For those who give their dc allowances....

[smilesonly]

Can you please explain your system?

 

What are your expectations of your dc?

 

Do you give a different amount depending on the age of your dc and the amount of work they do?

 

Do you have certain chores that must be done-just because they're part of the family and they are to be done w/o payment?

 

How do you decide how much to give and how often? (If you live in $$ areas of the U.S., like LA or NYC or, say, Boulder, etc.. I would expect the allowance to be higher than places like Wichita, KS, or Minneapolis,MN etc...)

 

Are your dc expected to pay for extra things with their money(candy, movies,pricey clothes, etc..) and/or things like all clothes, BD presents for friends and family, makeup, curling irons, sports equipment, activities, camps, etc.?

 

Are your dc expected to save a certain amount of their allowance?

 

Are they expected to give money to church, animal shelter,homeless shelters, etc.?

 

I would particularly love to hear from those with dc ages 10-15.

 

Thanks!

 

:bigear:

[RegGuheert]

We give each of our children $10/week if they complete their school before they go to bed on Friday evening. This was my solution many years ago to MomsintheGarden (and the whole family, really) losing weekends to homeschooling. This transferred the responsibility for the work from her nagging them to them being motivated to complete it. This system has worked extremely well for our family.

 

I have thought about requiring them to tithe from this income, but I have never followed through. I guess at the end of the day I feel that is a personal decision and I worry that they may resent having to do it.

Edited October 24, 2011 by RegGuheert

[mommyrooch]

We give our kids a $5 per week "allowance" This is for the chores that go along with being a helpful member of a household. Things like loading and unloading the dishwasher, taking out trash, making beds, keeping rooms cleaned, feeding pets etc.

 

The reason I put quotes around the allowance above is because our system requires more that just "doing" the chores. The kids must perform the chores with a happy heart and without having to be made to do them. The chores are only half of our goal. We are trying to instill in our kids the importance of helping their family just for the sake of helping them. We want them to understand that they shouldn't do these things just because they get money, but because helping is just the right thing to do so they don't get paid unless they express both parts.

 

We also live on acreage so there are always large jobs that have to be done. Like mowing, weeding, raking, building etc. Whenever the kids help on those various projects we usually offer them money. The amont is decided on a job by job basis and it is taken into account how the kids handled themselves during the job. Just like their weekly chores, we don't only want their help. We want them to want to help because it's the right thing to do. We want to see in them a heart of service so if they don't display that then we don't offer them anything.

 

We also do require our kids to save. They have to take out a total of 20% from everything they earn. 10% goes to savings and 10% goes to God. We let them choose how they want to use their 10% to God. As long as it is used for service to others we don't interfere. They can use it to donate to the poor. They can give it to our church. They can use it to buy a Christmas present for a needy child, etc. etc. We will be proud whatever they decide, as long as they are using it for some kind of service to others. :001_smile:

[Night Elf]

We give our children $20 when DH gets paid, twice a month. There are no restrictions tied to the amount, i.e. no specific chores. They use it for things they want. We pay for things they need. For example, I buy clothing for them. However, sometimes dd13 decides she wants a new shirt just because it's cute, or she wants new earrings. Those are things she buys with her own allowance. My ds15 buys things like video games, and songs and tv shows on itunes.

 

We don't go to church so there is no tithing. We don't force savings either. But our children don't waste their money so they each have a nice little sum in their savings accounts. They use those accounts as checking accounts though. We can deposit/withdraw at any time so if they need money, they go to the Bank of Dad. :tongue_smilie:

 

They also use their money to buy birthday and christmas gifts for their siblings. I think that is sweet.

 

I stopped giving my oldest dd an allowance when she was close to being 18. She was working full-time and told me she didn't need the allowance anymore. I was impressed.

[Princess Peach]

We give our oldest (12yo) $5/week and that is for 5 jobs around the house. He also gets $5 each time he mows the lawn. He can do what he wants with the money. He is not expected to pay for anything he needs. We take care of that.

[Karen in CO]

My younger two get $20 per month. I do not buy toys, candy, treats, snacks, gifts for others, jewelry, souvenirs, books not for school, or pony rides at the zoo. The kids have to buy that stuff with their own money. My older dd saves almost all of her money. My youngest still spends almost all of hers, but is learning to save. My older is even learning to read books from the library before deciding if she wants to buy them.

 

My older still gets some money each month because his part-time job doesn't quite cover all his expenses, but I guess supporting college kids isn't usually considered giving allowance.

 

We don't tie allowance to chores which we learned because my ds is the type to see it as putting chores in the optional category. He decided that he'd rather do without allowance than do chores. We changed our philosophy to make chores part of the work that everyone does because they are part of the family.

 

My older dd is currently saving for college with her money. My younger paid for her own pony ride at the zoo this weekend and always keeps money aside to give to guy that plays guitar on a corner downtown. The older also give money each year to charities from her money. I'd rather they do this by their own choice. It is important for me that they learn to make choices with their money and learn the value of their money.

 

 

When they want to earn extra money, they make proposals for work, and we negotiate prices.

Edited October 24, 2011 by Karen in CO

[Garga]

My kids are younger than the ones you wanted to hear about, but so far this is what we do:

 

1. $5 a week. Not tied to chores. We don't really have "chores." We all clean up all the rooms together.

 

2. I used to make them save a little bit of it each week in the piggy bank, but it wasn't really working. What's better is that I don't make them save it. If they want to save up for something, fine. If they don't, they don't. The only reason I'm giving them an allowance is for them to realize that if you have the money, you can spend it. If you don't have the money, you can't spend it. It's all about a life lesson on handling money.

 

They've learned quickly how to save up for something that costs more than what they have.

 

3. If they want to buy something stupid with their money, I let them. I'd rather have them learn now about wasting their money than to have them learn about wasting money when they're older and the stakes are higher.

 

4. I do ask them to set aside money for church. They want to give money at church, however, and I just help them to remember to set aside their .50 cents a week. Sometimes they want to give more.

 

5. I have them use their allowance money for little extras. At these ages, their "extras" are very cheap. If they were older and wanted clothing or electronic devices, I'd probably give them a bigger allowance. But since they just want a bag of candy or a slushie from Sonic, they can pay for that out of their allowance. Just today, they wanted something from the gumball machine. If it were my money, I'd have said, "No." but since they had allowance money, I told them it was their decision.

[EmilyinND]

There are things they need to do that is expected because they live here & they are a part of the family (make bed, pick up after themselves, etc.) Anything, above and beyond that, they get an allowance for. (Mowing lawn, vacuuming, loading, unloading dishwasher, etc.) So, their allowance is not regular weekly allowance, because they don't always go 'above and beyond' :lol:

[smilesonly]

thanks-keep it coming!! :bigear::bigear::grouphug::grouphug:

[T'smom]

I don't have kids those ages yet, but I do want to suggest that older kids be paid more than younger kids....when mine are older, we'll tie it to age maybe $1/week/year or .50/week/year.

[NanceXToo]

We are kind of sporadic about allowances, but my thoughts on it are this:

 

An allowance is giving a child, who is a member of the family, a portion of the family income. We do this to teach them about handling money, basically.

 

It's not tied to behavior or chores.

 

Bad behavior may have other consequences. "Chores" need to be done regardless as the child is part of the family and must help keep the family house reasonably clean and orderly, although we don't really have chores per se, it's more that everyone pitches in and helps when asked/as needed.

 

We don't really tell them what to do with their money (allowance, birthday money, whatever the case may be) because we figure they should be able to spend, save or waste as desired (and will learn from that as they go).

 

As for amount, we felt that half the child's age was suitable per week (so if I were giving it to my 6 y/o he'd get $3 a week, and my 11 y/o would get $5.50 a week) for now. When they got older (maybe teens, and wanted/needed more, maybe $1.00 per year of age would be more suitable).

 

They could have the opportunity to earn extra by doing "chores" that are above and beyond what I might normally expect from them by way of helping out around the house.

[regentrude]

What are your expectations of your dc?

None that are tied to the allowance. they receive money so they can learn to budget, save and spend.

 

Do you give a different amount depending on the age of your dc and the amount of work they do?

Amount depends on age. Chores are not paid. Except extra work that is paid jobs: lawn mowing, clerical work for my job. Pay for job does not affect base amount of allowance, but is in addition.

 

Do you have certain chores that must be done-just because they're part of the family and they are to be done w/o payment?

Yes. Basic household help comes as being part of the family.

 

How do you decide how much to give and how often?

Are your dc expected to pay for extra things with their money(candy, movies,pricey clothes, etc..) and/or things like all clothes, BD presents for friends and family, makeup, curling irons, sports equipment, activities, camps, etc.?

We started small with a quarter per week in K, and reached $20 per month for DS in 6th grade. It depends on what they pay for. DS uses his allowance for candy, toys, yugioh cards etc. I buy all necessities.

He is not required to buy birthday presents.

DD is often out on her own with friends, at horse events and such, and needs to buy herself food. We have increased her allowance so that she can eat out with her friends on weekends. She can choose to save the money and pack food instead.

 

Are your dc expected to save a certain amount of their allowance?

We encourage saving, but do not mandate it. the point of the allowance is that they learn to deal with money. Both have developed good saving habits. We found that saving works well if they have a goal. Both kids saved enough money so they could buy their own netbooks.

 

Are they expected to give money to church, animal shelter,homeless shelters, etc.?

They are not expected, but will donate out of their own free decision. If they want to donate larger amounts (such as an animal through Heifer Intl), we match the amount.

[Perogi]

Wow, I feel cheap after reading this thread!!

 

We so far only give dd 8yo an allowance. It is a privilege that starts at age 7 in our house. Our youngers do still have some money - from the tooth fairy, grandma, etc. We give dd $1/week. We started small so we could increase as she gets older - at this age she really has very little "need" for money and we were also conscious of the fact that whatever we give will eventually be x3 to include the other kids and we don't have a lot of "extra" in our own monthly budget.

 

We do not permit dd to buy food with her money. Gum is permissible but otherwise we have explained that as the parents we provide her food. I did not want her spending her money on chocolate bars, 25 cent candy machines, etc. She is encouraged to "save, spend and give" but we don't have hard and fast rules. Every once in a while we might remind her - "Anything you'd like to save up for? I haven't seen you saving in a while", or "Have you thought about what charity you might want to give to this Christmas season?"

 

I don't love everything we do around allowance but it's a work in progress.

[Lily_Grace]

Allowance varies in this house based on age and needs.

 

Last year The Kid(12yo) was in school. Each month I gave him $60 to cover his needs and wants: hot lunch, school supplies, fun, charity, short and long term savings. We used Familymint.com to keep track of it all.

 

Now that he is home again, doing daily chores for no pay is still standard, but he has the opportunity to earn by going above and beyond. We're using the Accountable Kids board to keep track of daily responsibilities and daily opportunities.

 

I do think young kids need to learn how to budget without it being tied into chores, and we did that for several years. But young adults need the extra reinforcement of working for pay and devoting time to extra work. There are still budgeting lessons in the form of lump sums for yearly needs like clothes or activities, handing the money to the kid and walking them through the process of looking for bargains/deciding what is necessary, but working for pay is important at this age.

[Deb in NZ]

from ages 5-18 our dc get $1/year old each 1st of the month (i.e. ds#1 gets $17/month this year). Allowance is NOT tied to doing chores or schoolwork. Allowance is given to teach managing money. Chores & schoolwork are expectations in our family as part of being a member of the family.

 

I do give book bonuses (~$5-$10) when my dc have completed a schoolbook with an average of at least 80% (i.e Apologia General Science, MUS Gamma, Latin Prep 1, etc.) We schooled year round, so my dc usually completed things throughout the year.

 

This doesn't sound like a lot of $, but we pay for most things that our dc need or we want them to do up until they turn 18yo (i.e scouts, sports, uniforms, basic clothing, etc.) From early teens my dc have had a flyer run, but that only pays $10-25 / week, depending on amount of flyers.

 

We feel that not having chores tied to allowance teaches our dc to cheerfully help in the care of our family & not expect to be paid for helping family. The only time that they are paid is when dh has had the boys help him at a friends' house & he was paid, so he gave some to our dc who helped. The flyer run has taught responsibility, dependability, etc. & the fact that unskilled labouring jobs are boring, hard work for little pay. It has encouraged our dc to aim for something higher :tongue_smilie: They have had friends who have worked in supermarket jobs during highschool who are still there, trapped in a dead-end job, not aiming for anything more. The supermarket job gives them enought $ to run they car & buy beer, but not enough for a flat, etc.

 

JMHO,

[nukeswife]

Just this past July we switched from allowance for chores to allowance separate from chores. My kids are required to do the following daily without being paid for it.

make bed

get dressed

brush hair and teeth morning and night

put their dirty laundry in their baskets in the laundry room

clean their bedrooms and playrooms

scoop the cat box twice a day

scoop up dog doo once a day

shower/bath daily

 

They also help dust, vacuum, clean their bathroom, walk the dog, and load or unload the dishwasher when asked without being paid.

 

DH and I cover all necesities, clothes (within reason) shoes, food, toiletries (unless it's something they want over what they really need)

 

We pay them each $1/year of age/per week, so my 12 year old gets $12, the 9 y/o gets $9 and the 6y/o gets $6. They can use that for whatever they want. I don't buy toys, pokemon cards, earrings, books, magazines, snacks etc when they are out. If it's something they just want to have they have to buy it themselves. I don't even buy ice cream from the ice cream truck that comes by anymore. They have learned quickly that sometimes it stinks to spend money on a whim because they you may not have enough for something you really want later. My dd tends to be a saver, my boys usually spend the lot within the week. They do also have a savings account but aren't required to put any of thei allowance in it. They were each given 12 weeks worth of allowance before we started our system and for the most part have that still sitting there. Honestly I think they forgot they have it. :lol:

[smilesonly]

Bumping for more input! Thanks to all who've posted already! :grouphug:

:bigear::D

[teachermom2834]

We give $1 per year of age every two weeks (dh's payday). So my 13 yo gets $13 every two weeks, etc.

 

For us it is not tied to chores (too much work for me to manage and I want chores done regardless of allowance status).

 

Mine pay for some of their own things with it. We still cover all necessities. But often they will need it if they want anything extra at a concession stand/ social outing with friends. If they want a brand of shoe that is above and beyond what we would purchase they may fill in the difference, etc. One of mine saved for an Ipod touch.

 

On one hand, it seems like alot of money to me. But, the whole reason they have it is so they can save up/ learn to manage it. Being boys, they also have times they need to replace something they have damaged.

 

We have taken it away a couple times as a punishment. Usually it is for an infraction related to lack of maturity. We have skipped allowances when $$ was really tight for us or we were taking a vacation.

[jennsmile]

We do $3 a week for 5 daily chores, a chore counts as $ .10 basically. So if they don't get done they don't get paid. We are still tweaking it. We pay for most everything so it goes to toys if they want something outside birthday/christmas and candy. ;) We do teach our children to tithe 10%.

 

We also have a savings account for them if they want their money in the bank I will transfer money to it from my account. They have a debit card that allows them to withdraw $20 at a time. Or I can transfer money out of it and hand them cash.

 

Jenn

[Splinter]

My oldest is only 9, but we've been doing allowance for about a year now. My oldest gets $10 per week and the younger kids each get $5. My oldest walks the dog and picks up her poop, so his extra $5 is well-deserved. Besides that, the kids don't have any set chores and just help me out when I ask. This summer, they mostly spent their allowance on candy and slushies from the corner store, but since school has started, they're doing better at saving for bigger items.

[smilesonly]

bumping this before i show it to dh....

 

thanks!

 

:bigear:

[Ester Maria]

What are your expectations of your dc?

We expect of them to do their scholastic and other duties (which includes some basic household chores as a part of the family), as well as to be generally reasonable and "good kids".

Do you give a different amount depending on the age of your dc and the amount of work they do?

Depending on age, yes.

We do not tie allowance to chores, so it does not depend on the work done.

 

If things were to go in a seriously wrong direction (general avoidance of their work and chores, immaturity and problematic life choices, very poor money choices, etc.), we would reconsider how much they get and perhaps even whether they get. In general they can do what they want with their money, as long as it is legal.

Do you have certain chores that must be done-just because they're part of the family and they are to be done w/o payment?

Yep.

How do you decide how much to give and how often? (If you live in $$ areas of the U.S., like LA or NYC or, say, Boulder, etc.. I would expect the allowance to be higher than places like Wichita, KS, or Minneapolis,MN etc...)

In all honesty, we just plain give them too much. :glare: I would even feel uncomfortable sharing how much after having read other responses. We are aware that they have too much money on their hands. Part of it is social pressure - "keeping up with the Joneses", i.e. their cousins, friends, etc. who also tend to have larger amounts of money on their hands than necessary - and other part of it is "mental security", I guess, we would prefer them to have more than necessary than less than necessary, especially since we do expect them to cover some extra expenses with their money (see below).

 

As for the "how often" question, it is typically twice a month, though every now and then we just give them enough money for the whole month.

Are your dc expected to pay for extra things with their money(candy, movies,pricey clothes, etc..) and/or things like all clothes, BD presents for friends and family, makeup, curling irons, sports equipment, activities, camps, etc.?

Candies (though they are not much into that, one is technically not allowed, and the other one does not like them) - yes, absolutely.

Movies and all other social gatherings with their friends - absolutely, it is fully their responsibility.

Birthday present for friends and closest family members - yes.

Make-up, beautician, clothes stuff of that kind - partially, I am willing to finance some of that, but often I will quite plainly tell them that if they want an expensive piece of clothing I am not willing to pay for, or a treatment they really do not need, that it is on them.

Activities & camps - no, we take care of that.

Non-scholastic books and gadgets - typically yes.

 

We also expect them not to fuss about every minor additional expense that may happen. They simply get too much money to ask to be refunded a few $/€ that they spent on some random needed groceries which we had asked them to buy "by the way" when they are off to buy something for themselves, for example. We try not to "take advantage" of their money this way, but such situations do occur now and then and we expect they are old enough to recognize the proportions. They will also sometimes buy something which we should technically pay for (e.g. if they pick up tickets for something, or buy some book, etc.), and then when I open my wallet to refund it, they will say "It's okay, mom." (I will sometimes insist, and sometimes not, depending on the sum and what it was), so I guess we are building a healthy monetary dynamic in the family.

Are your dc expected to save a certain amount of their allowance?

Not explicitly - we had some complicated system in the past (you know, x% is to spend, y% is for short-term goals, z% is long-term savings, etc.), but gave it up as they became older and as money managing was becoming more natural.

 

We do expect them not to go broke and to always plan in advance to have more money than needed. They also have accounts with long-term savings and they often put some of their "allowance leftovers" over the course of few months on there.

Are they expected to give money to church, animal shelter,homeless shelters, etc.?

No. We firmly believe that voluntary gifts should be just that - voluntary, and not forced. They are free to give off their own free will (and they will do that sometimes), but they are not coerced or emotionally manipulated into doing that.

 

HTH.

Edited October 29, 2011 by Ester Maria