Post by cookiemdough on Jul 16, 2015 5:56:11 GMT -5
On my morning news. Evidently the average is up $7 from the prior year making it $35 per week. The average age allowance starts is between 7-8 years old.
I have to say every time I think of this topic I remember that kid that ripped up the cash and left it on the floor when the mom shorted his allowance.
My younger daughter gets double her age per month, but 50% goes directly into savings. Older daughter doesn't get anything anymore, since she is old enough to get a job (but chose not to this summer). I pay her car insurance and her cell phone; if she wants some spending money, she can earn it. #meanestmotherEVER
Btw.. i'm so sad my two oldest boys want to pick out their own clothes now... and want me to take them shopping. I'm guessing there will be no more matching outfits.
I took my middles son shopping for clothes and he picked out out a hawaiian shirt and started looking for more because it was going to be his "Signature style"... he's 8.
Damn, I was thinking $2 a week for Kit who is 4. We haven't instituted a real allowance yet, mostly because she doesn't really ask for toys. She does ask for a new app for the iPad on occasion so we did start having her do some extra chores around the house to earn an iPad coupon for a new app. 4 chores = 1 coupon. Seems to be working out for the moment, and it doesn't require me to keep cash on hand.
Post by penguingrrl on Jul 16, 2015 6:59:57 GMT -5
That's a lot! We have considered instituting an allowance for our older two, but we were thinking $4-5 a week. Hell, I don't have $35/week for discretionary spending, no way my kids will! Neither H not I ever got an allowance. As a teen I was expected to buy my own school lunch or bring from home and buy my own clothes, but I had to babysit or hold another job to have that money.
Post by jeaniebueller on Jul 16, 2015 7:27:37 GMT -5
I remember getting $1 a week and being so happy to go to F&M drugstore to spend it on candy on Friday night. Then I got $5 a week and thought I was rich. LOL
A quick google search shows suggested allowances much lower, so I really doubt that 35 is across ages and national. We still don't give Abby an allowance, but now that I'll be working in a few months, we should start, probably one dollar per age. Caleb won't earn an allowance until he's older.
When I was in college, my grandparents sent me $20 per week for fun money. They did it for all their grandkids and it was in lieu of a big high school graduation gift.
That was the only "allowance" I ever got, and it was perfect for drinking money or a meal or two out.
I don't even know if we will do a formal allowance for the kids. Right now their currency is earning screen time with their chores and responsibilities. They don't care about money at all.
This seems normal for teenagers. I could see a teen getting $50/week and therefore, skewing the average. DS's allowance in high school was $25/ week, and he didn't get an allowance when he worked. It was completely fun money since we paid for his lunch, car insurance, cell phone and the monthly bill for his credit card used for gas and clothes. He is very responsible with the card and doesn't buy clothing without permission. I did think the $25 was low since he would get a hair cut every other week for $12, including tip and his weekly ticket to his high school football game was $6 for students. One trip to the concession stand or Starbucks, and he would be out of money. I still didn't increase it lol, but I thought it was low. It served as incentive to work during the summers, however.
DD will likely never make it to that kind of money. The highest amount I ever got was $10/wk and that was inconsistent. I quickly learned that it was better to just ask for money on a Friday night before the game than to try get a weekly allowance. A lot of Fridays I skipped out the door with $20 in hand.
LOL forever. I just recently upped my own "allowance" to $75 per paycheck (biweekly) and I'm 34 years old. Dying that I get to spend $2.50 more per week than the average kiddo.
We don't do allowance til 6, then it's their age in dollars every week - so, $6 , with $3 to spend, $2 to save, $1 to give. And 90% of the time we forget to give it. Whoops.
My kids get $1/year of age/week and I just got laughed at by a friend with teenagers who only gives her kids $5/week and they have to do chore to get it. I told her it was a COL difference
Post by definitelyO on Jul 16, 2015 9:51:14 GMT -5
DS is 9 and doesn't get an allowance. He is expected to help out around the house but we don't pay him to do it. he also hasn't asked for an allowance either.
My 8yo gets $3 a week, and my 4yo gets $1. (We didn't start the older kid until he was in Kindergarten, so 5 years old, but it seemed right to give the younger one something when I give to the older one so .... )
I like the idea of doing a dollar per year of their age, but I'd have to make him save a good portion of that. $8 a week is too much to spend on Pokemon cards, and that's exactly what he'd do.