How much do you give your children for allowance?

[Sarah&Ryan]

Hi all! I have 3 boys (13,9 & 7). My 13 year old helps me a ton around the house especially when DH is traveling for work. He does the dishes at least 3 times a week,takes out the garbage and cleans up his room without me having to ask puts his laundry away ect ect. My other 2 sons make their beds, clean their rooms and pick up their toys and take turns feeding the cat. All of them are getting excellent grades in school as well.

I was giving my oldest boy $15 a week and my other 2 $5 a week if they get their chores and homework done.My DH thinks we should start giving oldest DS $20 a week since he just turned 13 and he does a ton more after school activities and they are starting to really add up and get expensive. So just out of curiosity what do you all pay your kiddos for chores?

 

[princessnoelly]

I heard a thing on talk radio about how it should be half of the childs age with the opportunity to earn extra each week. Example: 8 year old would get $4 per week. 15 year old would get 8 (round up).

Our daughters get $1/week (5 almost 6 and 7). The girls are expected to: fold and put away their laundry, pick up their room, help set and clear the dinner table, clean their bathroom sinks and feed the dog when asked.

Today they cleaned up the playroom and helped dust- they each earned an extra $1.

Our kids have no real need for money but we want them to be savers. We also match what they deposit in their savings account each time we go to the credit union- maybe that's why we don't pay them much!

 

[js]

I won't show my almost 13 year old ds this thread. We live in NY.

He is expected to do his homework and study and get good grades (90s).
That is his "job".

He takes out the garbage about once a day and brings it to the curb twice a week for pick up and brings the cans back to the house when the garbage men come.

Every other week (he splits with my dd-17) he is to feed the dog at night and change the pee-pee pad (little dog that goes on the pads instead of outside). If the dog poops, every other week, he picks up. On weekends he feeds the dog in the morning too (I do on school days since too much to do in the morning).

My dh and I give him $5 and he seems quite happy with it
On the other hand, we give him money for when he gets pizza with his friends after school on a 1/2 day and he is on travel baseball and TONS of money is spent on that sport for him, including traveling and equipment (he is a pitcher and a catcher).

My dd-17, works in the winter on the weeknds as a coat check girl at a local catering hall. She doesn't ask us for any money (she makes about $40-$60 per week) BUT she, too, is sometimes quite expensive as she is a junior in HS. AP tests need to be paid for, she has a car, we pay for her insurance, travel for softball (she is on Varsity), and lots of school "extras". She now has an SAT tutor, which costs $200 per hour, yes, that is not a typo, per hour but that is "about normal" for NY city and suburbs.
Her "main" job, too, is doing very well in school and getting excellent grades (I expect mid 90s from her).
Every other week, she does the dog, just as my son.
We really don't give her any allowance but pay for things that she may need for school extras (junior prom payment, dress for jr. prom, junior ring, activity fees, etc.).

I guess I'll need to give my ds a raise but won't until perhaps the summer when he can do a little more around the house outside or until he starts asking his friends what they get LOL

 

[rubato]

My 11 year old son does no chores, so he gets no allowance. We've offered to work something out with him multiple times, but, apparently, his laziness outweighs his need for spending money. He does clear the table and clean his room, but that's just part of living in this house.

 

[Mixie]

Zip.

I believe that learning how to take care of ones self is part of life. After all, I cook, clean, wash, etc and no one pays me to do it. Why shouldn't children learn to keep their stuff organized, their bed made and their clothes clean without thinking they need to be paid for it?

 

[jsksjs]

Nothing here. They dont help me out much but, If I paid them for helping, then everytime they help they want to get paid or they wont help. I figured just wait until they are really helping me without me paying then maybe Ill give something. I know its terrible but, we always just give them the money that they need for EVERYTHING, except the money they get from Bdays and holidays then they use that. I have a DS 14 , DS 11 and DD 9.

 

[nchulka]

I give my kids 4.00 in quarters every week. It sits on the counter on a cup and throughout the week they can "lose" quarters by not being ready for things on time. For instance the bus comes at 8:10 AM and if they are not ready by 8:00 they have to take a quarter out and give it to me. At the end of the week they keep the rest. They are required to give 50 cents at church on Sunday. The great thing is that now they pay for everything themselves. If the ice cream man comes down the street they run to their banks not me. If they want a toy they figure out how many weeks they have to save for it and then buy it. The things they have to do are putting away all of their laundry. One brings all the laundry out on laundry day and sorts it, the other has to fold and put away all the towels after they're clean. One empties the dishwasher everyday and one empties all the trash cans into the kitchen trash can everyday. They also have to help when asked to do extra things like brown some ground beef for dinner or vacuum the floor. By the age of 13 I wouldn't necessarily up his allowence but maybe give him jobs to do. He could mow the grass for maybe 15.00 a week. My DS 7 is looking forward to the day he is big enough to push the mower, he has grand plans for all the money he'll make

 

[MinnieForMe]

Nothing. My son is 13 too and is an incredible helper! He just does things because it's what we expect of him. Everyone has to contribute to the running of our family.

 

[StitchBuddy]

My daughter use to get $5 a month up until last summer. She is now 14 years old and babysits etc... We pay for a lot of sports etc... The only time I give her extra money is when I ask her to do something extra like all the baseboards in the house. We have a large house so that is something I might pay someone else to do, so I give her the money instead.

 

[delmar411]

my little kids get $10 every other week. My youngest is going to be 5 in a week and a half and I just setup his allowance transfer online starting after his b-day. So we've got 5,6,&7 yr olds getting basically $5 per week and then my oldest (just shy of 13) gets $20 every other week.

They aren't paid for chores. They are 'paid' to learn how to handle money. They also have to put 50% of their allowance in savings.

My oldest rarely has money but the little kids always have a lot of money. They rarely buy things.

Chores are just part of being in a family and I won't pay for those.

When I was a teen I got:
$50/mth for clothes
$20/wk for allowance
$20/mth for drinks at school

I got the drink and clothes money at the beginning of every month to budget as I saw fit. I could earn extra money for doing things like washing the car or washing windows. I did not get paid for babysitting my sister though, that was part of being in the family.

 

[JamesMom]

My DS8 gets $5 a week IF he completes his homework on time & receives no negative behavior marks at school. School is his "job". In the summer he receives $5 for a reading a chapter book (max 1 per week, must be 200+ pages - increase 50 pages per grade). He has an online savings account with USAA and I keep a spreadsheet listing the balance and purchases.
Chores are done as being part of a family (feed fish, make bed, help laundry). Large chores can earn extra money (offer to vacuum, clean bath, etc).
We do not buy toys or games except for special occassions (birthday, Christmas, Easter, etc). He saves up his money and purchases them. He has gotten really good at comparing prices online like Amazon, used at Gamestop, etc. If the price tag is over $100 then he saves up half and we pay the rest. We paid $70 to match the $70 he saved up last summer to buy a Nintendo DS. We do buy a movie about once a month, but we consider that family time as we all watch it together.
We started in first grade with the $5 a week. Might increase when he starts doing more things with friends where he would pay his way. DS5 will start his allowance when he starts first grade.

 

[js]

My 11 year old son does no chores, so he gets no allowance. We've offered to work something out with him multiple times, but, apparently, his laziness outweighs his need for spending money. He does clear the table and clean his room, but that's just part of living in this house.

LOL, I didn't add these "chores" to my above list since they are also part of living in the house for both my kids. BUT, I can understand the lazy thing. My ds sometimes will ask if he can "just not get paid this week" so he doesn't take out the garbage. He, too, rather no pay then doing some work, which DRIVES MY DH (and me) CRAZY!!! A boy (or girl for that matter) cannot grow up being lazy but I think it is just in him
Good luck to us! Raising a boy to be a good man is hard work

 

[Liberty Belle]

My 17 year old gets $17 a week and my 8 year old gets $7.

I think $20 for a 13 year old is an awful lot of money.

 

[daisyduck123]

We've never given DD16 or DS13 an allowance. I don't think they should be paid for helping out around the house.

 

[yellowtink]

My parents give my brother and I a monthly allowance of $30 for me and $40 for him (he is older). We get it for living there, just for spending money, but it's all we get for the month. We do chores just for living at home. We are just expected to do it.

 

[delmar411]

My 17 year old gets $17 a week and my 8 year old gets $7.

I think $20 for a 13 year old is an awful lot of money.

why is it a lot of money? I easily spent that money going to the mall or to the movies with my friends. My parents didn't give me any other money and I starting working at 16 and they didn't buy me things unless it was needed (school clothes, coats, shoes, etc).

$20/wk was nothing compared to what my friends got. Many of my friends got $10/day plus $20 each weekend day. I grew up in an upper middle class area though.

 

[Sarah&Ryan]

Well $20 a week doesnt get very far with his after school activities tbh! Open skate on the rink costs $10 alone and he likes to do that at least 2 times a week to practice for his hockey games! If he wants to go see a movie with his friends movie tickets alone are almost $9....its very expensive I know but thats how we reward good behavior/grades and his weekly chores

 

[Liberty Belle]

why is it a lot of money? I easily spent that money going to the mall or to the movies with my friends. My parents didn't give me any other money and I starting working at 16 and they didn't buy me things unless it was needed (school clothes, coats, shoes, etc).

$20/wk was nothing compared to what my friends got. Many of my friends got $10/day plus $20 each weekend day. I grew up in an upper middle class area though.

It just seems like a lot to me. Then again, at 13, my son only occasionally went to the mall and movies with his friends.

So most of your friends (20? years ago) got about $90 a week? I guess my neighborhood wasn't upper middle class, though I thought so at the time. Most of my friends, if they got an allowance, were lucky to get $10 a week.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Well $20 a week doesnt get very far with his after school activities tbh! Open skate on the rink costs $10 alone and he likes to do that at least 2 times a week to practice for his hockey games! If he wants to go see a movie with his friends movie tickets alone are almost $9....its very expensive I know but thats how we reward good behavior/grades and his weekly chores

Ok. I guess we live different lives. I'll retract my statement and leave the thread.

 

[DawnM]

Seriously? I forget half the time! And the kids do too, so obviously it isn't that important to them.

I give the older boys $7/week and the 7 year old $5/week.

But the problem is that the games they want cost the same whether they are 13 or 7, so it can cause some issues. I haven't quite figured out how to handle that yet.

Dawn