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Post by Really Red on Jul 19, 2015 0:12:15 GMT
HOly CRAP! My kids didn't get allowances, but my girls, now 18 and headed to college in the fall, get their insurance and gas paid for because they grocery shop for me and pick up their brother incessantly. That probably comes to about $50/mo.
We do chores, because we are a family. We never ever get paid for them. However, I know people who do things differently and it all works out beautifully for them. Whatever you decide will work out for your family.
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milocat
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,443 
Location: 55 degrees north in Alberta, Canada
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Post by milocat on Jul 19, 2015 15:46:42 GMT
Nothing. My girls are 14 & 12 and do housework whenever I ask them too. More in summer less in winter. I went out the other day and told my 12 year old the house better be cleaned up by the time I came home. She did dishes, garbages, tidied up - this was the biggest thing that needed to be done. She texted me if she had to vacuum I said it would be nice but didn't matter. She vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, folded all the blankets in the living room closet, I see one cupboard in the kitchen was organized and the old food in the fridge was cleaned out.
We live in a small village so they would only be able to go to the grocery store to buy candy and they don't need $35 a week for that! We have no Starbucks or movie theatres or whatever. When we go to the city I buy them what they need. They don't ask for much in stores and they never have.
My 14 year old does earn money from others - babysitting, mowing lawn at the ball diamond, washing interior/exterior of our drivers trucks at our shop. That all goes in the bank, I assume she's saving for a vehicle at 16.
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grinningcat
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,663
Jun 26, 2014 13:06:35 GMT
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Post by grinningcat on Jul 19, 2015 16:11:34 GMT
I'm really shocked at how low allowances are for pea kids. It just doesn't seem feasible for the older kids. I got 20 dollars in junior high and then 40 dollars in high school. That was pretty much the norm with my friends. There's not much you can do with less, so it really surprises me. Do parents pay for fun stuff like pools, parks, movies and stuff like that? Or do kids just suck it up and never go?
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Post by mom on Jul 19, 2015 16:31:09 GMT
I have two boys - DS1 is 16 (Junior) and DS2 is 14 (Freshman).
DS1 gets $25 a week & 1 tank of gas a month.
DS2 gets $15 a week
Each year in school, it goes up just a bit.
They use this money for all things they want. For example: I will give them a spending limit for basics on back to school clothes - and if they want more than I am giving them, then they pick up the difference.
They know not to ask me for money for movies, gas, t-shirts, toys, etc. They both have a debit card and know how to check their balances, etc. I transfer the money to them bi-weekly when we get paid at our jobs.
If they want a sonic coke, they pay for it. iTunes? Have a girlfriend that you want to take to the movies? thats on them as well.
We will pay for any class/club fees, tests, insurance, and the basic cell phone plan. They get a clothing budget and they can pick what they want but if they spend all of their budget on trendy shoes and no jeans, well then, they have to buy their jeans.
Its worked well for us. They keep their grades up, DS1 is an Eagle Scout, DS2 is in band. They help out with chores and help with meals. I love that I don't get nickled and dimed daily for small crap they want.
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Post by supersoda on Jul 19, 2015 17:17:18 GMT
My 13 y.o.'s get $13 every two weeks. My 16 y.o. Gets $25 every two weeks plus another $25 every two weeks for gas (deposited into another account.)
This is just their fun money. They use it to buy music, magazines, art supplies, going to movies with friends, etc.
They all do chores and their allowance is subject to being cut if they don't keep up. They can also earn extra by doing extra chores. And they sometimes get advances if something is coming up and they don't have enough cash.
we'll probably bump up the Twins' allowances since they start high school in the fall and we've found that they just start needing a bit more spending money then.
We also keep a petty cash fund in the house with about $40 for random stuff that pops up that the kids might need cash for but we don't think should come out of their allowance (like school or field trip fees). It's been a lifesaver not having to run out for cash at the last minute when a kid tells me she needs $10 for art class the next day.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 19, 2015 17:46:32 GMT
I'm really shocked at how low allowances are for pea kids. It just doesn't seem feasible for the older kids. I got 20 dollars in junior high and then 40 dollars in high school. That was pretty much the norm with my friends. There's not much you can do with less, so it really surprises me. Do parents pay for fun stuff like pools, parks, movies and stuff like that? Or do kids just suck it up and never go? We never got allowance. As younger kids we almost never went anywhere like that unless it was a school field trip and they were few and far between. Sometimes our older (driving age) brothers/sisters would take us to the swimming beach at the state park, but that was about it. When we were maybe in junior high we could go to the community pool and I think it cost maybe $1.50 or so per kid once in a while, or we would ride our bikes to the dollar movie theater once in a great while. There was no money for stuff like that most of the time. My older brother had a paper route that I would help him with and he would give me some of the money he made from that, or I did babysitting jobs to earn spending money until I was old enough to get a job. The bigger problem with going places like that was the fact that our mom was kind of passive aggressive and didn't want to just tell us she didn't want us to go (even if we had our own money). So she would assign us 3-4 chores to do before we could go, then when those were done she would assign a few more and a few more until it would be too late to be able to get there on our bikes or on the bus. It would have been so much better if she just would have told us that we couldn't go. (But then maybe she wouldn't have gotten the house cleaned? IDK)  For our DD, we plan to pay for her to do things with us as a family, or the occasional thing with friends (going to birthday parties, etc.) But if it's something more expensive like going to a theme park with a friend, skiing, etc. then I think she should have to do something extra before we would just fork over the cash so she can do whatever she wants. That's not how the real world works. I think just handing a kid $20-40 a week (even jr. high, older high school kids can get a job) just for the sake of handing them money doesn't teach them anything. We're both self employed and if we don't work we don't get paid, period. Both of us have always been entrepreneurial and have always had a strong work ethic, and those are traits we'd like our kid to have as well. I'm not sure how I feel about paying for grades, learning for the sake of learning should be the goal there. |
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Post by meridon on Jul 20, 2015 16:12:48 GMT
Yep, that's nuts! I agree with others that maybe there's not a consensus on what "allowance" is..when I was in high school, I got $20/week, but had to buy my own gas and school lunches out of that amount also. I like the dollar amount for their age, but it has to be earned...so you get the money, but because you have certain tasks to do. Somebody--Dave Ramsey probably---advocates that chores shouldn't be linked to allowance because there are certain things you should have to do just because kids are also part of the household, like doing laundry or making the bed or whatever and that chores are above and beyond that and you earn money for them.
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Jul 20, 2015 16:30:29 GMT
DD gets her age*$1 per week, but it is paid biweekly (since I am paid biweekly). She is expected to pay for extra stuff she wants to do or buy. I take care of clothing, meals, and anything else I happen to want to buy for her. I am not a very good saver, so this is part of teaching her to save up for things she wants, manage her money, etc.
At times, she has asked me to help her save by not giving her allowance for a while, usually leading up to trips where she knows she will want to buy souvenirs.
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