Pocket money issues...

[andyoxon]

How do you tackle the pocket money thing?

What is your pocket money 'philosophy'/guiding principle?
How much do you give per week, to what ages?
What additional jobs do your children do to earn extra cash from you?

-We generally buy most things for them, and pocket money is a 'something extra' for them to spend/save.
-They get £2 (9yro) and £2.50 (12 yro), and of course moan it's not enough, and friends get more...  We try to have a 'bank book' sytem, and younger mini ao is £20 in debt!  Older mini says she'd like cash-in-hand now.
-Additional jobs is tricky.  I think it's a good idea, but haven't come up with anything that's really 'worked'...

Andy

[Woofage]

1. no credit
2. no record book, no money
3. no credit
4. we reserve the right, etc etc
5. no credit

simples!

BTW, ours get £2 each pw.

[hellymedic]

Like road-runner, I also have no kids.
I received 6d/week when I was 6
7d/week when I was 7 etc (road-runner and I are similar ages)
I was getiing 1/3 per week at 12 and this was half  or less what the other kids had.

I would not run a credit scheme.

Decide what you want the child to able to buy with the money and allocate a sensible amount for it. (Some of my peers were expected to buy and pay for their own clothes and many sorted out their own feminine hygeine.)
Giving extra money when kid runs short is probably poor education.

£2/week is OK if it's just for fripperies but plainly not enough to cover school dinners + phone top-ups + clothes + ladythings.

[clarion]

I got generally half of what my peers did.  It almost all went on Airfix & books.

Our Kid had an allowance to cover everything as a teenager, but there's a different strategy for TGL, as he's a different character.

[mrcharly-YHT]

and many sorted out their own feminine hygeine.)

On that basis, I'm supplying pocket money to about 8 kids. The daughter's friends come from lunch during the week just about every day - the supply of pads and tampons in the bathroom is freely accessed, and good grief we go through a lot. There is seldom less than 4 boxes of each of the common sizes and they need replacement on a fortnightly basis. 


I'd never make an advance on pocket money - it's really doing kids a disservice, teaching them to borrow money.

[Kim]

Giving extra money when kid runs short is probably poor education.

Depends on what you want them to learn  

I lost out massively as a child on account of being "good with money" - by saving rather than frittering, I was never short of money when I needed it (and hence never saw the point in a paper round or similar - but that's another rant).  My brother was always the opposite - forever 'borrowing' extra.  It took me far too long to realise this, but by the time I did, I'd developed the kind of ethics/smugness that overrode pure logic.

From when I started secondary school I had an allowance paid monthly into my bank account (I think my parents had good bank-manager-fu, as I had a proper account with cheque book and debit card from the age of 13) by standing order.  This suited both me and my parents, as there was a branch of the bank near my school, and it meant they didn't have to worry about dealing with cash (my parents we the sort of people who were good with money, but hopeless with cash) for school dinners etc.  Realistically, it would never have worked for my brother.

[andyoxon]

I've had no part in the Ao towers credit scheme...    Though at least it's all documented and mini is well aware that she can no longer buy anything, since her book seems to have reached the overdraft limit...

[barakta]

We had really poorly defined pocket money and it drove me NUTS as a kid.  My mum's dyslexic and tends to spend money in her head twice so would promise me £5 for busfare/food etc and then give the same £5 to my sibling(s) for something else so when I went to get it it wasn't there.

As I was the child who could guarantee having enough on me for bus fare to school & back (32p each way on a child fare) I was the one who lost out.

I later got an allowance which was a bit better but my mum's obsession with cash juggling resulted in me having a pair of building society books (one for her to pay money into) (the other for me to have for cash) and regular verbal reminders "you haven't given me money for 6 weeks" "No you can't just give me half this month cos you screwed up $other-expenditure"...  15 years later my mum's still like that, she's not paid me back for money 'borrowed' at Xmas or given me promised Xmas/birthday money so I am a bit nazzed off to be honest cos my sisters do get their money and I don't.  My mum is generous to a fault but ends to lose count of the money etc.

Sanitary Towels etc were always paid for by mum like bog roll and basic household food.  It was something she used to help us out with when poor or sometimes visit with a box of X or Y because she felt they were expensive and difficult for women to manage on a low income.

Although if everyone comes to MrCharly's for lunch and uses them, then maybe some kind of "contribution" would not be unreasonable to ask for.  I would 'use' some at someone's house as a one off but if ever became a regular thing I was always bought up to contribute back like with anything else. 1 tampon not a problem. A box a month is cheeky IMO.

[hellymedic]

Sanitary Towels etc were always paid for by mum like bog roll and basic household food.  It was something she used to help us out with when poor or sometimes visit with a box of X or Y because she felt they were expensive and difficult for women to manage on a low income.

Although if everyone comes to MrCharly's for lunch and uses them, then maybe some kind of "contribution" would not be unreasonable to ask for.  I would 'use' some at someone's house as a one off but if ever became a regular thing I was always bought up to contribute back like with anything else. 1 tampon not a problem. A box a month is cheeky IMO.

Agreed.

I don't think I ever had a 'free supply' at a friend's house.
These girls appear to be stocking up on your supplies, which I think is taking the piss.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

On that basis, I'm supplying pocket money to about 8 kids. The daughter's friends come from lunch during the week just about every day - the supply of pads and tampons in the bathroom is freely accessed, and good grief we go through a lot. There is seldom less than 4 boxes of each of the common sizes and they need replacement on a fortnightly basis. 

It might be time to introduce your daughter to a mooncup!

[rogerzilla]

Ours get £3 a week each.  We don't buy them odd little toys and things any more, just birthday and Christmas presents, and anything educational.

They do OK on it; one of them has about £30 at the moment, which is more cash than I ever have on me.

[hellymedic]

On that basis, I'm supplying pocket money to about 8 kids. The daughter's friends come from lunch during the week just about every day - the supply of pads and tampons in the bathroom is freely accessed, and good grief we go through a lot. There is seldom less than 4 boxes of each of the common sizes and they need replacement on a fortnightly basis. 

It might be time to introduce your daughter to a mooncup!

I don't think I'd be able to face up to washing out a mooncup in a line of communnal washbasins, certainly not as a teenager.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

You don't have to. If it needs to be emptied, you can just empty it and reinsert it without washing it.

[mrcharly-YHT]

On that basis, I'm supplying pocket money to about 8 kids. The daughter's friends come from lunch during the week just about every day - the supply of pads and tampons in the bathroom is freely accessed, and good grief we go through a lot. There is seldom less than 4 boxes of each of the common sizes and they need replacement on a fortnightly basis. 

It might be time to introduce your daughter to a mooncup!

It's two 15-yr-old daughters, and 3-4 of their friends who come to our house to eat lunch during the week.

That's a lot of mooncups.  I don't have that many pot plants.

[Butterfly]

You only have to get mooncups for your 2, the rest then lose their free supply of alternative measures .

[Pancho]

Can we go back to talking about pocket money, please?

Eldest (14, I think) gets £5 a week when she's at school and when I remember. Nothing during hols. Youngest (13, IIRC) is mainly at home and therefore gets nowt.