Pocketmoney Discussion Thread

specsappeal

well my eldest DD is 17. She is still at school and gets £30 per week EMA. We give her £10 per week pocket money on top of that. Out of this she has to pay for her phone top up, going out money and petrol. We paid for her first years car insurance (£950 :eek: ) and 6 months tax. She also takes her younger brother to school everyday (6 mile round trip in her car). she has asked for another 6 months tax for her car for xmas. she has been desparately trying to get a job but as she has no experience she is finding it really hard but she makes her money last ok although most of it goes on petrol. I have made it clear that when her insurance is due in June next year I WILL NOT be paying for it again so its up to her to sort out her budget.
My other 2 DS each get £10 per week pocket money. However if there is a 'big' purchase they want to make then if they save half the value then i make up the other half. I have found that by doing this they only buy things they REALLY want instead of stuff that i get them that gets chucked in the wardrobe after a few days.

reehsetin

i had £80 pm and i paid for everything of my own with that except uniform, i had more than enough and saved up loads for big occasions

flizzy

From about the age of 14 right up until the age of 19 my parents gave me £20 a month allowence.

Up until about the age of 16 they were paying for about 50% of my clothes and also they paid £5 for my tennis lesson each week, plus the train/bus fare to school. I was responsible for paying for my phone credit which wasn't much, leisure travel and trips out with friends. I also did my own washing/ironing, and had the joint responsibility with my brother of putting away the dishes from the dishwasher.

From the age of 16 I had a part time job in a cafe and was earning £30 a week, and started paying for everything myself except the train/bus fare to sixth form. At 19 they paid for my driving lessons.

I felt very lucky to get that much money from my parents, so I'm very shocked to hear that some children are being given £75 a month!!

RichardJohn_2

flizzy wrote: »

From about the age of 14 right up until the age of 19 my parents gave me £20 a month allowence.

Up until about the age of 16 they were paying for about 50% of my clothes and also they paid £5 for my tennis lesson each week, plus the train/bus fare to school. I was responsible for paying for my phone credit which wasn't much, leisure travel and trips out with friends. I also did my own washing/ironing, and had the joint responsibility with my brother of putting away the dishes from the dishwasher.

From the age of 16 I had a part time job in a cafe and was earning £30 a week, and started paying for everything myself except the train/bus fare to sixth form. At 19 they paid for my driving lessons.

I felt very lucky to get that much money from my parents, so I'm very shocked to hear that some children are being given £75 a month!!

You were shocked? But with your allowance, and all the extras, you're running very close to £75 a month. With the driving lessons, it probably exceeded £75?

idealsam

All I can say is wow...I was robbed as a child!

My dad earns a fair amount and even when I was a teenager earnt upwards of 50k. My pocket money was £10 per month and even that dried up when I was about 15 :rolleyes:

I would get up at 6.30 every morning for my £11 per week paper round money and that covered all my expenses.

It was probably a combination of being stingy and wanting me to learn the value of money but (in spite of this post!!) I don't like to complain as I feel it's contributed a lot to who I am. I started my own business when I was about 17 and I've been self employed since I left school.

I'm only in my early 20s and have younger siblings, the youngest of whom is 8. It would pain me to see my parents give them £70 per month for 'expenses', particularly if they're old enough to get a job. It may teach them how to spend money wisely but not a lot about earning it.

LouBlue

Wow! Can't believe how much these children get for pocket money!! :eek:

My sis has never given my niece (15) and nephew (12) pocket money, but they get their school trips, clothes that are needed etc, going out with friends, paid for. If they 'want' anything, then they will get that at Christmas or birthday, or if they have saved up their Christmas or birthday money with it. It has always worked, they have never expected anything or complained about it and niece now works in a bakers on a Saturday, she loves it. Her confidence has soared and she is learning to save some and spend some out of it and doesn't expect mum to fork out all the time.

idealsam

Amen LouBlue!

gregg1

LouBlue wrote: »

Wow! Can't believe how much these children get for pocket money!! :eek:

My sis has never given my niece (15) and nephew (12) pocket money, but they get their school trips, clothes that are needed etc, going out with friends, paid for. If they 'want' anything, then they will get that at Christmas or birthday, or if they have saved up their Christmas or birthday money with it. It has always worked, they have never expected anything or complained about it and niece now works in a bakers on a Saturday, she loves it. Her confidence has soared and she is learning to save some and spend some out of it and doesn't expect mum to fork out all the time.

we give our 15 year old the family allowance each month. Out of that she pays for everything except anything to do with school and we also pay for her contact lenses. Anything else comes out of birthday and Christmas money. Prior to giving her the allowance she was very naive about money. Allowing her to make her own choices on what she spends her money on has worked wonders (and what a surprise, there are far more visits to Primark and less to Topshop!).

I do not see it as a huge amount of money, things are not cheap these days but it is equally about giving her responsibility. She is much more in tune with the value of money now. However, when the child allowance stops and she has completed her GCSE's, she will be expected to get a Saturday job (but we will keep paying her the allowance until she has finished her GCSE's as I personally would prefer her to put all her efforts into her exams rather than a job).

As a Brucie bonus, I also reckon we are better off as well!!

LydiaSophia

Wow! When I was 15 my Mum couldn't afford to really give me anything - she obviously paid for my clothes etc but me and my sister were working as soon as possible to make money.

We did a dog walking business and had paper rounds and also worked saturday jobs.

I think it gives teenagers alot more of an eye opener to have to go and earn their own cash.

LouBlue

gregg1 wrote: »

Prior to giving her the allowance she was very naive about money. Allowing her to make her own choices on what she spends her money on has worked wonders (and what a surprise, there are far more visits to Primark and less to Topshop!).

So was my niece, which is why mum cajoled her into a Saturday job. She moaned about it for a while (it is 8am-5pm!) but she loves it there. And for the first couple of weeks, she would spend her wages immediately, but now she goes 3-4 weeks without spending it, she saves some of it and lets it mount up so she can get something she really wants with it. The job has really taught her that, after working hard all day, she doesn't just want to dwindle the money away on nothing at all really.