Do you give your kids and allowance?

[ppandey43]

If yes, how much per week? By kids are 11 and 14.

 

[momx2]

Yes, I give my DD 8 $5 per week. It's just to buy things I don't want to buy, like candy and the occassional trinket.

We just moved DD12 to $12 per week, she had only been getting the $5. We did that because she is going a lot more with friends places. Now, if she wants to go to a movie with a friend, she pays. This is around the time parents stop paying for the guests, especially when there are like 4 of them at a time. She also buys extra clothes if she wants them. I do not tie to chores. I do it to make them learn to budget for things they want.

 

[delmar411]

my oldest is just shy of 12 and she gets $40/mth. $20 of that goes directly into savings.

my 6yr old DD and 5yr old DS each get $20/mth and $10 goes into savings as well.

It's not tied to chores, it's just for learning to manage money. They also don't get any of it in cash. They have an allowance bank card that has their spendable money on it and the rest goes into their personal ING accts.

Mostly the kids just save their money for holidays and trips.

 

[HLDisney]

My 8 yo DD gets $8/week ($1 for each year of age) $3 goes into savings, $1 for church offering and $4 for spending. It's not tied to chores, either.

Helen

 

[DonnaBelle2005]

Well for us our kids was getting between $8 - 11 in the summer for chores they were doing. They were 7 & 9 years old and saving $ for Disney. I think this summer I'm going to do a flat rate of $10 a week and deduct either $.50 or $1.00 when the assigned chore is not done. (Picking up room, putting away clothes, unloading dishwasher, getting up bathroom trash, dusting - they love to do this, picking up toys and putting them away where they belong, making beds - that kind of stuff.)

They slack off during the school year so I wind up not doing an allowance. I also am doing a no buy except for special occasions (birthday, Vday - but they only get a card and super small box of candy), and Easter).

I do pay for good grades though. $5 for A's and $3 for B's. My child in 2nd grade gets a flat $10 for good marks since she doesn't get grades yet.

 

[indimom]

My kids do not get a set amount per week. BUT, if they want to earn money for something, I will find odd jobs (not the regular week to week chores) around the house and yard for them to earn it. Things like picking up sticks in the yard in the spring, tidying a closet or drawer, scrubbing walls, whatever I can think of that they are capable of doing. Sometimes the grandparents have jobs for them as well.
They do have to budget the money they earn. A predetermined amount is put in their accounts.
DD12 is looking forward to a summer babysitting job where she can earn some "real money" to purchase things she would like to have like a cell phone. (She is tired of "sharing" the family cell phone! ) She understands that she will only get to "blow" 15 percent of her income. The rest is being put away for college.

 

[PatsMom]

The year she began high school I started giving my daughter an allowance. We sat down and did a budget of what she might need for spending money. Baseline was school lunch, plus $10 spending money. She figured out pretty quick that if she made a PB&J sandwich and saved her lunch money, her spendable income was much higher! The next year her allowance went up but she was also expected to pay herself for movies and clothing beyond the basics.

I did not tie the income to chores. My goal was to have her learn to budget and she has done quite well. She had a job the last year of school and pretty much banked her paychecks for college stuff and lived on her allowance. She is still working weekends and summers and is expected to supply her spending money and books for college. She has a savings account and a checking account and manages them both very well.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

My ds is 12 and gets $10 per week -- if he makes his bed, keeps his room clean, does his laundry, takes the trash cans in, feeds the cat and scoops the cat box. If he skips the cat box (an ongoing issue), he gets $5. I'm pretty flexible on the room and laundry, but the cat is pretty insistent about being fed...

He can earn extra money if he goes with dh to recycle, we let him keep the $ from the cans and bottles, he has to set them up at the recycling place. We'll also pay him to shovel the rear walk, etc.

I don't pay him for his grades, but we do get something special for a good report card -- and good means honor roll.

As he gets older, we're going to teach him to budget and balance a checkbook. Right now he's learning to save if he wants something, and he has had a rude awakening about taxes on his purchases. He has saved his Christmas and birthday (January) money and gift cards, and plans to buy an ipod touch this weekend.

Recently his school had a collection for Haiti (the kids could wear regular clothes instead of a uniform if they gave $3). I was very pleased that he gave $10 of his own money.

Maria

 

[bebelle]

Yes, based on their age-$2 for each year. Paid twice a month just like dad. So 15 year old gets $15 on the 15th of the month and $15 on the 30th of the month. Only paid if ALL chores were done WITHOUT asking or reminding. They have to tithe 10% and save 10%. They have to pay for all "entertainment" with their funds (ie, movies, concerts, bowling...). Usually works pretty well. DH and I will give them additional funds for out of the ordinary things. For example DS was invited at the last minute to go on vacation with cousins. We gave him extra spending money. Also our 13 and 15year olds both have checking and saving accounts.

 

[Kitzka]

DD 11 recieves $6 per week. To earn this she must:
stretch every night
practice her dance routine
make her bed 6 days a week (she gets 1 day to not make it of her choice)
put away her laundry
keep her own items put away such as her books, legos etc

If she forget to do one of these things then her allowance goes down by $1 for that week. She usually gets the full $6.

Of that $6, $2 goes into the bank and $.50 goes into a change bucket for charity. When the bucket gets to $10 she decides where she wants to donate and DH and i match her funds.

She is free to spend the remaining money how she likes but DH and i have authority to veto any purchase which we see as frivious (how many stuffed animals does 1 child need?!)

DH and I pay for the basics but when it's the 4th sweatshirt in a color you don't have but the other 3 are perfectly fine? then i am not paying for that and she will pay with her own $$.

I will consider increasing her allowance when she gets older but she has to take on additional responsibilities.

Lara

 

[TnTWalter]

Our kids tithe 10% and save 20% and spend 70%. Originally we were having them save and spend 45% each after tithing 10%. but shifted a bit so they could pay for more things....like scholastic book fairs, popcorn at movies, snacks at concession stands...so they can learn how much things cost and maybe the $4 dippin dots isn't a good idea. LOL.

I think amount should be what fits your family income, etc. But also age appropriate.

My middle child drained her store fund for Haiti too...others gave $1 each. LOL.

Trish

 

[NVDisMom]

DD12 gets $20 twice a month. She can use that money as she sees fit, but when its gone, its gone! She can choose to pack her lunches or buy at school, she can choose to think ahead and buy her favorite candy at the grocery store or wait until she is skiing and pay 4 times as much. The idea is for her to budget, plan for more frugal ways to get what she wants. At first she would blow through it in a week, then she got better at spreading it over the two weeks or so, now she usually has some left over by her next payday and is saving for bigger things that she wants.

The funds are somewhat tied to chores, in that I expect her to do as I ask when I ask without complaint. But she's pretty darned good at that anyway.

DD10 gets money as she needs it. When she is in middle school next year I will do the same with her as her sister. I think she has already benefitted from some of her sister's lessons. So I expec things t go mre soothly with her money management.

 

[Vacation Lover]

We give DD10 and DS11 $20 per month. I used to tie it to chores, but now it's separate. They still have chores they're required to do, but it's not tied to allowance.

I love giving them allowance because now I never have to say "no" when they ask for something.
"Mom, can I buy... a book from Scholastic? ...some candy? ...this great new shirt from Justice?"
"Sure, you got your allowance at the beginning of the month, remember?"

 

[csmommy]

DS ~ 14 gets $10
DD ~ 11 gets $6

This is per week & it is for when they go to town to buy pizza, ice cream, hot chocolate, books, family birthday & Christmas gifts, anything extra. This is not tied to chores b/c no one pays me to do my chores & we consider chores a part of being a family. There have been weeks where money is tight so no one gets an allowance & they totally understand.

 

[CrAzY4DL]

We went with 2 trains of thought. One was that each kid had the same amount of chores as how many years on the planet and each chore is worth $1.00 a week, and then we incorporated Dave Ramsey's saving/spending kids program into that. He suggests that they give 10% to charity (or tithe), 30% goes into long-term savings (their car), 30% goes into short term savings (I wanna buy a Webkinz or some other treat) and then the other 30% goes to immediate spending.

DD6 does 6 chores a week, some she is responsible for every day some are once a week:
1. Make bed (every morning)
2. Tidy up room (every night)
3. Wipe up bathroom counter (every night-the kids and their toothpaste, oy vey!)
4. Feed cats every day
5. Organize the shoe shelf (once a week)
6. Empty all of the small garbages (once a week).

DD10 does 10 chores a week:
1. Make bed (every morning)
2. Tidy up room (every night)
3. Wipe up bathroom counter (every night)
4. Vacuum (once a week)
5. Swiffer all TVs and dvd players (once a week)
6. Take out garbage (as needed-usually 2-3 times a week)
7. Unload dishwasher (every day)
8. Fold towels (1-2 times a week)
9. Fold socks (once a week)
10. Put her own clothes away (as needed)

DD6 gets $6 every week and puts $0.60 in her charity jar, $1.80 in her long term savings, $1.80 in her short term savings, and $1.80 in her immediate spending.
DD10 gets $10 every week and puts $1.00 in charity jar, $3.00 in long term, $3 in short term and $3 in spending.

They hardly ever use their immediate spending so they usually just end up throwing it in their short term spending. They are only allowed to buy one edible treat and only with permission (everyone in my house has a severe sugar obsession, LOL). Other than that it is fair game. DD6 just spent $24 at Justice on a Webkinz and some fingernail polish (she's lucky, because even though she gets so little compared to DD10, she keeps losing teeth and then throws that money in her short term savings, HAHAHAHA!)

I made a spreadsheet of each girls chores along with the days of the week at the top, then had it laminated and I have it on the front door. Every day I mark their chores off (or mark that I didn't need them to do certain ones that day) with a dry erase marker.

So, that's what we do. DD10s' 2 bff's don't do chores or get an allowance, they just get money. I don't know about DD6s' friends. DH and I are soooo terrible with money, we are really hoping to instill some money smarts into these two. And if they grumble (DD10!) then I say, you can do your chores without complaining and get paid or you can complain all you want while you do your chores and get nada, but these are things you are responsible for. Usually gets her to close her mouth.

Hope that helps!

 

[mstinson14]

I give my almost 14 yo dd $10 a week

 

[stitchfamily]

Yes and no... I have three children 18YO (Girl), 16YO (Girl) and 14YO (boy)... the only one that gets an allowance is the 16YO.

**PUTTING ON MY FLAME SUIT** My other two children do have special needs and do chores that are appropriate to their abilities (it is our goal they feel included in every part of our family life) ALL of their needs are met and they really want for nothing so no need for extra money.

 

[TxRabbit]

My DS9 gets $5 a week. It was our birthday gift to him at age 8 years to start getting an allowance. It isn't tied to chores.

Our philosophy is that chores are a part of family life. You don't get paid to be a part of the family. Allowance is a privelege given simply because we want to gift him. We also want him to begin to understand managing money and so we have started with enough that if he wanted to save up a month's worth, he would have some good options for purchasing, used video games with trade in or not, etc etc. And we explained that if he saved up for a year, he could buy himself a Wii.

When he first got it, it burned a hole in his pocket, he was so excited to have money of his own. Now, however, he has simply been saving it. He only buys things that he really wants. No more spur of the moment spending. It's nice to see him naturally develop this way.

He hasn't asked lately, but if he wanted to try to earn some more money, we have given him above and beyond chores in the past, before the allowance. At this time, I might try to figure out some other type of thing. An entrepreneural type endeavor that we could do together and try to get money from other people for extras! LOL.

We don't reward for good grades. We know some do, but our son is one of those hard on himself already kind of kids. He doesn't need added pressure of trying to achieve to get paid. The way we explain it to him though is that we don't reward because we also wouldn't punish. We celebrate good report cards (special event, dinner, whatnot). He has a composite 99%, and has forever been 94 or above. In the event that something was happening we would also take measures to understand why grades were out of norm and try to correct that if it was correctable, or offer help in order to bring them up.

HTH

 

[taximomfor4]

I don't. They get whatever they need from us, and what they want, they get for birthdays/Christmas if it's within that budget ($75-150 per kid). Other than that, DH and I sign my ds up for basketball and baseball, and the girls dance (including competitions close enough to drive to). That costs, so they don't get allowance.

We DO give them between $5-7 each, per report card, subjectively deciding how they did that 9 weeks considering differing abilities. That gives them a little money.

ETA: dd16 is free to get a job if she wants more spending money

 

[robsmom]

My son gets $10 per week. We say that this is in recognition of his contributions to the family and thus he gets to decide how to use a small portion of the family's money. We do tell him that his chores are an expected part of the family, but if he is contributing he deserves some control. I guess this is walking a fine line because i agree with those that say kids should have to chores because that is part of life, but on the other hand he needs to learn to manage money. We have taken a Dave Ramsey approach that some money is to spend, some to save, and some to give. I was bad about remembering to give him the cash and/or was giving him cash for something and not remembering how much. I would end up just telling him I would put $20 in his savings and we would call it even! This really was not teaching him the management that i wanted, so for 2010 we implemented an "account" in excel. Every week we make an entry of $10 with $4 in a spend column, $3 in a short term savings column, $2 for long term savings column, and $1 for charity. We then make deductions as I give him cash. We look at it each weekend and discuss what his has. Periodically, I plan to move the long term savings amount into his ing account - I think that i may match it as well. So far this is working well. Two weeks ago he decided to donate the entire $10 to Haiti and I agreed so we put the allowance entry all in that column and then deducted $10 which I gave him in cash and he put in the church collection. He likes seeing where his share of the money is going.