Pocket money/ allowance for secondary school aged child?

[LeFaye]

I was wondering how much pocket money you give your children who are in secondary school?

What does that money need to cover?

And do you give them cash or do they have cards (pre paid/ their own bank account?). Thank you!

Mine got £50 a month at 17, that covers clothes, trainers, social life, snacks, we did pay phone bill & he either took a packed lunch to school or £2.50 to spend. He also got himself a part time job & most of his earnings & pocket money have all been saved, he is pretty frugal . Just paid himself for his post A level summer holiday.

I gave mine £20 a week from age 11 when they were able to get current accounts with debit cards.

I have never given my kids (17/15/11) weekly/monthly pocket money. If they go out to the next village ill give them £4-5 quid, enough to buy chips and a drink and bring change back. But they rarely go and older one ever goes into town with her friends as she’s never invited. Local town is a shithole anyway and most of those young ones are there drinking and doing drugs during daytine -snapchat is proof!

Mine are homebirds thankfully so i guess i part with£100 a month between the 3? Anddh and i pay mobiles.

Def overpaying mine, she gets €100 per month and we also pay her phone bill and spotify and buy all her toiletries , tampons, razors, etc.

Dependent on age.
At 11-13 DS got £15 per month
13-15 - £25 per month
16 - £100 per month but £60 of this for his lunches (what I would pay @£3 per day into parent pay), so £40 per month spending money.

He pays for all his own entertainment, presents, tioletries and casual clothes - I buy shoes and school clothes and pay £10 for his mobile.

He has now got a job at 17: 2 evenings a week and earns about another £120 per month. He manages to save most of this - he is saving for the 'summer after A levels' (not sure what exactly he wants to do yet!).

I think pocket money is a good way to learn how to manage money - ds is definately better than I was at his age adn very independent with his own ebay account.

DD (15) gets £50 per month I provide uniform and pay for extra-curricular activities and obviously roof over her head and food. Aside from that she has to pay for tampons, clothes, shampoo, conditioner, coffees etc. I think it is really important she learns to budget and decide whether she needs that top or shower gel.

DD 14.5 gets £15 a month from me and £15 from.her grandparents, plus I pay for her mobile phone (she did get £20 per month but wanted a more expensive phone so had to accept a bit of a trade off).

I buy most of her clothes but she's fairly low maintenance on that front (H&M, Primark etc), and basic toiletries but if she wants anything fancy she has to buy it herself and also buys her own make up, and pays for ad hoc days out (bus fare plus a Starbucks once or twice a month, cheap cinema tickets etc).

I'm tending to buy her a bus pass during school hols too as otherwise I'd be a hot and cold running taxi service!

14 year old gets £40 a month but has to give us £5 towards her phone. 12 year old gets £30. I "fine" them for not doing basic stuff like picking clothes up, bringing cups down from their rooms! They haven't got a full pay yet 😂

My DD 14 gets £30.- / month into a cash card account. This is for socialising and "extras" like make up, friends present and beauty products. This money is "earned" through weekly chores.
We supply basics to keep herself clean, buy unbranded clothes, pay for school lunch and £25 for phone.
If she wants to go cinema or clothes shopping with friends, I give her the opportunity to "earn" extra money by helping out around the house.

My kids get £20 a month each dependant on behaviour. I remove it for bad behaviour, in increments of 5. They do a few chores (washing up, clean bathrooms and their own bedrooms once a week). It doesn't have to cover anything they actually need.

I wonder about this. My dd(11) gets £20 on a prepay card from her dad (separated) and I am mean to give her £2.50a week but forget. She didn't know the password for card and then got it and splurged on crap. I need to decide now as she is going out independently with friends etc and the cinema is £10 just for the ticket.

I don't necessarily want to give her enough to be going out all the time but equally I need to set some sort of guidance on how often she can spend if she goes out. E.g. if she goes to cinema she can buy drink but no snack. Doesn't mean she gets to buy lunch out as wel.

My 16y ds gets £100 pcm but that has to cover school lunches (there's stuff to make packed if he can be bothered) entertainment etc.
We pay a £10 payg package with free unlimited calls to our tel nos and a yearly bus/train/tram pass so he can get pretty much everywhere he needs to go.
Clothes wise we buy those but he's not into brands really and rarely asks for much.

Tbh I find it easier this way rather than when we were loading parent pay with £10 a week, handing over a few pounds after school each day and then ad hoc £10 for the cinema etc. He has to budget now rather than just thinking "mom will give me more tomorrow"

DS(15) gets £40 pm which covers his social life and generally, anything outside of the basics e.g Marvel blurays, comics, figurines & misc paraphernalia. Also stretches to pay for his few dates so far. His social life ramps up generally in the school holidays - he pays for the cinema, fast food lunches out, etc with his mates himself. I don't give him extra because I want him to learn to live within a budget so he has to choose/save up. We pay for his phone (giffgaff £10)

DD(12) gets £25 pm which seemingly gets spent at the school tuck shop mainly. Otherwise, it's art supplies, books and being her mother's daughter, an increasing penchant for nice/expensive bubble bath! We pay for her phone (giffgaff £8). No social life as yet.

Wow I'm stingy! 12 yo gets £10 & 15yo gets £15.
We pay for clubs (lots there) and phones - a whole £7.50/month on giffgaff.
Essential clothes we buy but anything else they buy.