clothing Allwance for Teen?

annie12

rachbc wrote: »

My son is 13 - I buy him his clothes but he is developing expensive tastes - we have previously said that if he wants something ££ I'll pay the amount the item would be in M&S/ H&M etc and he makes up the difference wih pocket money/ birthday money/ money from selling stuff etc. however I am now wondering about starting a seperate clothing allowance for him so he can budget for what he wants. I have no idea how often and how much though - anyone else do this with their kids?

My son is 17 and has had an allowance since he was 13. He receives £95 pcm at the moment. We pay for school bus fares, lunch & school clothes. He pays for everything else. If he wants more he earns it.
We've never had a problem.

DeeDee74

sorry im no actual help op i'm hoping to get some tip's or help with same prob
mine get £40 a month and i pay there phone contract as well they both asked for clothing allowance but im struggling to think whats normal/fair??

annie12

DeeDee74 wrote: »

sorry im no actual help op i'm hoping to get some tip's or help with same prob
mine get £40 a month and i pay there phone contract as well they both asked for clothing allowance but im struggling to think whats normal/fair??

I think it depends how old they are, what it's to cover & most importantly, what you can afford!

RedFraggle

Much as we're all meant to be money saving diehards, I think to an extent what is reasonable depends on where you live, how you live and your own personal finances. A trip to the local fleapit in a market town in East Anglia (where I grew up) isn't going to cost as much as a trip to the cinema in a city. If you're out in the sticks an it's an hour on the bus to the nearest town, a trip into town even to do something cheap has a transport cost that you wouldn't get if you lived somewhere different. Any budget that doesn't allow them to go mad is still going to teach them to budget.

property.advert

I think the child benefit is a good starting point if you can afford it. £20 a week or £90 a month is hardly a lot in 2012 whatever age you are.

Big_Alf

This seems like an ideal opportunity to introduce him to several parts of moneysaving.

Starting from January maybe state that his starting quarterly allowance will be $100 for three months (obviously state exactly what this needs to cover - clothes, computer games...basically non essential goods and treats).

Whatever he has left over at the end of the first quater, give him a bonus, or interest rate of 10% for the next quater. So if he managed to save the whole $100, you would pay him $110 in the second. if he only spent $50 then give him $105 and so on and so forth.

Also introduce him to charity shops and ebay, challenge him to see if he can keep building up his bonuses and also find cheap designer clothing.

Obviously the amounts are just a guide you can tailor to your own budget, sorry about the $ no pound sign on keyboard!

jellyhead

RedFraggle wrote: »

Much as we're all meant to be money saving diehards, I think to an extent what is reasonable depends on where you live, how you live and your own personal finances. A trip to the local fleapit in a market town in East Anglia (where I grew up) isn't going to cost as much as a trip to the cinema in a city. If you're out in the sticks an it's an hour on the bus to the nearest town, a trip into town even to do something cheap has a transport cost that you wouldn't get if you lived somewhere different. Any budget that doesn't allow them to go mad is still going to teach them to budget.

True ... some of you might think my 15 year old getting £30 per month is pitifully low, but it's rare that he goes more than 2 miles, so he and his friends don't need bus fare, and when they do they have a card to get any journey for £1 each way. Their cinema tickets are only £5.60.

Shopping in a big city or going to a gig is something they only do a couple of times per year and they tend to use birthday and christmas money for gigs.

They don't need school bus fare and they take sandwiches. I pay his gym/swim membership and guitar lessons, and his phone contract (£10 per month maximum) but if he needs a replacement phone or wants a different one (some of them are iphone mad, but my son 'only' has android) he'll fund it himself. It's a 2 year contract, and he'll have to make do with his phone for 2 years.

Of course he does have friends who get £100+ per month, but from age 14 they have always been drunk. The spirit of choice costs £14 a bottle. Now at 15 they sometimes drink on school nights too. I'm sort of glad that my son is at the poor end of that social group and doesn't join in with the drinking. I can only imagine where their spare money will be going before they are 18

rachbc

Thanks for all the input - I have worked out what I consider a reasonable amount of clothes over the year

6 pairs of trousers @ 15
3 pairs shorts @ 10
12 tops @ 6
6 hoodies @ 15
Pants 30
Socks 20
Shoes 2 @ 30

Totalling around £400 a year - just need to decide if to give him with his monthly allowance or to give every 3/6 months so he can get summer/ winter, have enough at a time for a big purchase if he chooses....

I'll buy school uniform, school shoes and a coat