Pocket money (merged)

Rachie_B

aww she sounds a credit to you

i dont think a mobile is essential at that age ( and they arent allowed to bring them to school)what about a phone card which she can use in a pay phone? as id be worried a mobile may be stolen

elisebutt65

OMG - everyone here is so generous with their kid - lol

My 11 yr old get a quid a week and is grateful for it - I don't think he knows what the current rate is - lol and the 5 yr old get whatever change I chuck into his play till :rotfl:

Mind you I do buy the Beano every week for him and pay for his Beano club membership every year - about £20/annum. He also get the Horrible Science mag delivered every fortnight - paid for by me again.

I buy all their clothes in sales, EBay and charity shops, but I know what their tastes are and have never had a whinge from them about them.

I've just set him up an 11-16 card account with Abbey and set it up on the internet as well so I can transfer his pocket money into it every week. He doesn't actually get to access the account as I keep the card with me so I can check out what he's getting - we usually hit all the shops to make sure he gets the most for his money.

He's had a mobile for the last 6 months and I've only topped it up once so he's made a tenner last a very loooong time - He's still got over £2.00 on it.

If he wants any new games for his PS2 then we go to Game and check on Ebay to see what the best prices are, then I buy it for him and debit his account. He's really getting the hang of moneysaving :money:

He wanted a Nintendo 64 console so he traded in his old PS and a load of games and ended up paying about 73p for it

He sees how much I struggle making ends meet from day to day (mature full time student with zero debt apart from SL)) so I think the money saving is rubbing off

wishingonastar_3

hi,

my dd will be 10 next month, and we have been having a debate as regards pocket money. she gets £2.50 a week off me, and £1 for helping her great grandfather doing chores for an hour a week (she does a bit of dusting and tidying up). she has been saying her friends get more, some of them £5 or £10 a week, and has wanted to know why she can't have more. as i have pointed out she rarely spends all of what she gets a week so i can't see the point of giving her more, but also i feel that she is pushing for a bit of independance so we have gone down the following route.
i have agreed to £5 a week for a trial period of 8 weeks, out of this must come stationary for school, saving up for cards etc for friends birthdays, for any toys etc she wants, and any sweets/magazines etc she wants all come out of her money, no arguements. also she is to buy her own deodorant, as this is the only toiletry she uses thats personal to her if you see what i mean, and i think its nice way of a bit of independance for her to buy her own. also any bits she wants i don't think are essential (like bits of jewellery from claires springs to mind top of the list, lol) comes from her money also.
she has £5 every 2 months put on mobile phone as it is only used for emergency calls, or on odd occaisions to ring me when she stays away overnight at her dads house once a week, which i have said i will pay for, if she wants more it must come out of her own money though.
for this she must
make her bed and draw the curtains every morning
put washing/ironing away
clear her pots away after a meal, glass before bed etc
all dirty washing in the wash basket
dust front room and her bedroom once a week,
empty the small bins (in each room) on bin night
empty and remake up her pack lunch each night
and make sure all homework is completed.
she has been warned that any bad behaviour, or not doing jobs when asked means i dock it 50p a time.

no idea how its going to work out, but i'll keep you updated as we go along if you want, this is week 2, she got her first £5 on Sunday for a good weeks jobs the week before. so far she hasn't spent much of it, but we'll see how we get on.

hope that might help some,

woas.

Penny-Pincher!!

Sounds like my DD...always wheeling and dealing..LOL. I dont think your being tight elisebutt65-if you add up the subscription for the horrid science magazine and £1 pocket money its probably coming in about £3 a week. Similar to DD, she gets her puppy magazine and 50p a week.

DD is always grateful of whatever she receives and thats why I dont mind buying things here and there for her. She rarely asks for anything as she knows we dont have alot of money coming in. A few weeks back we were in Asda and they had Bratz dolls reduced to £7-she has a couple and there was one there that she didnt have. She knew she only had £4, so put it back and said she come back in a few weeks and hopefully they would have some left. We treated her to it and she bought a hot chocolate and cake from the cafe for us to share to say thankyou.

My sister does kit DD out with alot of clothes as she is a wholesaler of kids clothes, so dont often have to pay out much to kit her out, just a top/bottom here and there IYKWIM. A bonus to this is that when she grows out of them or sister has bought the wrong size etc, I can chuck on ebay and buy new needed clothes with the money ive earnt. Clothes are normally bought from Ebay or in sales and occasionally bootsales-specially of designer clothes.

DD has had a few quid on her phone for months too and uses only for an occasional text.

Thanks again for the replies
PP
xx

Spendless

Can I just ask what the 'stationery for school' is as it's come up a few times. Is it a craze for gel pens or novelty erasers (are they still around-my sister was into them) which means that they'll be spending their pocket money on them. My kids are too little for me to know and thinking back to my own school-days I just used to get a new pen-set each summer for the start of the new school year. Though when we moved areas when I was 11 and I attended a school that wanted me to write in fountain pen (was pencil at old school). My parents made me have my fountain pen as a birthday present :rolleyes: :mad: . Just as well I have a September birthday, otherwise I don't know what they'd have done-left me without writing implements till the following year

Rachie_B

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

Sounds like my DD...always wheeling and dealing..LOL. I dont think your being tight elisebutt65-if you add up the subscription for the horrid science magazine and £1 pocket money its probably coming in about £3 a week. Similar to DD, she gets her puppy magazine and 50p a week.

DD is always grateful of whatever she receives and thats why I dont mind buying things here and there for her. She rarely asks for anything as she knows we dont have alot of money coming in. A few weeks back we were in Asda and they had Bratz dolls reduced to £7-she has a couple and there was one there that she didnt have. She knew she only had £4, so put it back and said she come back in a few weeks and hopefully they would have some left. We treated her to it and she bought a hot chocolate and cake from the cafe for us to share to say thankyou.

My sister does kit DD out with alot of clothes as she is a wholesaler of kids clothes, so dont often have to pay out much to kit her out, just a top/bottom here and there IYKWIM. A bonus to this is that when she grows out of them or sister has bought the wrong size etc, I can chuck on ebay and buy new needed clothes with the money ive earnt. Clothes are normally bought from Ebay or in sales and occasionally bootsales-specially of designer clothes.

DD has had a few quid on her phone for months too and uses only for an occasional text.

Thanks again for the replies
PP
xx

awww what a sweetie

i always remember stocking up with new school stationery stuff in the summer holidays,dont think i had more than a few pens / pencils etc at a time oh and then later on a a calcuator etc or whatever else was needed

i was folder / school bag crazy though and used to want new ones all the time !!

i think what i would (will) do is make sure my son has enough pens etc at the start of each term then anything else he wants ,fangled gadgets ,pencil tins etc he can buy out of his money

wishingonastar_3

my dd stationary consists of colouring pencils, pens (red black and blue biros), pencils (think she has 4 in pencil case) sharpener, ruler, erasers - yes she likes the novelty ones, especially the ones that fit together like a jigsaw!!!!, and the pencil case, but she gets through them quite quick, as she likes to draw and colour in her spare time, and uses them for homework too. she has 2 folders also, which she uses for transporting homework as she hates the one the school gave her, lol.
she has other bits and pieces in a stationary drawer in her room, but thats the main part of it.

Rachie_B

my son is 10 next month and he does take any stationery to school as they arent "allowed" / required to

its all supplied in class
he does like stationery sets eg harry potter and is always bought them for bdays / xmas so he rarely needs to buy anything unless its something he really wants like when there was that gel pen craze !!

wishingonastar_3

ooooh, i'd forgot about gel pen craze, my dd was mad for them, especially the ones that were scented. they stunk. glad they've been forgotten about now.

Edinburghlass_2

I don't quite understand the stationery either Spendless, I tend to buy new for a new year and sometimes now for exam time along with art paper. Last night we had to go to Tesco to buy fruit and veg for her upcoming still life exam :rotfl:

My daughter got her first phone for going to High School as she would be travelling on a school bus which if she missed she would be stuck. They need to be switched off at school but they can also use the phone in the school for emergency use such as missed bus etc so half the time my daughter never takes her phone to school. She got a new one this year in January and still has credit left from the £10 that came with it. I thought your dd got a phone for her birthday but as she must have had one before that the novelty of continually texting the kid standing next to her will have worn off Fortunately too the habit of coming in from school and immediately phoning the pal she just spent the day with has worn off a bit too, I think its me shouting, wait until 6.00 pm that solved that one.

Like a previous poster I am happy to pay for the mobile top up too at the rate my daughter uses it as it suits me that we can get in touch with each other if she is out If she did start to over use it she would certainly be paying for it herself.

No mention of make up been made, according to my daughter no self respecting girl would head to school without it and along with straightening the hair, getting ready for school entails quite an early start. She buys her own make up and blags some of my glamourous neighbour who buys loads and never uses it.