Pocket money and going rates

[hazelnunhead]

Been thinking of giving my daughter (8) weekly pocket money. No idea of amount though! Does anyone do this for this age range, and willing to share amount. I was thinking around ?3, enough for a magazine or treat, and enough to save for a couple of weeks to buy something.

Would appreciate any thoughts from anyone who is doing this, and what works!

[Pickle]

Watching with interest, my 7 and 8 year olds get sporadic amounts for "helping" with things around the house, but I keep thinking I should put something regular in place (son loves Beano, so also thinking around the ?3 mark so he can afford it).

[nunheadmum]

We do ?2 a week - which gets broken down as ?1 from each of us - so we can individually withdraw it if behaviour is dodgy. They're allowed to use ?1 for sweets now and again. But generally they save it and tend to buy things when we're out and about - the stuff we wouldn't buy ourselves for them. We do buy them magazines on top of that when we manage it.

Unfortunately we're bad at remembering to hand over the dosh so we've had to start a chart - but it does help them to save it up a bit!

[hazelnunhead]

Nunhead mum, do they keep the "extra" from each week in a piggy bank or purse? Trying to think of a way to get my daughter to perhaps "save" for a few weeks to buy something she wants. Okay so between ?2 to ?3 seems a good average.

[bawdy-nan]

I only started giving regular pocket money at secondary school: ?20 a month for all things to do with going out and about with friends (plus buying extra clothes and stupid bits of tat - I buy coats and shoes and school stuff and core clothes required for decency and warmth!). Youngest (10) gets nothing but has the opportunity to do jobs to earn money if he wants to save up for something like a computer game.

[Mrs TP]

It may take a wee while for the saving to kick due to the excitement of having her own money. Mine rarely actually bought magazines with their pocket money as they are so expensive. After trying various things, I did one regular magazine each (both choose mags that came out every 3 wks) plus pocket money of 25p per wk per year of life, so for an 8yr old it would be 25p x 8yrs = ?2 per wk and so goes up 25p per wk on their birthday. Some relatives also did the odd magazine subsrcription for b'day / Christmas particularly when they settled on a certain magazine rather than being swayed by whatever tat on the front. Saving kicked in more with maturity at dealing with money and esp when I forgot their pocket money and owed them 2 /3 wks or more at once, esp if it was a whole half-term and they got ?10 or so in the hols.

Like bawdy-nan a monthly allowance once established at secondary and going out and about more.

[canela]

ooh bit of a scrooge in this house! We give 1 pound a week each, but I do buy a weekly comic when we get the weekend papers for ourselves. They save it up and use to spend on a new toy or something from the gift shop etc when we go to a museum. They are only 9 and 5 so don't have many expenses!

Kids are very different about saving. My eldest always saves and spends all his money on taking the family out for a treat. Is currently saving to take his cousin to London Zoo. Youngest spends on larger toys that she would otherwise have to wait for Christmas/Birthday for.

Eldest does always complain that friends get more, so might have to raise it a bit...

[jollymummy]

We have a sticker chart with each sticker earning 10p. Potential to learn 50p a day for good behaviour. My son adds it up at the weekend and we hand over about ?2 a week. He is 6 and daughter 4 so not much to buy meaning they have quite a stash in their money boxes.

[BeccaL]

Interesting discussion - how do people differentiate between regular "things which should be done to help around the home", e.g. helping hang out washing, feeding cats, and things which have potential to earn additional pocket money. Daughter (10) doesn't yet get pocket money from us but does from her grandparents. Thinking about starting but think there are certain chores which should be done routinely, not with expectation of more money!

[canela]

we don't give pocket money in return for chores. Chores are done because they have to be done, and pocket money is just given not earned.

On the occasion that some kind of payment is negotiated in return for something, we always give food that can be eaten out as a family. so in return for not bothering the babysitter they get a main course, to which on other occasions they can earn chips, a drink, desert etc and when we have a whole meal we all go out for lunch. this is something we never usually do so it is a real treat.

just writing this makes me realise how each family have their own weird rituals!!!

[bawdy-nan]

I agree that paying pocket money for regular chores can be difficult to keep track of and annoying too. For my youngest, when the urge for cash takes him, I draw up a big list with prices with things I want doing (hoeing all the weeds from round the edge of paving), washing the car, getting all the cobwebs down in the house etc etc etc and then let him go at it however much he wants. Mostly this is a school holidays thing and done as much to offset the boredom and mooching around than to instill any kind of moral or financial lesson!

[nunheadmum]

Hazelnunhead - we have an ongoing issue about where money gets kept. My 9 year old is reasonably good and keeps it in a purse or piggy bank and knows exactly what she has. The younger one (7) keeps playing with it and moving it around and half the time loses it but then miraculously 'finds' it....or was that the change I took out my pocket? Now we've moved onto a chart with a running total rather than giving out cash. It makes it easier to keep track of (no issues of finding the change to dole out) and they are less likely to spend it on trash or sweets. But I'm aware it also takes away a little of the basic concept of them learning how to handle money.

Like most things, there's never a definite, perfect way to do it!