so you save kid's child benefit money?

281273

Ive got 3 kids. Their CB gets splitin the following way

£80 per month saved towards xmas and birthdays
£20 per month spending money for holidays
£20 per month for DS as part of dinners at school, he takes buttys and gets cake or whatever from school. (£1 a day)
£10 per month DS treat cupboard (biscuits, crisps, chocolate and sweets)
£45 per month Treats for DD's (Toys, books, colouring things, and treat cupboard)

None of the CB goes on clothes, school contributions or school dinners for yougest daughter.

BigSpender2_2

I try to work out what I have spent on nappies and food etc and transfer the rest, although, have slipped over the past few months....

jackomdj

I have ours paid directly into our offset savings account. I have a spreadsheets which says exactly what is in this account so I would (if I chose) be able to give it to them when they are old enough.

In reality I will proably give them something which does not tie in exactly with what they received as CB because I feel we already spend their CB on other things (swimming, ballet, days out, treats etc) & pating it into savings just saves us having an extra transfer from the current account to the savings.

Nicky

lilmisskitkat

£10 a month into each child's savings account then the rest is for clothes, shoes, school trips, swimming lessons, birthdays etc

Kate xxx

Spirit_2

CB was saved and then spent on something costly/significant that DD needed or we wanted her to have. It was always used for extra's and I can remember most of what we bought, some things were subsequently sold on and the money recycled. I used to collect the money in cash ever 2-3 months and put it straight into a post office savings account - how old does that make me sound.

We bought:
Her pushchair when she moved out of a pram
A piano when we thought she might have a musical bone in her body:eek: which we sold on eventually and proceeds recycled
Her 'contribution' to a bigger pony for her when she was a teen
Lastly £3000 to pay for her 18th birthday present (a car) and celebrations

It is possibly the most planned/organised money we have ever had.

Spirit

SarahNeedle1872

Very interesting replies to the OP....

Our CB/WTC - we only get the basic - goes into my acc with my salary, and gets used for whatever.... I do put £10 a month into his savings though, as well as any cash gifts, and at 18mths old, he's got more savings than both me and OH put together! He also has his own budget pot of £30pm for clothes/shoes/treats (toys) etc, although his B'day/Xmas presents come from a seperate budget pot.
I don't see it as 'his money' as such (it helps contribute towards keeping him housed/fed/clothed/in nursery), the same as my salary is not 'mine' and OH's salary is not 'his'. I would love to be in the position where I could save the £120odd per month for him, but that just isn't gonna happen any time soon!

moo2moo

I put most of mine into long term savings accounts. Very very long term. They mature when the DDs reach 30. Logic being that when my brother was handed a wodge of cash at 18 he blew the lot on electronics and booze. I figure that by 30 they'll have learnt enough about money to put it to a good use whether as a deposit on a house, a chunk off their mortgage or a car. Equally i don't plan to tell them that it exists until they reach their 30th birthdays that way they aren't relying on it to clear debts that they've acrued because it exists.

The remainder pays for their after school activities.

welshnoonoo

Here's a classic example of what our CB can sometimes pay for. DS2 came home with a letter about an after school science club which is run by a company not connected with school and runs for 6 weeks costing £36.

Can we really afford it? No. But some of the Child Benefit was left over (it originally goes into a separate account) after the older 2 had theirs in the fom of pocket money and this paid for his Science club!

funky-footprints

our £175.60 gets split 3 ways, it is paid into a savings account in the childrens names, my dh set it with his work.

i have wanted to stop doing this for the last year, as i think the money should contribute towards swimming lessons, gymnastics, piano, karate and the like, but my husband is adamant it is thier money!

biscotte

I'd not really thought about this as it goes into our current account and just sloshes out with the bills and expenses.

We get a lot here (I'm not in the UK), about £300 for three children per month, and if we saved that up it would be quite a significant amount.

*Biscotte scuttles off to check out kid's savings accounts*