Teenagers money

Filey

Hello everyone

Some of you may remember my posts under 'what next' with regard to 15 yo granddaughter and her mother's new man.

She now seems to have permanently (according to her) moved in with me. However nothing is written in stone, as is usual in these situations. She is still on reasonably good terms with her mother and seems to have accepted new man, but nevertheless seems to want to stay here.

Her mother has in the past doled out money whenever it seemed to be required, but I would prefer to give her a weekly/monthly sum which she will need to budget herself, otherwise she will not learn that money doesn't breed and mutiply in a bottomless pit.

Filey

Ooops cat walked on the keyboard. To continue - I was going to ask what sums of money other people think suitable. Obviously she would get her expenses such as dinner money and bus fares, but what about 'other' spending money? Do other teenagers get a clothing allowance? I would like her to learn to manage her own money and if she overspends in one area she will have to go without in another (if I can harden my heart),

Any suggestions/advice gratefully received. I can't even remember what I did when my own children were teenagers.

balletshoes

there have been lots of threads about this on MSE over the years - I like Seanymph's approach best I think of all the ones I've read.

Did you have a figure in mind for her budget OP?

pmlindyloo

I gave my children the child benefit money when they were your granddaughter's age. (Not sure who is claiming this or child tax credits - if applicable)

We sat down and worked out a kind of budget - who would be responsible for what. We were responsible for school clothes and shoes /school related items/ basic toiletries but they were responsible for make up/clothes/phone bill/entertainment.

Of course the money didn't stretch far enough and we would buy large/expensive items like winter coats etc and subsidise other things but it was a good start and at the very least made them think how much everything costs.

Perhaps you could do something like this?

balletshoes

Here are some of the other threads on the subject -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4769725

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4185117

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4103287

balletshoes

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I gave my children the child benefit money when they were your granddaughter's age. (Not sure who is claiming this or child tax credits - if applicable)

We sat down and worked out a kind of budget - who would be responsible for what. We were responsible for school clothes and shoes /school related items/ basic toiletries but they were responsible for make up/clothes/phone bill/entertainment.

Of course the money didn't stretch far enough and we would buy large/expensive items like winter coats etc and subsidise other things but it was a good start and at the very least made them think how much everything costs.

Perhaps you could do something like this?

This is my approach too, more or less. DD gets the equivalent of the child benefit set aside as her budget. I buy school clothes and equipment, school shoes, winter coat, and basics as she grows out of them. She buys her own make-up, and her own toiletries if she doesn't want to use the household ones.
She has to budget for any other clothes or treats she wants from her budget, days out with friends, pressies for friends for birthdays/christmas etc, itunes vouchers etc. She pays half her phone top-up from her budget, and at the moment we have Netflix because she wanted it, so she pays for it.

We've only been doing this since the beginning of this year, but so far its working well - anything she doesn't spend one month goes into savings for her.

Filey

balletshoes wrote: »

Here are some of the other threads on the subject -


Goodness! Thanks for that info Balletshoes. That should keep me busy for a while. Lots of useful info there!