Allowance for a 13, almost 14 year old?

[figment3258]

wow i guess i need to re-think how much money my dd gets a week. The way i grew up was my dad would give me 1 plus the change from his check a week. But on the other hand they would give me money to get other stuff like food for dance class and when going out I would get more money .

So for my daughter i was doing the same thing she gets 1 plus change sometimes two depending on what she does to help during the week. but i may re-think this and do the 50 cents per year. Although I have to say my daughter has done well for herself and she has saved 25$ but i think its time to give her a raise

 

[hsmamato2]

wow- I am always amazed at how much $$$ people can give their kids for 'discretionary' spending.....I simply couldn;t afford 25.00 a week per kid,plus paying OOP for other things throughout the week..... my kids make do with 5.00 and 6.00 each (even the oldest teen)
for their 'play' money.....in spite of that they manage to save for bigger stuff they want too......
I actually only want it to be enough for them to buy smaller items they 'want',whereas the bigger stuff,I want them to have to think about and work harder for.
their allowance covers souvenirs when we go places,and random buying of video games or toys they want...we pay for food,clothing and shelter ,plus extras like family outings all the time.
I also want my teen to feel 'poor' until he actually gets a real job! Money is hard to come by for most of us,and I want my kids to understand how to live happily with the concept of earning over time for the things they are looking at.
Just call me 'mean mom.'
and I've always given them the money on the first of each month, they learned quickly how to ration their money! (Mama's not a credit line)
Plus, it's not tied to chores persay,but to performance of family responsibilities in general. i.e.- no allowance next month if you can't keep up with your everyday life jobs,things we all do to keep our home nice.
Our goal is non materialistic,non entitled adults coming forth from our house someday!

 

[Acklander]

My 10 year old gets 10.00 a week--- 1.00 per year of age. She can do what she wants with it- its not tied to chores etc...those you do because you are part of the family, not to get paid! She saves most of it- she is a little pack rat. She makes monthly bank deposits but she also keeps a stash in her headboard of her bed for spending money. If she wants to go to the movies with friends and I am not home or don't have money on me she will just use her own- she also uses it to buy ice cream for her and grandma if she wants to from the truck.
She saves and buys all her own christmas gifts for the family and her friends- we just had a yard sale and she made 100.00 from selling her stuff and is savingt hat for Christmas spending money!

This - we've never tied chores to spending money. They are 2 different things. One is a responsibility for living in the house - I don't get paid to clean the house, so no one else does either.
Once we hit the teen years we went up on the allowance (beyond the $1.00 per year) BUT that was because I expected them to pay their personal expenses out of it - school lunch, entertainment, personal products at the store etc... Also, at the same time I started giving a clothing allowance a set amount at the end of the summer for school/winter clothes and a set amount in the spring for summer clothes. The fall allowance was a bit higher to account for heavy coats and stuff.
by doing it this way, it allowed him to make mistakes, and learn from it, so he learned to budget at a fairly young age.

 

[momx2]

This - we've never tied chores to spending money. They are 2 different things. One is a responsibility for living in the house - I don't get paid to clean the house, so no one else does either.
Once we hit the teen years we went up on the allowance (beyond the $1.00 per year) BUT that was because I expected them to pay their personal expenses out of it - school lunch, entertainment, personal products at the store etc... Also, at the same time I started giving a clothing allowance a set amount at the end of the summer for school/winter clothes and a set amount in the spring for summer clothes. The fall allowance was a bit higher to account for heavy coats and stuff.
by doing it this way, it allowed him to make mistakes, and learn from it, so he learned to budget at a fairly young age.

I have been giving my DD 12 $12 per week. She will be 13 in a few months and I notice her money is going way too fast. I actually give her $26 on the 15th and 30th, my pay days, it averages out to $12 per week.

It is $9.50 for a movie ticket, so one movie per week and she is almost broke. I pay for clothes, lunch and outings with family. I will also, sometimes, give her $5 to eat out if she isn't home to eat with us and has to eat at a concession stand. She practices soccer after school for 2 hours everyday and if there is a game for her to go to (not her own soccer game) she doesn't have time to eat at home and I don't want her going hungry. She would just not eat I'm afraid. It also costs $5 for her to go to school ballgames for admission. Last week there was a big boys soccer game with our rivals, that was $5 and then a group went to the movies on Saturday night, $9.50. That is more than her allowance. She is smart and sneaks in water or juice from home and buys cheap candy at the drug store to not have to buy at the movies.

I am considering raising her allowance considerably in a few months. I don't think $13 will cut it with the costs of everything. I know some here will think I'm spoiling her, but I also don't want her sitting home all the time with no social life and it costs way more today than it did to do anything at all.

I was thinking $15 per week, but I don't think that will be enough. I might go to $20, I'm not sure.

ETA: In thinking about this more, I think what we will do is give her $40 on the 15th and 30th, when I am paid. That is actually $18.46 per week, but $40 is a nice round number for the ATM. Then at the beginning of the summer, I will give her a bonus $100, that will average out for the year to be a bit more than $20 per week. Last summer we had issues of her wanting to do more expensive outings with friends. This will be to cover that. When it is gone, it is gone. I will still pay for her school lunches and I am going to set a clothes budget. If she wants more, she will have to cover it.

 

[SaraJayne]

I have been giving my DD 12 $12 per week. She will be 13 in a few months and I notice her money is going way too fast. I actually give her $26 on the 15th and 30th, my pay days, it averages out to $12 per week.

It is $9.50 for a movie ticket, so one movie per week and she is almost broke. I pay for clothes, lunch and outings with family. I will also, sometimes, give her $5 to eat out if she isn't home to eat with us and has to eat at a concession stand. She practices soccer after school for 2 hours everyday and if there is a game for her to go to (not her own soccer game) she doesn't have time to eat at home and I don't want her going hungry. She would just not eat I'm afraid. It also costs $5 for her to go to school ballgames for admission. Last week there was a big boys soccer game with our rivals, that was $5 and then a group went to the movies on Saturday night, $9.50. That is more than her allowance. She is smart and sneaks in water or juice from home and buys cheap candy at the drug store to not have to buy at the movies.

I am considering raising her allowance considerably in a few months. I don't think $13 will cut it with the costs of everything. I know some here will think I'm spoiling her, but I also don't want her sitting home all the time with no social life and it costs way more today than it did to do anything at all.

I was thinking $15 per week, but I don't think that will be enough. I might go to $20, I'm not sure.

ETA: In thinking about this more, I think what we will do is give her $40 on the 15th and 30th, when I am paid. That is actually $18.46 per week, but $40 is a nice round number for the ATM. Then at the beginning of the summer, I will give her a bonus $100, that will average out for the year to be a bit more than $20 per week. Last summer we had issues of her wanting to do more expensive outings with friends. This will be to cover that. When it is gone, it is gone. I will still pay for her school lunches and I am going to set a clothes budget. If she wants more, she will have to cover it.

Just another perspective ~ when your money (as an adult) is "gone", do you ask your boss for more?

Or do you figure out that since your money is all gone, you won't be able to do X right now and will have to wait until payday?

THAT is what I am trying to teach my children. When the money is gone, too bad for you. As grown ups, when the money is gone, it's gone.

You need to prioritize what you want to spend your money on. If that $9.50 movie ticket is more important to you than a $5 meal at McD's, you better save your money for what you feel is more important.

 

[Mathfailure]

What has worked with our children is one dollar per year in school, given every other week just like a pay!

When little this is just totally pocket money, four dollars every two weeks for a second grader seems like a fortune to them!

Now, as it has increased, they need to use this for their wants during the two weeks, often needing to save for something big. I do not ever give it in advance...and explain if they spend tomorrows money today they will not have any tomorrow.

I do pay for sports extras, and any family outings ect. It has worked for us, and although not a huge amount enough of their friends get no allowance, that they have never complained about the amount. The set rule also prevents begging for more. The year in school rule has done us well.

 

[momx2]

Just another perspective ~ when your money (as an adult) is "gone", do you ask your boss for more?

Or do you figure out that since your money is all gone, you won't be able to do X right now and will have to wait until payday?

THAT is what I am trying to teach my children. When the money is gone, too bad for you. As grown ups, when the money is gone, it's gone.

You need to prioritize what you want to spend your money on. If that $9.50 movie ticket is more important to you than a $5 meal at McD's, you better save your money for what you feel is more important.

That's my point, when her money is gone, it's gone. She would never spend $5 at McD or anywhere to eat for that matter, she would just not eat and be hungry. I want her to learn that when money is gone, it's gone, but I think the amount needs to be appropriate for the area you live in.

We live in fairly low cost of living area, but events still are cost alot. We also live in an area where kids hang out alot, I know that also varies place to place. I was shocked to learn this year that ballgames are $5 a pop. One football game and a movie is more than her weekly allowance. I do not believe that is too much running around. I want her to have a social life. She can't have much of one on $12 a week.

What I am trying to say is I want her to learn to manage money, but not be required to live in teenage poverty to learn a lesson. Right now it is tough, I'm being furloughed to the tune of 2.3% of my pay and my DH only works part-time, but I want my girls to have as normal life as possible. She knows to shop for sales on clothes and not buy junk food at the movies or elsewhere. She is learning the lessons I want her too.

 

[canadianjovigirl]

Wow...........i to am shocked and feel bad as my kids get no allowance. All 3 of my kids keep their room clean, set table, empty dishwasher, put away their own laundry and help on housecleaning day and get no allowance. They take their lunch to school and on special days (once per month) the school offers a hot lunch that i will purchase for them if they would like it. I do give them money if they are invited to go with a friend somewhere, but being in a small town there is no mall or movies for them to spend money on so not sure what they would need money for other than soda and candy which they dont need. We all do yard work together and recycling and bottle return and then with the bottle money we will have pizza and movies night. My kids do get money for their birthdays that they spend on whatever they want and my 15 year old has a job that she does as she pleases with her paycheques. My 11 year old cut grass over summer a bit for some spending money but other than that, my kids have never really asked for allowance, if they need money for something (movie with friend, outing with friends to the city, field trip etc) we just give them the money then. All 3 of my kids have bank accounts and they put some of their birthday money in there, their yard sale money they earn as well as the money i add occasionally.

Not sure if i would like to hand out allowance for a 15, 12 and 10 year old.......$37 bucks a week

 

[littlepeppers]

try www.myjobchart.com

You can set up a chore list & assign each chore a specific point value. You create a store where they can spend their point earned (like on webkins). My store only has $ in it. $1 = 20 points. They also have a section w/ extra jobs (opportunities to earn extra $)

They have to remember to log in, keep up w/ their chores & learn some responsibility. It also helps you assign a definitive amount of money for their work/part of the family responsibility or take away $ for their lack of work. You also don't have to remember to pay them every week. You only have to pay them when they want to redeem their points.

My DS8 forgets to log in or check off chores. It is his financial loss, but it is teaching him responsibility. He loses $ by not being responsible.

I love it, b/c I don't have to remind him to do chores. When his sister gets old enough to do more chores, I plan on giving her the opportunity to earn extra $ for doing the chores that he doesn't tend to. You can even offer his friends the $ for the chores that he neglected. This should get your child moving.

 

[momx2]

Wow...........i to am shocked and feel bad as my kids get no allowance. All 3 of my kids keep their room clean, set table, empty dishwasher, put away their own laundry and help on housecleaning day and get no allowance. They take their lunch to school and on special days (once per month) the school offers a hot lunch that i will purchase for them if they would like it. I do give them money if they are invited to go with a friend somewhere, but being in a small town there is no mall or movies for them to spend money on so not sure what they would need money for other than soda and candy which they dont need. We all do yard work together and recycling and bottle return and then with the bottle money we will have pizza and movies night. My kids do get money for their birthdays that they spend on whatever they want and my 15 year old has a job that she does as she pleases with her paycheques. My 11 year old cut grass over summer a bit for some spending money but other than that, my kids have never really asked for allowance, if they need money for something (movie with friend, outing with friends to the city, field trip etc) we just give them the money then. All 3 of my kids have bank accounts and they put some of their birthday money in there, their yard sale money they earn as well as the money i add occasionally.

Not sure if i would like to hand out allowance for a 15, 12 and 10 year old.......$37 bucks a week

I think that's great that this works for you. Like I said, I think it also depends on your area. Like you said, you live in a small town without much for them to do. I grew up that way too. I didn't need much money at all until we were old enough to drive to "town" 30 minutes away to do things. Even then we were only allowed to go once a week, on a weekend night. I think I either got in free or a buck for highschool ball games too.

Things just have changed, ie more expensive and we live in a town with many activities. I also do not tie chores to allowance. The allowance is merely a way to learn to budget and learn that mom and dad are not an ever ending pot of money. My soon to be 13 yr. old is too busy to many chores anyway. She is in advanced classes in 7th grade, plays JV soccer which she practices 2 hrs. a day after school, then has games about 2x per week. As soon as that ends she will be in Late Fall competitive soccer and speed and agility classes until Spring when Spring competitive soccer begins. She is very busy.

I told her several years ago that school is her job. I also told her that as long as we are paying the money we do to play soccer (at her request) that is also her job. She can play rec soccer for fun, but this is different. If she decides to stop playing soccer she will get a part time job at 15 because she is not laying around the house and walking around the neighborhood engaging in all the teen drama. I intend to keep her busy to stay away from that as much as possible, and trust me it still happens some.

 

[JamesMom]

When little this is just totally pocket money, four dollars every two weeks for a second grader seems like a fortune to them!

.

LOL - my 2nd grader would think he was broke at $8 a month! That would buy a snowcone a week at the community pool.

We give $5 a week since 1st grade. Last year he saved up $75 and we paid the other $75 to get a DSi. He buys his own video games at Gamestop or on Wii Points. He is a bargin hunter - we compare prices on several websites and knows if he waits, new games will sell for 1/2 a few months later. He is currently into Webkins and uses his money to buy new animals at about $10 each. We haven't bought him a toy or game other than Christmas and Birthday since we started an allowance.

I guess the amount should consider what you want the child to buy and how much you want him to buy.

 

[ragtopday]

try www.myjobchart.com

You can set up a chore list & assign each chore a specific point value. You create a store where they can spend their point earned (like on webkins). My store only has $ in it. $1 = 20 points. They also have a section w/ extra jobs (opportunities to earn extra $)

Thanks for recommending this site - it looks great! I think my daughter will be extra motivated just because it's online (she's very into doing stuff online right now). So much cool stuff out there!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My son needs to start getting a set allowance amount per week.

However, I am at a loss on how much to give him.

He is 13, will be 14 in December.

He is very busy. He is very social, and loves to go on trips with school groups and to the YMCA on the weekend.

We do not have any set chore list. Right now, he is trying to catch up on school work. School is very tough for him right now - just starting 8th grade - and at the moment his grades are more important to me than him doing chores. He missed one day last week due to being sick and he is still trying to catch up. He has a ton of homework each night, plus guitar lessons once a week.

Needless to say, while he does not have a set chore list, he does do things if I ask him to (pick up laundry, clean room, empty garbage, set table, etc.).

I know he needs a set allowance, but don't know how much to give him.

I know that this question will get a lot of different answers, but how much allowance do you give your teenager? Or how much did you get as a teenager?

Right now I am leaning towards $15-$20/week for him, but what is your opinion?

Thanks!

Our ds will be 14 in Jan and get $10 weekly for lawn mowing. This is for him, not for school lunches. I pay that by check and it's stored in an account at school for lunches/milk only.
He's saving for a car and doesn't want a clunker.
He makes $ in the winter clearing driveways with our snowblower. Just a couple neighbors.

 

[cinnamon-sugah]

This is a very interesting dicussion, and I'd love some input.

I have 2 daughters, ages 9 and 6. I've tried allowance at various times with my older daughter, and we started again about a month ago (younger DD still does not get a regular allowance). We came up with a list of chores she is expected to do (clean up the dogs' area outside, pack her backpack at night, take the trash out to the street on trash day once a week, fold and put away her own laundry, etc) in order to earn $5 a week. Most of these chores I have to remind (nag) her to do several times before she does them. Because we have 2 dogs and a small outside area, this particular chore really needs to be cleaned up every 24-36 hours or it gets disgusting, and a lot of times I end up doing it (I work from home) because even I can't stand it. How do you handle the balance between chores that should be done because everyone in the family pitches in, and the nagging? How do those of you who don't tie allowance to chores handle it when your child doesn't do their assigned chores?

Hope my question made sense !

I would say, "Since you didn't clean up the dog area (or whatever chore is forgotten), I took care of it for you. However, my time is worth $XX an hour so I will be deducting that amount from your allowance this week."

 

[herdtoDisney]

This is a very interesting dicussion, and I'd love some input.

I have 2 daughters, ages 9 and 6. I've tried allowance at various times with my older daughter, and we started again about a month ago (younger DD still does not get a regular allowance). We came up with a list of chores she is expected to do (clean up the dogs' area outside, pack her backpack at night, take the trash out to the street on trash day once a week, fold and put away her own laundry, etc) in order to earn $5 a week. Most of these chores I have to remind (nag) her to do several times before she does them. Because we have 2 dogs and a small outside area, this particular chore really needs to be cleaned up every 24-36 hours or it gets disgusting, and a lot of times I end up doing it (I work from home) because even I can't stand it. How do you handle the balance between chores that should be done because everyone in the family pitches in, and the nagging? How do those of you who don't tie allowance to chores handle it when your child doesn't do their assigned chores?

Hope my question made sense !

In our family, we have a chalkboard with jobs relating to our critters (cat, rabbit and chickens) and 'dinner' jobs (relating to setting for/cleaning up from dinnertime). We rotate the jobs on a weekly basis, which is the consenus of time that the kids wanted-I actually wanted to do it monthly but they prefer weekly rotation. This keeps us organized and I can see at a glance who is supposed to be doing what.

For their bedrooms, when they were all under age 10, I posted in their rooms a little chart with 'room expectations' that said something like, everyday-make bed, pick up toys, put clothes in hamper. I supervised them doing it a couple of days, then after would check at an assigned time. I still do this for my girls-my boys are over 10 and now just need occasional reminders (usually due to being so busy). Occasionally we do a family 'deep clean' to keep clutter on it's way out.

For occasional chores, we usually just rotate or even just ask the nearest kid Because dh and I work Saturdays, I often leave a little list with a job or two for each kid and say 'please have this done before I get home' and they usually do, although the older ones do help the younger ones (and Grandma is there too).

I give allowances every Friday-we don't tie them to chores. For our family, chores are an obedience issue and the expectation is that they will do as they are told-I'm not a perfectionist and I understand that things get forgotten sometimes-I forget things sometimes but if someone doesn't do their chores because, say, they were playing a video game, then the consequence might be that the game is gone for a period of time. Or some 'extra' work might be found for them to do.

At this point in our lives, I'm now trying to teach the kids to see and anticipate needed work, rather than waiting to be told-they need that skill for when they are adults and have to take care of their own house. It's amazing what teen boys don't see

 

[littlepeppers]

I would say, "Since you didn't clean up the dog area (or whatever chore is forgotten), I took care of it for you. However, my time is worth $XX an hour so I will be deducting that amount from your allowance this week."

This is what I do, but it was too hard to keep track of & put a random $ amount to.

This is exactly why I started using www.myjobchart.com. Each of my DS8's points is worth 5cents. I would never tell him this, b/c he would get mad that they are worth so little. Some of his chores are worth 2-3 points.(15cents - still sounds bad) If he does all of his chores (he never does) he would earn about $4.50 a week.

 

[drcmk]

wow- I am always amazed at how much $$$ people can give their kids for 'discretionary' spending.....I simply couldn;t afford 25.00 a week per kid,plus paying OOP for other things throughout the week..... Our goal is non materialistic,non entitled adults coming forth from our house someday!

I share your goal! I think that teaching through example is the best way.

And I think you have misunderstood about the "discretionary" spending. Because my child gets a generous allowance (one $ per year of age) I DON'T pay OOP for other things throughout the week--like school trips, or weekend outings or school supplies or other "stuff."

 

[drcmk]

Not sure if i would like to hand out allowance for a 15, 12 and 10 year old.......$37 bucks a week

My MIL always jokes that she wishes she could move in with us to get her age in allowance every week. I'm not sure we could afford that.

 

[wvjules]

wow- I am always amazed at how much $$$ people can give their kids for 'discretionary' spending.....I simply couldn;t afford 25.00 a week per kid,plus paying OOP for other things throughout the week..... my kids make do with 5.00 and 6.00 each (even the oldest teen)
for their 'play' money.....in spite of that they manage to save for bigger stuff they want too......
I actually only want it to be enough for them to buy smaller items they 'want',whereas the bigger stuff,I want them to have to think about and work harder for.
their allowance covers souvenirs when we go places,and random buying of video games or toys they want...we pay for food,clothing and shelter ,plus extras like family outings all the time.
I also want my teen to feel 'poor' until he actually gets a real job! Money is hard to come by for most of us,and I want my kids to understand how to live happily with the concept of earning over time for the things they are looking at.
Just call me 'mean mom.'
and I've always given them the money on the first of each month, they learned quickly how to ration their money! (Mama's not a credit line)
Plus, it's not tied to chores persay,but to performance of family responsibilities in general. i.e.- no allowance next month if you can't keep up with your everyday life jobs,things we all do to keep our home nice.
Our goal is non materialistic,non entitled adults coming forth from our house someday!

And those that give allowances of more than $6 are rasing their children to be materialistic and entitled?

 

[allison443]

wow- I am always amazed at how much $$$ people can give their kids for 'discretionary' spending.....I simply couldn;t afford 25.00 a week per kid,plus paying OOP for other things throughout the week..... my kids make do with 5.00 and 6.00 each (even the oldest teen)
for their 'play' money.....in spite of that they manage to save for bigger stuff they want too......

What do you mean by saying you are "amazed"? Are amazed that people can afford $25 a week, or are you amazed that people choose to give $25 a week?