I'm making DD work off money, how do I work it out?

[CattyBrown]

Dd has been careless and broken something which is costing us to fix.

How would I go about work out what equals what?

Going to the shop
vaccuming
dishwasher
windows etc

She is nearly 15.

National Minimum Wage ? Give things a time you would expect it to take and then calculate the NMW for that time

Depends, how much does she 'owe', what's her monthly allowance and what's her attitude to this like?

was it an accident. I couldn't possibly charge for an accident

Did she break it on purpose?

she was storming about as she usually does when in a temper. Her attitude is terrible with regards to alot of things.

As far as she's aware, she's broken it and DH & I will replace it.

Although we don't pay ours for their regular chores, we do pay them for extra jobs, e.g. mowing the lawn, cleaning the car. I work out how long I think the job should take, then offer them a fixed amount based on 20p per year of age per hour. So if I think a job should take 1 hour, then when they're 15 they'll get £3 for doing it.

My dd did a lot of ironing and babysitting at £5/hour when she had a bill to pay back. I think she was 15 at the time

Mine teens work (outside the house) for NMW, which for U18s is £3.82 an hour. They then have to take their train fair out of that, of course......

Ours get an allowance (that isn't linked to chores) and if they lose or break something then a contribution towards the replacement of the item gets deducted from their allowance. It wouldn't be the whole amount as their allowance is quite pitiful small.

Er that would either be "mine" or "my teens" take your pick

Does she get pocket money? if so just deduct a percentage a week until its paid back. I think it will be hard work and stressful to make her work for it unless she has agreed to do it. if she doesn't get pocket money i presume you pay for cinema and stuff with her friends just don't do that until you have saved the money to replace the item.

I have tried this with DS1 in the past, and as tantrums says, it was hard and stressful. If she's a storming sort of teen, she's unlikely to be contrite and cooperative - or at least not for long. DS sometimes showed willing at first, if he accepted it was his 'fault'; but long before the debt was paid off he started avoiding and refusing to do the jobs he should have been doing to pay off the debt. It was infuriating, and led to rows - and I tried all sort of tactics like increasing the penalty, but they didn't work well. I always stuck to the punishment I'd stipulated, but sometimes it felt like it was a bigger punishment for me than him. Be sure you think it's worth it, and if possible find a 'fast acting' sanction instead.

I don't pay my teens for normal cooperative keeping the house running type jobs. No one pays me so I wouldn't think of it.

My dd earns money for a school trip abroad which they are expected to fundraise for, individually and collectively by babysitting. Will get £20 once or twice a week.

We were lucky I suppose - she owed us £600 for phone bills (boyfriend went to live abroad) and worked it off through babysitting. Of course that doesn't work unless you have younger siblings. I also made her clean windows and clean the cars, and halved her pocket money. It took about three years, I kept a notebook. As we were pretty broke at the time, we had to stick to it. She became far more careful as a result, and seeing how shocked we were also shocked her.