Spending money?
 

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...4169759_10.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifRandom stat
of teens get £1,476 a year in pocket money



This comes from the bbc magazine on their website.

I couldnt believe that kids getting nearly £1500 a year. That equals £15 a week spending money. I used to get £2 a week. Best was i got a paper round paying £2 a week and thought im going to be rich i'll have £4. My dad when i told him he said well that saves me £2 a week then!! I didnt get spending money again after i started doing the papers. Told him it wasnt fair and he said you are earning now so why should i give you spending money! One way to get an extra pint up at the club!! Anyway what do you give the kids if you have any and what spending money did you get. Do you think its a bit much though.

Re: Spending money?
 

And another bit:

A survey carried out for MTV says the average teenager spends £360 on going out and £350 on how they look.

Re: Spending money?
 

Blimey.. if i remember rightly both me and my hubby got £1 a week each,spending money ,that was when we were engaged,and saving to get married ..... We both had to "tip up",,that was the norm then.Most kids living at home diddent keep their earnings :rolleyes:but that WAS forty odd years ago.....:o

Re: Spending money?
 

Re: Spending money?
 

I never got pocket money. I worked from the age of 7(cue violins :D ) at Alex's garden place near Coal Pit lane. I used to save teh money I got (20p for a full morning weeding/planting etc) in a St Bruno tin then take it to the halifax when I got £3.

Then I took over the Citizen round that my sisters started. 340 papers earned me £2.40 a week.

Re: Spending money?
 

This is quite relevant for us today as it's 8th Maddie's birthday so her saturday spending money goes up by 10p from 70p to 80p. Zack still gets 50p until his sixth birthday.

The rule is that half of it goes into their piggy bank and the other half can be spent on sweets. Not that either of them really need it because they get so much stuff bought for them during the week. I guess it just starts to teach them a little bit about the value of money.

When they went on holiday they had to take their saved up spending money. We allowed them to spend it on whatever they wanted.

Re: Spending money?
 

my daughter gets a fiver a week and then her dad gives her 20 a month (if she behaves etc...;))

Re: Spending money?
 

my eldest who is 10 gets £3.50 pw my 8yr old gets £2.50 and my 5yr old gets £1 and they all have to do a job around the house each day or we start to deduct 10p a day, i know it sounds cruel but they have to learn money isnt free

Re: Spending money?
 

Ours have just started getting spending money.

The 2 11 yr olds have to wash up once a day. They get 50p a day but if they do all week they get a bonus of £1.50 to make a fiver. The 9 yr old gets £1.50 for keeping his bedroom tidy.

If they do 4 full weeks then they get double money.

I'm also pleased to say that they have all at some time saved money up from one or more weeks to buy something they want instead of squandering it on crap :D

Re: Spending money?
 

mine think its great when they save for 2 weeks, they think their rich

Re: Spending money?
 

I got 10/- a week (50p) from my dad until I left school in 1959. When I started working I gave my mum my wage each month (we weren't paid direct into the bank then) and got back £2 a week, out of which I had to pay my train fares, until I was 18 when I started paying "board" - £2-10s (£2.50) a week. :)

Re: Spending money?
 

When I was younger (can't remember exactly how old, maybe 8ish) I got 50p a week. This was in the 1980s.

I don't give my kids spending money but intend to start very soon. They need to learn the value of money.

Re: Spending money?
 

when i was a kid,had to " earn" me spending money i.e. washing up, going errands etc, if i had the hump n didnt do it one day,my spending money was reduced by a 7th, didn't have the hump much after a few of those.:D my 2 were brought up in a similar way, not perfect,but it learns ya the value of money etc,personally i think its a good " money don't grow on trees" lesson.;)

Re: Spending money?
 

Mine are 14 and 15 and from starting secondary school they have both got £15 a week.......

Ok you can get your jaws off the floor now :D out of that they have to buy all their school dinners, magazines and save for birthdays and xmas pressies for close family members and they work for it with jobs around the house

What has it taught them?? To budget their money and watch what they spend on lunches and to save!

From next month it all changes, I have sat down with them and discussed changing how it works.

From beginning of November they will both get £100 a month. But from then on all I will pay for are shoes and school uniform... oh yeah and I suppose I will feed them at home :rolleyes:

There will be a running tally of any jobs they miss and for any behaviour issues where money will be deducted from the next months money..

so do you reckon it's a good idea or a bad one??

Re: Spending money?
 

It's generous HR and it's a great principle. When I was a teenager I was given £5 a week spending money and £5 a week clothes money (which at the time was also quite generous).

Re: Spending money?
 

[quote=harwood red;480570]

From beginning of November they will both get £100 a month. But from then on all I will pay for are shoes and school uniform... oh yeah and I suppose I will feed them at home :rolleyes:

do you have a money tree in your back garden, 100 each can i come and live with you

Re: Spending money?
 

If you stick to the rules HR it should work well both ways. From the way you have worked with your boys and taught them the value of money I can see it being a success.

Re: Spending money?
 

Thanks for that bernie. :)

I know £100 sounds alot but take into consideration they are teenagers wanting particular clothes, go to parties, shop in manchester, go to pics etc... think about all that and add up how much it would cost over a month and then add on school dinners too.

When broken down it's not that generous and the fact they have to earn it and lose some as punishment too!!

Luckily they have grown up to be quite good with money, whether that is because I have been trying to teach them from a young age that you have to budget for the things you want and also earn it too.

Re: Spending money?
 

Sounds very good to me. I think I will implement something like that when mine get older.:)

Re: Spending money?
 

nice one red,think its a damn good way.;)

Re: Spending money?
 

awww shucks :o thanks


Ps my kids are convinced that I taught supernanny everything she knows anyway ;)

Re: Spending money?
 

Could do with a few more who stick to what they say. As you say it isn't a huge amount when broken down. They sound like sensible kids so they aren't going to blow it, that would be detrimental to them.

Re: Spending money?
 

Yep think mine know that when I say something I mean it..

like the time I had told them to behave in the car on the way to alton towers, they didn't so I threatened to turn round and go home if they carried on... they did ... so we went home and we were nearly there!!!!!!!! It nearly killed me though :(

Re: Spending money?
 

Ah but do they get more on a 5 week month? :D

seriously, it sounds good. My only concern is that if they weren't as sensible as I'm sure they are you're sort of pressurising them into spending less on Lunch to buy nice things elsewhere, I could see that going wrong in some cases. Ring fenced cash for lunch where if you don't spend it you lose it might be a better plan. After all there are a good few youngsters who are already getting pressurised into skipping lunch to look good, offering them a cash incentive to do so doesn't sound quite right to me.

Re: Spending money?
 

I know what you are saying Ian and in many cases it may not work. However, someone once raised that concern with me with the weekly money, so I asked what they did and they gave them money daily.. and I just asked how do you know what they are eating daily?? (never mind the stories I heard of kids selling their pack lunches!!)

I've done this more to give them more responsibility and to learn about budgeting in a monthly capacity as most jobs out there are paid monthly... ok and I know they are still kids but I don't think it does them any harm and if they hadn't wanted to go for it then I wouldn't push it.

Plus I worry less about what they are eating at school when I know I am making them decent evening meals..must be working as the 15 year old is over 6ft now :D and is a qualified football referee so is earning at weekends too!

Finally the money is per calendar month as wages would be :)

Re: Spending money?
 

:eek:
£1.476 over 52 weeks actually works out at £28.38 per week, so its worse than you think! :eek::eek::eek:

Re: Spending money?
 

Thats a Litre of vodka and other essentials for a Friday night mischief causing session.

Re: Spending money?
 

We never got an allowance when we were kids. Actually didn't even know about them till we got into school. When we asked about it my Dad that we get free room and board and we should be thankful for that.

As with Ian, we all started helping on my big brother's paper route at ~7 years old. ~60% went into savings, 30% was spent on baseball cards, comics, and such and 10% went to church.

We tried allowances with Annie and Joshua. Annie worked hard for her chore money ~$3 - $10/week. Joshua was a bum and many times got nothing. Although he still did his chores as pure slave labor!:p

He gets alot on money for his birthday and uses that throughout the year. Now that he is involved with Cross Country, Student Council, advanced courses, we see that as somewhat replacing many of his chores. (I think he plays Cindy like a fiddle as he always seems to have some new item when they get home from school and work!)

Brian