Pocket Money?

[mum22ttc#3]

My girls are nearly 4 and the other one 8.

What would you say is acceptable pocket money for them per week and how much do you give your kids? Also how do you go about it i.e just give it to them or do they do little jobs etc.

TBH I probablly wouldn't bother with just my 4 year old but as her sister is going to be saving hers for our holiday she wants to too.

Thanks in advance

 

[JASMAK]

My kids have been getting allowance for over a year now. They get $10 every two weeks, and if they want a toy, they have to save up for it. That being said, we don't make them save any of it, because we put money away seperate for savings. If I was going to make them save some, I would give them more.

 

[sabby52]

Dan who is 14 gets £20 a week, £10 to save for his holidays (his own spending money) and £10 for himself.

Dec who is 4 gets £10 a week, £5 to save for his holidays (again his own spending money) and £5 for himself. When Dec gets to 10 it will be upped to £20 like his brother.

 

[hopeandpray]

It depends on how much you want them to buy for themselves. If you pretty much buy everything and they'll just use it for sweets then just a really small token amount but if they'll be buying their own toys or saving it then I'd make it more. A got a pound a week when I was little and then 5 when I was older.

 

[sw2129]

We dont do pocket money, we buy ours a magazine and when they complete some jobs around the houe they get some money then to save. The 11 yr old will save for games etc, and for our 2 and 4 yr old they have them sealed tins and save for a few months/or until full and they get to spend it on toys etc. When our 11 yr old starts high school we will then start pocket money as he will want phone credit and to go out with his mates.

 

[bbear690]

mine get £1 per sunday of there grandparents

£1 from us if they tidy there room/hoover etc

they get treats alot, moshi monsters is the fav at the moment so a pack of those a week they are £2

they get £5 if they go up a book band at school or get a ceritificate etc

they seem happy with that


they usually save there money to go to toys r us and buy a bigger toy or lots of moshi monsters

 

[Vonnie18]

Mine get £5 each week as long as their bedrooms are tidy!! We also buy them treats but if they wanted a computer game or something a bit more expensive then they would have to save pocket money for that x

 

[Amyface]

I think the best thing with regards to pocket money is to give them a set amount at the same time every week. This teaches your children how to save for things properly. They can't save for a particular toy they want etc. if they can't properly predict how much money they are getting and how often. I also think that a certain percentage HAS to go away into savings every week. So, for example, you could give £10 a week but they have to save £2.50 and the rest it's up to them to do what they want with. You should also set what things they have to buy themselves and make sure you don't buy them instead. If you say they have to buy comics or magazines with their money, don't go and buy them with your shopping. Remember that the main reason for pocket money is for them to buy what they want, and to start understanding responsibility and budgeting so it's best to not undercut that by changing the rules half way through.

I don't think pocket money should be related to chores as I think this is just part of being a family. If you're in my house and my family then you help to look after everything because that's just how this household is run. When they are older, I think you can offer payment for a particularly big job - ie. completely cleaning the car, mowing the lawn - so that they can start to understand the link between work and money which is going to follow them for the rest of their lives.

 

[RachA]

We don't do pocket money yet but when we do it's only going to be a small amount. I think we will start off at £1 per week.
We will encourage them to save a certain percentage to go for treats on holidays etc. The rest will go on saving to buy toys etc that they want.
I would never give them more than about £2.50 under 10 as there is really no reason why they would need a larger amount. We buy all their clothes and pay for holidays etc.

 

[Amy_T]

This is an interesting one as i've been wondering about giving my 6 year old pocket money. She doesn't get any at the minute, she gets a big-ish treat around pay day each month which she often chooses a new outfit or it may be a toy. However she doesn't understand much about money as my parents love buying her whatever she likes (they have the money to do it) so i'm trying to teach her more about money.

Some interesting thoughts on here though - I wondered about the chores thing, currently she isn't 'made' to do anything and I'm not sure how I feel about it either so be watching out for other opinions!

 

[ablacketer]

General rule of thumb is $1 per year of age. I don't "force" saving. If she wants it she has to save for it. We used to pick something she wanted and put a photo of it on the fridge. That worked for us

 

[v2007]

Mollie is 12 and doesn't get pocket money, she does get money if she is going out with friends thou etc.

V xx

 

[readyformore]

Um..........I don't give out pocket money.

They get money from their birthdays and special occasions. I let them choose if they want to save it or spend it.
I expect them to participate with household chores; we all live here and we need to work together to keep things running. But, I will give them money if they spontaneously do a chore. Last week, my son went through and tidied up not only his room, but also his brother and sister's rooms. So I gave him $2.
I will offer up $2 to the person that matches up all of the socks, (I hate that job, lol). And I will offer to loan out money, but they have to work it off in chores like cleaning the bathroom or the kitty litter.

 

[saitiffeh]

When we tart with our boy, he'll get $1 for every year of his age. If we start when he's 5, he'll get $5, then $6 starting his next birthday, etc,

 

[Catkins2011]

My 9 year old boy gets £5 per week to do what he wants with- he always saves every penny and wont buy anything himself as he is "saving up for a ferarri" lol.
He does not get "big" treats like computer games etc on a regular basis, usually just birthdays/christmas etc and maybe one or two throughout the year which we buy, along with his sweets, comics, books, toys etc. When we go on holiday I give him some money so he has his own spending money. He does not really ask me for very much, but if he does I tell him why dont you get it out of your pocket money, and usually he decides that he does not want it that much after all!!
I think when he turns 10 later this year, I'll put his money up, but he will then have to start buying his own sweets ands games etc

 

[LittleOnes]

PG with our first but when I was younger, my sister and I received an allowance. It probably started once we were each 8-9 years old, and we got $1/year of age so lets say $9 starting out, I believe it was every two weeks. BUT we only got allowance mostly if we went above and beyond our 'expected' chores as someone previously said - each week we'd be responsible for keeping our rooms and bathroom neat, but when we scrubbed bathroom or did the baseboards or windows or dusted, we got the allowance. Still, the alowance was pretty consistent every two weeks because every week or two we were asked to do those additional chores, whereas the basics (eg keeping room tidy) were not directly asked, just expected. I suspect that is how we will raise our LOs, though to my knowledge DH didnt have to do chores to get money from his parents. I'll have to have a little chatty with him about that