Allowance for 16 yo: food and clothes

[Isthisjustnormal]

We're thinking of giving our 16 yo who is just starting college an allowance to cover clothes and food at school to help them start getting used to the idea of budgeting. Will continue to buy underwear and things like a decent coat for the winter, and any clothes for clubs, of course they can continue to make their own packed lunch from home if they can be bothered ;-) Anyone else who does this, how much do you allow? DC isn't into brands much so won't be looking to buy the latest nikes or whatever ...

When I was younger I was given £50 a month to cover things I wanted. “Needs” we’re covered by dparents.

but back then no mobiles or anything so….

I started this thread a few weeks ago What allowance do you give your 16 year olds? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/teenagers/4616836-what-allowance-do-you-give-your-16-year-olds .

I think it's one of those things where you need to make your own calculations - food and clothes would mean a whole range of different things. So I would add up the cost - what is in offer at college food wise and what is the cost daily? Add a couple of pounds per week for variables. Then work out what you deem reasonable to spend on clothes for a month and add them together.

My 16yr olds both got part time jobs and I stopped giving them pocket money.

Mine gets £85 a month. I buy shoes, coats, uniform, toiletries and phone.

We gave both DS an allowance from 16. We sat with them to work out the budget including all non essential clothing (eg we paid for school uniform, undies and essential shoes), grooming stuff like hair styling (but not shaving or haircuts as I wanted then to be tidy 🤣). It included their mobile charges, music, gaming, bus fare, going out etc.

there was a limit on the going out and entertainment stuff as we said that we expected them to earn something towards that. We also said they needed to earn the money towards any holiday they wanted without us (eg music festivals).

As part of that we also showed them OUR budget (note it didn’t include all our income but was amount we paid into joint account) We explained what income was and what we spent money on - it was a bold and scary step to do, but it really did give them an insight into understanding that money did not grow on trees and was finite.
we made their budget together, helped them set up a system to manage it and they did pretty well. Not perfect, but they never actually had to ask us to bail them out as such. We used to give them presents that helped meet any gaps - like tickets for festivals, and we kept that going really into adulthood.

when they went to uni, it was a natural extension then to expand that for their entire maintenance loan/payment from us. We’d review each year with them, and they knew if they wanted a “raise” they had to show their accounts to justify it.

Thanks all: this is really useful :-)