Pocketmoney Discussion Thread

Rachie_B

my eldest son is 11 in may and gets £5 a week

the youngest is 5 in april but doesnt get pocket money yet,he "earns" comics / sweets etc by being good and getting stcikers on his chart

*Louise*

I have a set of poker chips, and have written on them in black marker amounts ranging from 10p up to £1

Every time my son (7)does a chore/helps out etc he gets a token to put in his bank, and at the end of the week, he can exchange them for cash. He uses this to save up for game boy games.

I have been doing this for just over a year, and it seems to be working well - if he doesn't do anything, he doesn't get any money.

november

My 13 DS gets £30 a month allowance. My DD gets her bus pass to college (£50 a month :eek: ) and about £10 a month in phone top ups. She doesn't get the EMA but does work part-time.

DD buys all her own clothes etc and DS is expected to buy anything above 2 basic outfits (jeans & sweats x 2 plus 1 pair trainers.)

I think I started pocket money when I thought they were old enough to help a bit around the house - probably about 4 or 5 and 50p week . DS still has household jobs but DD got let off hers as her hours are actually the longest if you include college, part-time job and studying.

misty

My son is 5 and has been getting pocket money since he was 4. He got £1 a week and now gets £1.50 per week. He doesn't have to do anything to earn this as such although he is very well behaved and thoughtful and helps around the house. I will dock his money for any poor behaviour or add to it for extra good behaviour (awards from school for exmaple). He's very savvy about money and saves it every week - spending very little and only when he really wants something. Today he bought two annuals in Waterstones for 99p each (2007)- I may usually have bought one for him but after Xmas and all the things he had received from everyone -if he really wanted them he had to pay for them himself. He'll ask me if something is expensive as he's not sure of prices exactly and if I say it is expensive -he'll put it back - he likes a good deal.

I would get something they can see the money in (rather than a piggy bank) and give it in 20ps so it looks more and let them play with it and count it - so they don't want to part with it (on sweets or other rubbish)

ruthyjo

My children get all their needs met, any sweets they are allowed to eat (not many) are bought for them and I save £80 a month each for them across isas (in my name obviously but for them) and unit trusts - this is university money.

My eleven year old was constantly losing school uniform - rugby socks, swimming trunks etc so that most weeks I was back at the school uniform shop laying out another few pounds. I instituted a system where each child got 20p for each year of their age. Consequently eleven year old gets £2.20, 10 year old £2.00 and four year old 80p. Any lost school equipment has to be repurchased themselves using this cash (though I probably wouldn't hold the four year old to this!). Any remainder can be used for any luxuries they want except food, where I like to be in control. Much less equipment is lost now and the older two are quite tight and just let the money mount up. The four year old tends to spend hers on junk anytime she is taken to Home Bargains or similar but she'll learn.

I was really touched when they made a shopping list for xmas this year and bought with their own money little tokens for us, their grandparents and aunts and uncles. I felt really pleased I'd given them a little bit of financial independence and they used it to be generous to other people.

karren

we give the 7 year old £5 but that has to pay for scouts £3, st johns £1 and football £1 and he has extras for helping in the house, but as hesa fab child he does this for nothing, most of the time.

The 3 year old gets £3 but that again goes on dancing classes,

milkydrink

Apart from her £17.50 (child benefit, which I consider hers) a week pocket money, my daughter gets £30 every college week from the education authority for 100% attandance (ALG).
She also gets all her toiletries bought in the main house shop. I drive her to & from college (no fares to pay), I make her a packed lunch (no lunch to buy).
If she does any paid work outside the home, I still give her, her pocket money that week (it's S.O. anyway). Her work ex placement gave them a £300 bonus before Xmas as a thank you. She also had a part-time friday job for which she got £50 per week (one day), during the holidays she worked 5 days & earned loads!!! She doesn't work there anymore. Her work ex placement have told her in the New Year they may offer her 2 days per week £80, so that's loads.
She does buy a lot of her own clothes & mobile top ups, I buy stationary stuff for college.

So we are probably quite soft, it's not that we are very well off. I just think if you can't enjoy your childhood & teens without money worries & responsibilities when can you? So we just try & make things easy & pleasant for her.

specsappeal

Hi all and happy new year to you!!
My 11 yr old DS gets £5 per week and £3 for football training and match fees and £5 for his golf lessons, DS 13yr old gets £5 plus fishing lake fees and bait. My dd 16 yrs old gets £10, and she gets £30 EMA but this has to cover school books, phone etc. My daughter only withdraws £10 of her EMA out per week (usually to top up her phone) and leaves the rest in the bank. I also pay into insurance policies each month for them which they receive when they are 18.
I have always stressed that if they want to buy something 'major' - anything over £10 then they have to save half the value and i will pay the other half. That way if they really want something then they have to 'save' for it.

pinkwitch_2

My 7 year old get s £1 a week but needs to keep her bedroom tidy and feed the cats.

I pay for her magazines,sweets and gym money £2

seroxat_chick

I started a system with my now 13 year old, which has been such a success we will repeat it with my 9 year old in September.

When he started high school (which is at age 10 where we live), I gave him £10 a month and expected him to pay for his magazine and any football programmes he wanted, himself.

When he moved up to Year 7, the amount was increased to £20 a month and in addition, he bought close family birthday and Christmas cards himself. He also had to fund 50% of his football season ticket too.

Next year saw an increase to £30 and he also bought close family birthday presents too, as well as buying his season ticket outright.

This year I didn't increase the amount as he was old enough to get a paper round if he wants to supplement his income. However, these jobs are few and far between round here and he is still waiting for a vacancy. He now pays for most things himself, the exception being clothing, although he has offered to buy things - bless!

So, basically, with each annual increment he also had further financial obligations, which we both agreed to beforehand. I'm very proud of how he has budgeted, especially for his season ticket (a one off large sum annually) and for birthdays and Christmas. I should add, I think, that he has to regularly help out around the house too - it's not money for nothing!

In answer to the OP, personally, I think that a four year old is too young to get regular pocket money. Maybe a good thing to introduce, if you don't do it already, is to get them to sort out the correct money from your wallet and pay for a comic etc. in a shop. Gets them used to handling money and builds confidence.