiding it. It probably averages out at £60 a month for food, and then that leaves £40 to buy other stuff, which is very reasonable.Obviously I'm not complaining, but I would understand perfectly if I didn't receive pocket money after turning 16 since I'd be old enough to get a job.

We give dsd who is 16 this month £20 a month, she's old enough to get a Saturday job if she wants more... Ds who is 11 gets £16 a month, this goes up to £18 at 12 and £20 at 13 where the rises end as he an get paper round to earn more... I think giving them too much doesnt help them, they need to learn to budget etc for when af uni and in life!

Ds1 gets £30 a month plus we pay his phone contract of £30 a month. He doesn't have to buy any food/clothes but does have to replace school items if he has lost/broken/misused the ones we buy each year. He also has had to pay for an iPod repair and half his tennis racket, at £5 per month.

He has been told that this won't go up since he is old enough to get a paper round if he wants more money, but tbh I don't think he'll need to get one as he always seems to have money left from birthdays/Christmas/from his father.

14yo gets £12/month. We supply basic clothes and toiletry (school uniform, basic leisure wear, sanitary towels, basic deo) and anything else comes out of her allowance. We also give her £2.50/day for school dinners; if she wants more she has to pay for it. But it's about what you can afford and what kind of area you live in- this is not a particularly affluent area so friends will understand if she can't always come out to cafes etc.

Ours get 25p per year of their age per week, so 12 year old gets £3 a week, we provide lunch, clothing, essential toiletries. They tend to get money and vouchers on Christmas and birthdays. If we are out and they want to waste spend money on tatt things that interest children, that know it's up to them.
Their birthday and Christmas presents are much more substantial than I received at that age.
So it all depends on how your family works.

15yo daughter gets £20 pm, plus £15 directly into savings that she understands she can't touch yet. I split the £20 into amounts-per-chore to help reinforce the importance of helping me. One month of getting £4 pocket money and it's worked well ever since

I pay for mobile phone (£10), all clothes unless it's something extravagant she doesn't need, all food unless she grabs something whilst out with her friends, all toiletries and haircuts etc.

She pays the extras if she goes over her free minutes/texts

She knows she can earn more by doing a few extra chores, but never does.

I think she is fine on what she gets, she doesn't need any more.

50p per week until 8

8-10 = £1 a week

10-12= £2.50 a week

12-14 = £3.50 a week

14-16 = £25 per month (had to pay for top ups over £10)

16-18 = £60 a month (contract phone, a-level textbooks, computer stuff, lunchmoney, clothes). £30 for can you fix my computer / design me a website

18+ at Uni and use middle/lower rate DLA (about £2500 a year) to get me through uni so can skip paying on £3000-4500 maintenance loan at the end.

Thats how it worked in our house anyhow

Ok so what if he/she wants to go to cinema/bowling etc? Would you give extra? I was thinking of £10 per week but he would have to save for these kind of trips, and if he didn't have any money left I wouldn't give him any more. He's 13 btw.

wysiwig, my Chenistry teacher's favourite phrase was your name

DD 11 gets £3 a week to cover any presents for family/sweeties/cafe's, etc but I will give her an allowance when she becomes a teenager - dunno how much though!

ds has just turned 13. He used to get £12 per month (£1 per year of age), but we also used to top up his phone by £10 per month and pay for an itunes card each month.

We've just opened a new teenager bank account with cashcard and internet banking for him. We have decided to give him £50 per month, but he must now manage his phone and ipod himself. He will also have to pay for cinema trips/bowling etc. We will continue to buy his clothes but, if he wants designer labels he will have to save the difference between the standard version and the designer one.

He reckons he's had a huge payrise, but we think we'll be quids in this way and hopefully it will teach him to budget and manage his money. I don't think the amount he gets is likely to increase with age - as others have said, if he needs more he can earn it.

I give dd (15) the child benefit - so £80 a month. I also give her another £80 a month which is for her school lunch and bus pass for the month (bus pass £10 a week, lunch £2 a day). It all goes in her account and if she runs out, tough.

She has to buy clothes and toiletries out of that (I buy school uniform and shoes) and other sundries.

She has a contract phone which is £20 a month, which I pay for.

My 15yo gets £2/day for school dinners plus £2/day if he gets up in time and walks the dog (he does usually but not always). So that's up to £24/week.
Plus £5/week from his grandpa. Plus I pay £10/month for his phone on contract. And I buy school uniform and 'basic' clothes and shoes. Plus he gets the opportunity to earn extra for jobs.
Plus I put £20/mth into a saving account for him, that's intended for 'big' stuff (like driving lessons in a couple of years). I pay for the occasional other thing too, like some treats.
Wow, that's £110+/mth, not counting school dinners or clothes or treats - which is about 1/8 of my take home pay, incidentally. And he still thinks he's hard done by, and he's always short of cash!
I think I may take a leaf out of your book, somersetmum, and pay him monthly so he thinks he's quids in but I can save a bit! ;-)

My dds are 16 and nearly 14 and get 30 pounds each a month plus their phones topped up at a rate of about ten pounds every half term-ish.

We put money in a savings fund for them too but that is not to be touched until uni.

Out of their 30 pounds they don't have to buy any food etc (unless they choose to go to Starbucks or something) and they don't have to buy anything for school or winter coats, new shoes etc but they do have to buy non-essential clothes like yet more silly t-shirts from Urban Outfitters or whatever the latest 'must-have' is! If they go to the cinema etc we may sometimes give them a bit extra, especially if it's coming towrds the end of the month.

My DD1 is 15 and DS is 14 they each get £35 per week plus £15 combined from grandparents. 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 so 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, 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.

Will definitely be telling them all to be more grateful after reading this.

£5 for a 4 year old!!!
Our 11 yr old gets £1.60 (10p per year plus 50p)
16 yr old gets £5 a week but does get phone paid for by us.

16 year old gets 10 per month plus gym membership and money into account. plus i pay for phone top up. he has paper round and occasionally i am generous
13 year old gets 10 per month plus swimming lessons and money into account, plus ability to earn extra with jobs, if i can afford it

11 year old gets £1 a week if lucky, and money into account but does no extras currently.

£4 per week for the 11 year old and £5 per week for the 13 year old. We also give them each £2 a day for school dinners, £10 per month mobile top-up and we pay for their bus passes. They don't have to buy any food or essential clothes/shoes/uniform. They do tend to waste their money on rubbish so if there's a shopping trip or other event coming up I try to get them to save up a bit. They can earn extra money occasionally by washing the car, etc.

zilch!

dc are 12 14 17. They've never asked for any and we've never offered. They get £15-20 when we go on holiday and always get around £60 for birthdays and Christmas from aunts and uncles.

They don't seem bothered. They've grown up with the premiss - always assume we are broke unless told otherwise.

We will buy them stuff like a CD or a book if we are out on a trip but thats a treat rather than the norm. If ds1 is out with his mates we'll usually give him a tenner.

I'm sure I'll be slated for being the most stingy mother around but it just never seems to arise as an issue. What you haven't got, you don't miss and I refuse to dole out money for them to buy rubbish

DD gets EMA so £30, she works aswell and I save her the tiny bit of maintenance she gets for her to use on bigger things. Don't give her much myself, but buy all her toiletries etc.

DS 16 gets £125 per month (which is the same as we get for 'spends')Out of this hes meant to pay lunches, bus fares, all clothes, presents, music lessons, classes, phone etc. Exactly the same sort of stuff as we have to pay out for from our monthly allowance.
We set it up like this when I noticed I wasnt able to afford to go to an evening classes, but I was paying out for him to do class upon class. At one point he was going to drama x2, ballet, keyboard lessons, singing lessons, kick boxing, youth club, the gym. He's now had to drop one drama class, singing lessons and kick boxing, but hey, such is life.

DS (age 13) currently gets £2.50 per wk, but have just got him a current account so have said I will pay him £15 per month as long as a S/O is set up for him to pa £3 of that into his savings account. He also gets rewarded for a good school report or if he wants to wash the car now and again.

DP has differing ideas to me on pocket money and just dishes it out to step kids when they ask for something, as long as he thinks it's sensible.