Pocket money (merged)

Katinkka

I used to get £60 a week but that was to include my school dinners. I was in the minority though.

pandas66

WOOOOOOOWWWWWW tbh Katinkka!


My 15 year old gets roughly £15.00 a week now but strictly £10 but he always manages to get a bit more, but he does jobs for the extra over and above normal chores ie he has to hoover the car or wash the front windows.

payless

Its really difficult to put a figure on it , I have a lad almost 15, he gets £25pm from us (parents) and £10pm from his grandparents ( one set- others passed away) - which I think is less than a lot of his peers ( we live on edge of a very well to do area - wrong side of the edge!! )

That said sweets/ crisps/ pop ( well water he does not drink pop anymore) are provided in the house. He gets a free mobile ( well I use a cashback deal so does not cost me !) He gets money for his lunch card, more for any transport, more if he goes out & needs cinmena/ food etc... , PLUS at moment we are paying for 2 MAJOR trips via school

Lillibet_2

Wish I was 15 again! I'm 31 & have £60 "spending money" a month.

Stevenj214

One idea that I seen on a programme a while ago which seemed to make a lot of sense was giving 'pocket money' as a monthly 'wage' which has to be used for absolutely everthing - clothes, cd's, sweets, dinner money etc etc with absolutely no extra money coming from you.

This has a two-fold effect, 1 - it teaches the youngster to be resposible with money and to budget and 2 - you'll probably find that you spend less money (£150 in a lump sum is easier to manage than £10 here, £20 there etc etc)

On the programme, one of the boys suddenly became conscious of how much a packet of football stickers cost for example, and because he couldn't nag mum for them, he stopped buying them!

Bennifred

Crikey! I'm obviously really mean:o ! My 16-yr old gets £16 per month and has to earn anything he wants over that (and he does). 13-yr old gets £13 per month. I do buy all their clothes, lunches etc, though! so it is all leisure money.

BrokeBrunette

I seem to remember there was a similar thread on this subject recently. I think the amount of money given is a very personal decision by each family. Everyone has very different levels of income and therefore it varies as to what they can afford to give, or think their child should have to spend. It also depends what they have to use the money for - such as, is it just for spending money or are they supposed to buy other things with it.

I have a 14 yr old daughter and I don't give her a set amount of money each month simply because I cannot afford to. I do however pay for all her karate lessons and she understands that this is my equivalent of giving her pocket money. It's her choice to have this instead of the cash.

She is lucky because she receives reasonable amounts of birthday and Christmas cash and has to use some of this to fund extras. I wish I could afford to give her a set amount each month but it's not an option right now.

I would suggest you choose an amount that you are happy with - at the end of the day that is the most important thing.

Prudent

Set an amount you can afford and think reasonable. I have a 14 year old who gets £30 per month, which is what I can afford. She also gets £6 per week for lunches, although is thinking of taking a packed lunch as she is fed up of lunch queues. My dd helps a fair bit around the house. I did give her a higher amount a year or so ago to include clothing, but she found it too much too manage as she has organisational difficulties linked to dyslexia. We do a lot of shopping at car boots and charity shops and she gets loads for her money and often has some left at the end of the month.

miaxmia

Why was this merged with what a 13 year old gets for pocket money? I hadn't seen the previous thread, but I think there is a difference between what you would give a 13 year old and what you would give a 15 year old.

buxtonrabbitgreen

I am meanest of all of you I think, my children get £1 on Wed and Sun but only after room inspection, so I often dont have to pay at all as they are very untidy. I do pay for music lessons and phone credit Quite considerable for teenagers and treat them to the odd cinema swimming trip. 14 year old son now has a girl friend and has decided he needs a job. All my others had jobs by 13, paper round, market work, or working in the chinese. I always had to work for what I wanted and think it is the best way to teach them self discipline and the value of money. 3 eldest now have very good careers.