Pocket money for a 12 year old - how much?

[SamanthaB123]

We have been a bit slack with dishing out pocket money recently and I feel a bit guilty. I want to re-establish a pocket money system for my 12 year old and 9 year old. Ideally the 12 year old would buy her own toiletries, school stationary and books that she would like to read. This is not because we don't want to buy them because in effect we will be, more that I want her to gain some understanding of how much the things that she likes costs. I'm happy for DD2 to do the same and she would probably like to but I don't feel that they should have the same amount of money. Not least she uses much less in the way of toiletries. How much do you think they should each get a week?

[ragged]

Dunno, but am interested in replies!

[SandStorm]

We give £5 a week but for that she has to do certain chores - not many, just keep her room tidy and water the vegetable patch (not large). She can earn more if she does other stuff round the house as she wishes.

From that money she buys pretty much everything except things she needs for school and essential toiletries (soap, toothpaste etc).

We have the same rules for my 7 year old except we still buy her clothes and toiletries - she doesn't have to water the garden but the room tidying rule remains and she gets £2 a week.

Of course, much of this is academic because we all have terrible memories and we often forget to give any pocket money at all!

[bumpybecky]

they get £1 per year age per month

so dd1 (12) gets £12, dd2 (10) gets £10, dd3 (5) gets £5 a month

ds gets nothing, but he's 2 and doesn't realise!

for this they buy their own sweets and comics
I buy toiletries and essential stationary for school, they buy any fancy glittery stuff...

In theory they have the opportunity to earn extra by doing jobs for me. In practice they're all quite lazy and don't bother!

[bellavita]

DS1 13 gets £5 and DS2 nearly 11 gets £3. They do chores like bringing the washing down, setting the table, clearing plates.

They are not expected to buy their own school books/toiletries out of this.

DS2 saves his and buys Warhammer. DS1 saves too and will go to the cinema or into town and will buy a couple of cd's or will ask DH to order him an i-tunes voucher.

[LucyLouLou]

bumpybecky - I think that's an excellent idea! I'm still cooking up my first (due later in the year), but I'm going to make a note of that £1 for every year of age tip. Thank you!

[bumpybecky]

Pixie do you insist they save some of that?

I don't mean to sound critical, but that seems like such a lot of money! I don't have £10 per week spending money (and by our pay scale I should be on £37 per month....)

[BelligerentGhoul]

Sandstorm - does your dd have to buy her own clothes out of that?

Our dds are 15 and 13 and get 30 pounds a month but tbh I am thinking it is too little now, especially as they seem to want/need more clothes and need adult sizes now as too tall for children's.

They don't buy school stuff, phone credit or toiletries with that but they do buy non-essential clothes, CDs and frivolities plus pay for the cinema if they go.

[PlanetEarth]

Wow, looks like I'm really stingy! Our kids (10 and 12) get £1.50. The 12 year old still never manages to spend it all, mind you.

[bumpybecky]

oohhhh going for tea with friends sounds very grown up!

[plonker]

Oooh Becky, I love your plan! I may go with that myself, I've been wondering how much my dd's should have to spend and your plan sounds ideal

[Guadalupe]

Ds1 is 12 and gets £10 a month.

He earns some extra by doing jobs, a pound or two here and there and I don't always ask for my change back from the shops if it's not much so I think he does quite well.

DD is 8 and doesn't get any, she's never asked so it hasn't come up yet.

[SandStorm]

BelligerentGhoul - she buys most of her casual clothes out of her own money. We buy school uniform and essentials like coats and underwear and she always has at least two pairs of decent shoes we buy for her (one set of school shoes and one set of home shoes). She saves quite a bit and has a good eye for value - a lot of her clothing seems to come from Primark and the like. She also saves her Christmas and birthday money to put towards whatever she wants.

[Ineed2]

I would give Dd2 £5 a week, shes 14 and all she has to do is tidy her room once a week . But she rarely gets her money because "It's my room, and I like it just the way it is" she says.
I think I am going to have to start giving her money though because she always ends up needing some when "All my friends are going".Talk about got me exactly where she wants me.

[BelligerentGhoul]

Thanks Sandstorm. We do similar - buy uniform, shoes (unless fashiony ones that they don't need), underwear, jeans, coats, holiday clothes - then they buy their own fashion t-shirts, scarves, jewellery, silly bags etc. They seem to favour Topshop nowadays though, so their allowance doesn't go very far!

[roisin]

ds1 (13) gets £5 per week. It goes straight into his bank account every month along with his money for school dinners and school bus fares.

He has to pay for cinema tickets, the clubs/activities he goes to, the food/snacks he buys out with his mates, yu-gi-oh cards or whatever he wants.

He doesn't have to buy clothes or toiletries.

I don't intend raising this amount Actually. He is on the waiting list for a paper round, and when he's older will hopefully get a job waiting on tables or something.

If you give them lots of cash, it just discourages them from the motivation to get and stick with a part-time job AND they have more free/leisure time, so need/want more money.

[SamanthaB123]

Wow - thanks for all of the replies! Now that I am reading all of the responses I realise that I had forgotten how much there was to this.

i definatly want monehy to be chore related as I don't think that it's unreasonable to expect children to load the dishwasher and hang laundry - both girls do these things anyway. We will buy school uniform and pay for school lunches (we pay by DD so it's not practical at this stage for her to pay herself). I would like her to buy her own toiletries (not least so she'll make them last slightly longer!) and some clothes although I think realistically we will still need to pay for some too. She will also buy all of her own stationary for school.

I think that we will go for £6 or £7 a week which would be £27-30 a month. I like the idea of paying directly into the bank account too. I think that our 9 year old should get a bit less - maybe £4 a week and she can start to buy some of her own stuff too.

Does this all sound reasonable?

[Manda25]

My oldest is now 19 - when he started secondary school i started putting money straight into a bank account:

(i can not remember exact amounts - but basically i added up every thing he would be getting anyway)
£60 a month for dinner money
£20 a month for pocket money
£7 a month hair cut
£10 a month for phone top up
£15 a month for clothes
£5 a month for toiletries
£20 bus fares

I put the total into his bank account and he had to manages his own money

I have never linked money with pocket money as i beleive that he should do job around the house because he is a part of our family ...not because i am paying him to do it. (he did and still does a lot around the house) - he never refused to do any jobs but if he had i would have stopped doing things for him (lifts, washing, cooking etc)

[roisin]

YEs, that's pretty much what we do Manda.
Except that if I gave him money for a haircut he would just pocket the cash and not get the haircut! So I still drag him down there myself when necessary.

[1234ThumbWar]

DD1 starts secondary school in September and I like the idea of totting up how much she'll need and paying it into an account. Hopefully she'll learn how to manage her money better then her parents. Which banks offer this kind of teen account and are there deals/freebies? I remember getting free cinema tickets when I opened an account, but that was back in the dark ages.

[Manda25]

I would pick the bank with the nearest cash machine to you - they only seem to do stuff for uni students these days. My son was with Natwest.

[Manda25]

oh btw for the first few months i opened his bank statements just to make sure he was managing it properly (not taking it all out on the first day etc) ....he is 19 now and never asked me for a extra penny

[Danthe4th]

Never really done pocket money, mine have to work for their money. DD age 15 does a daily paper round for £12 and a weekly one for £8 per week, she tops this up with babysitting. So overall she earns about £100 per month, she puts this into her bank and uses it to buy her own clothes, make-up, luxury items, school bag(because it cost £40) and I refused. I pay for school shoes,uniform and essentials.
DD age 14 does lots around the house without having to be asked, she also looks after her siblings, she does a weekly paper round and earns £5 and does cleaning at her grandmas house for £5.
They are both really good with money so I do give them a bit extra sometime just so they don't have to use their savings. I have never paid for their phone top up and never will.