Pocket money (merged)

Bennifred

We expect the children to help with the "every day" type of chores as a matter of courtesy eg setting the table, clearing the table, loading dishwasher, emptying dishwasher etc etc. For extra pocket money they do things like wash the cars, mow the lawn, clean windows or the kind of stuff that doesn't need doing quite so often - sorting shed etc!

kazd

I am not sure if my kids are spoilt or hard done by. Officially they do not get pocket money, however,now my middle one is 8 she wants to go to youth club so eldest (almost 11) will go with her. Thats £2 entrance each and £1 each for sweets and drinks. But in addition they do lots of clubs, Basketball, Scouts, Brownies, Swimming Lessons, eldest has just got a place with the local swimming club which means he is swimming up to 4 times a week, this costs £37.50 per month. Middle one wants to go to drama school at the weekends as well. At the moment the youngest only does swimming lessons. He will go to beavers when he is 6.

When they get birthday money I whip it straight off them and put it in their savings, as soon as they get £100 I buy them premium bonds. They get occasional treats ie games. I buy all the sweets, we have a sweetie tin and they get them twice a week, might have to cut this back to once for the eldest as they will get sweets at youth club. My daughter is also collecting the Tracey Beaker magazine which I pay for.

Lets not even talk about Christmas. Actually lets start a thread on that because I am sure we spend too much. After cleaning out my daughters toys and finding some with the sellotape still intact on the box I am determined to reduce that bill.

Ok off to post a thread about that.

bobsa1

My 11 year old gets £8 a month from us, just to be spent on anything she wants & I won't buy plus £1 per week from Granny.

We give her money if we go on holiday etc but next month she is going away overnight with a friends family and then going shopping for the day (very girly!!!) I'm giving her £50 for this but making her do extra jobs around the house to earn it.

Am I too hard?

Savvy_Sue

Bennifred wrote:

We expect the children to help with the "every day" type of chores as a matter of courtesy eg setting the table, clearing the table, loading dishwasher, emptying dishwasher etc etc. For extra pocket money they do things like wash the cars, mow the lawn, clean windows or the kind of stuff that doesn't need doing quite so often - sorting shed etc!

Same here: and we don't have a dishwasher! Everyone makes stuff dirty, so everyone (except me) is expected to help with the washing up, and I'm off sick at the moment which is why as a matter of principle I'm not washing up.

My 13 yo gets £5 per month into his bank account - you know from 11 they can have a bank account, mine have theirs with NatWest and they get a solo card so can use that in shops - plus I make sure he has cash for school for snacks as well as paying for dinners. I pay for most of his clothes, but not when he wants trendy T-shirts costing over £10 each off the internet!

Mind you I am cross with him today as he went to the cinema with a friend. I knew his friend didn't have any money on him and said he didn't need any. I was very short of cash, so asked son to pay for tickets on his Solo card and I would repay him, gave son £5 cash for popcorn and said I would like some change. But no, two drinks and popcorn came to more than £5, and he couldn't use his solo card, you have to buy a gift voucher at the ticket booth instead, so he did that and spent nearly £8, and he is NOT being repaid for that because I think that's completely unnecessary when I said I wanted some change!

I KNOW drinks and popcorn are expensive, but they are optional, they could have bought an icecream each and still brought me some change.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

My DD is nearly 11 and she gets £2.50 a week, bit only if she keeps her bedroom tidy and empties the occaisional DW load. If she doesnt then we deduct 50p etc. Today she mowed the lawn too :eek:

We pay for anything else she needs, but she does save up for things if its something she wants and is not needed (5 minute wonders normally..lol). My folks give her quite abit of money but she saves this for things she wants and her granny gives her money to do dusting, gardening etc. So she does pretty well.

We dont have alot of money and she does understand the value. I have put a few books on ebay for her over the past 3 weeks and she has made £12.00, so have written a cheque and paid into her account so that she can think about what she wants. Im just tight though. Think when she is 12 we will put up to £3.50, but we will see.

Your DD sounds a very lucky young lady and you a generous mother. I think your doing fine...maybe abit too generous, but thats just me..lol.

PP
xx

viktory

My 14 year old son gets £30 per month from me and his dad and £15 a month paid directly into his bank account from his grandparents. He pays for pretty much everything out of that, except clothes.

I do expect him to do households chores, such as loading the dishwasher, washing machine, hoovering and so on.

Thankfully my daughter recently started full time employment and now pays us. :beer:

Prudent

Many thanks for everyone's contributions. I feel so much happier now about what I am giving her.
My daughter helps a lot around the house. Although I think all children should help, this has been necessity for me. I work full time in a demanding job and am on my own. I tried her with lots of different jobs and found out which she is able to do. Usually we do around an hour of housework a day together. She likes dusting which I hate! She is also good at hoovering, emptying the bins, sorting and putting the washing on and now she has learnt to hang it on the line properly. She doesn't do so well with jobs like cleaning the bathroom, washing the kitchen floor, ironing, cleaning out the cat litter so I do those. I then do other less pressing jobs like washing windows, cleaning out cupboards when she is out with friends.

Reading your threads I realised that I didn't mention that I also pay for her music lessons and orchestra and at the moment (because the money is available for a while) I am also paying for horse riding at a whopping £16 an hour. I was lucky enough to have ponies as a child and really loved riding. I could never afford a pony for her, but at the moment I can afford a weekly lesson. She knows this may just be for a while and is just pleased to have the chance.

Claude_2

Well, Prudent, after reading most of the answers given to you, I feel mean I only give my daughter £10 a month for pocket money! I might have to review the situation when she turns 13 in 3 months!

Gingham_Ribbon

I don't think it's mean at all, Claude! I'm intending to do just the same! I want my son to know the value of saving and working hard, but obviously leaving room to be a kid and have fun too. I don't think at that age they need much money. It depends on what they are used to, though. (I wouldn't deliberatedly cut a child's pocket money to 'teach' them anything other than if they don't contribute, they don't get, or if money becomes tight, though._

Prudent

Claude wrote:

Well, Prudent, after reading most of the answers given to you, I feel mean I only give my daughter £10 a month for pocket money! I might have to review the situation when she turns 13 in 3 months!

Don't feel mean its about what you can afford. I am now just beginning to get more financially stable after a marital breakdown three years ago. I went through stages when I really struggled and some months I couldn't offer any pocket money. Once a got a stable job, won some battles with the CSA (some still ongoing!) and did up the house I purchased in a terrible state things finallly got a bit easier. I have been very open with my daughter about finances and realise she has benefitted by learning a lot about budgeting.

However even I did suddenly have more money I wouldn't give her huge amounts. I often think it is better to learn to budget with a small amount before getting more. I have always been fairly good with money, but this site has taught me a lot more! I started using it when I was very hard up and still use the skills I learnt at that time.