Teenagers Allowance

Mrs_Optimist

I would be interested in views in a reasonable Allowance to provide our DD who leaves school in June - she is going on to College.


A present we pay her mobile bill, and give her £40 per month. I also buy some of her toiletries (not make-up) and clothes (needs not wants, she budgets for that herself).


We do not want her to get a job whilst she is studying for her exams but in the Summer are happy for her to work for extras. We are reasonably well off but don't want to spoil her. She is happy with whatever we give her and she is good at budgeting.


When she starts College she will need bus fare and money for books etc.


What do you provide your Teenager monetary wise so I can guage an idea of a reasonable amount of Allowance?


Thanks in advance!

74jax

Mrs_Optimist wrote: »

I would be interested in views in a reasonable Allowance to provide our DD who leaves school in June - she is going on to College.


A present we pay her mobile bill, and give her £40 per month. I also buy some of her toiletries (not make-up) and clothes (needs not wants, she budgets for that herself).


We do not want her to get a job whilst she is studying for her exams but in the Summer are happy for her to work for extras. We are reasonably well off but don't want to spoil her. She is happy with whatever we give her and she is good at budgeting.


When she starts College she will need bus fare and money for books etc.


What do you provide your Teenager monetary wise so I can guage an idea of a reasonable amount of Allowance?


Thanks in advance!

My daughter is in first year of a levels at college.

I pay her mobile, and a monthly bus pass which allows her on many buses in the area, any extra bus trips she pays herself. If she asks for a lift I charge 1.00 it doesn't matter on the distance. If friends want a lift it's 1.00 each. Works out quite well when four of them want a lift to a party :rotfl:

I but her clothes, like you just necessities. I buy her toiletries.

She gets 20.00 from me a week into her bank.

There's food in the house for her lunches etc, if she decides not to take anything, she pays for lunch herself.

She buys everything else herself, presents for birthdays etc, clothes, make up.

She did have a Christmas job which finished in January. She is trying to get another. It doesn't bother me if she wants a job, as long as it's just a day on the weekend.

Homeownertobe

Mrs_Optimist wrote: »

I would be interested in views in a reasonable Allowance to provide our DD who leaves school in June - she is going on to College.


A present we pay her mobile bill, and give her £40 per month. I also buy some of her toiletries (not make-up) and clothes (needs not wants, she budgets for that herself).


We do not want her to get a job whilst she is studying for her exams but in the Summer are happy for her to work for extras. We are reasonably well off but don't want to spoil her. She is happy with whatever we give her and she is good at budgeting.


When she starts College she will need bus fare and money for books etc.


What do you provide your Teenager monetary wise so I can guage an idea of a reasonable amount of Allowance?


Thanks in advance!

I didn't get an allowance when I was in school, but I did get one at sixth form college.

We're going back a decade but it was £250 a month then, and that was only because we were in an EMA pilot area and my parents felt very strongly that I shouldn't be disadvantaged because they worked and didn't sit on their backsides and claim benefits.

I think they worked out what I would've had with EMA and then what child benefit was, but I can't remember. I do know it didn't go up until I went to uni. And I know that I wouldn't have got that amount had the Government not started handing out £40 a week to all and sundry with lazy parents.

I also got a part-time job in a supermarket, which they encouraged as much for the experience as the independence. Certainly not the money, which at the time was eye-watering £3.20 an hour! But they did insist that my hours were low so they didn't affect my studying.

2gorgeousgirls

15 year old DD

I pay:

25 phone
75 school dinners

She also gets (paid into two separate accounts)

30 spending money
65 clothing allowance

All above are per month. If she is out with friends she is expected to pay food, entertainment etc. If she is shopping with me I will buy lunch and if we go to cinema, I pay.

I have a 12 year old also. She gets the same although her phone is £10 and her clothing allowance is £50.

Now that I have written it down I realise that that is £360 per month between them :eek:

I also put £50 in savings account for each of them per month.

ETA - Toiletries are part of household budget and I pay for haircuts as we usually all get done at same time.

Threebabes

My son is in his 2nd year of Alevels (well 3rd resat year 12).

He is within walking distance of school, so he walks. He can drive though we paid for him to learn, and for his tests and pay the extortionate insurance for him to drive my husbands car, the last two years. Cost about £1k to put him through his driving, which we put towards his 18th birthday.

We pay his gym £22 a month, give him £60 a month for lunches etc. £30 a month for his mobile. We buy all his clothes just about and his toiletries. For the last two christmas's he has had £500 plus presents, for birthdays, he got £500 for his 18th (and the driving) and £300 for his £19th (plus presents). Which give him a good cushion.

He had a holiday last year with his mates abroad, which we contributed to and bought all his holiday clothes.

Roll on June when he leaves and hopefully finds a part-time job so he can pay his own gym/mobile. He will be 20 in November and its about time he was financially independent.

I wouldnt care we have two more kids and will do the same for them.

Andypandyboy

Like you, we don't encourage our kids to get jobs until they have finished their studies at least at college level.

So, we fund a reasonable lifestyle. We pay all college expenses, travel/lunches etc. We are funding driving lessons, and he probably gets another £20 pw on average in his hand and I usually pay £30 per month into his account so that he always has emergency money. I also buy clothes, mainly essentials, as he gets clothes for Christmas and birthdays that fall into the "want" category. We also pay his mobile contract.We also pay £50 pcm into a savings account which he does not have access to.

Added up it is quite a lot, but he appreciates it and never gives us a minutes trouble. When he goes off to University in Sept we will fund his rent for the four years and send food parcels!

Poppops

74jax wrote: »

My daughter is in first year of a levels at college.

I pay her mobile, and a monthly bus pass which allows her on many buses in the area, any extra bus trips she pays herself. If she asks for a lift I charge 1.00 it doesn't matter on the distance. If friends want a lift it's 1.00 each. Works out quite well when four of them want a lift to a party :rotfl:

I but her clothes, like you just necessities. I buy her toiletries.

She gets 20.00 from me a week into her bank.

There's food in the house for her lunches etc, if she decides not to take anything, she pays for lunch herself.

She buys everything else herself, presents for birthdays etc, clothes, make up.

She did have a Christmas job which finished in January. She is trying to get another. It doesn't bother me if she wants a job, as long as it's just a day on the weekend.

Personally I would be vary wary of charging other people's children for a lift in your car. I would imagine, if there were an accident, that this could be a legal minefield.

TBeckett100

Allowing her to work for her money will help her budget and get used to managing money for the next stage of her life. Lots of students study and have a part time or weekend job.

TBeckett100

Poppops wrote: »

Personally I would be vary wary of charging other people's children for a lift in your car. I would imagine, if there were an accident, that this could be a legal minefield.

Agreed. It may invalidate insurance as you are taking a fare

Homeownertobe

Andypandyboy wrote: »

Like you, we don't encourage our kids to get jobs until they have finished their studies at least at college level.

So, we fund a reasonable lifestyle. We pay all college expenses, travel/lunches etc. We are funding driving lessons, and he probably gets another £20 pw on average in his hand and I usually pay £30 per month into his account so that he always has emergency money. I also buy clothes, mainly essentials, as he gets clothes for Christmas and birthdays that fall into the "want" category. We also pay his mobile contract.We also pay £50 pcm into a savings account which he does not have access to.

Added up it is quite a lot, but he appreciates it and never gives us a minutes trouble. When he goes off to University in Sept we will fund his rent for the four years and send food parcels!

You should 'allow' (I'm saying this because you think you control him) to get a job while he is at sixth form. Or he won't stand a chance when it comes to being a uni and needing one.

peachyprice

When my eldest two left school they got the equivalent of their child benefit paid into their accounts (roughly £70). On top of that we paid their fares, lunches and phones and also took them out clothes shopping before starting college and spent roughly the same amount we would have spent on school uniform.

But they were boys and needed less in the way of toiletries etc., we'll probably round our daughter's up to £100 when the time comes (she gets £50 now at 13yo).