Teen Allowance ????

Bonnie - posted on 01/24/2009

My son is 13 and we live with my brother and 8 yr old nephew. My son gets $10 and my nephew gets $5. My nephew only has to keep his room clean and make his bed for this is all new to him. My son makes his bed, cleans his room, empty's the dish washer, and cleans up after dinner. What I do with them however, is everytime I have to tell them to pick up a glass or a snack wrapper etc.... they lose 10 cents. our pantry has mirrored sliding glass doors so I write it on there so they can see how much money they are losing.... You could also give them the chance to earn extra money by doing more chores for $1 or or $2 or more...

Shelly - posted on 01/21/2009

My husband and I have never paid our kids for doing chores in the house they live in for free.  When they would caomplain about " Our friends get an allowance" I simply explain that thier friends are not living in my house.  If they want money for something then they go do yard work for a nieghbor or they did stuff for us over and above the daily household chores.  We would just explain to them that we don't get paid for cooking there dinner or washing thier clothes so why would we pay them for doing the same...

Shelly - posted on 01/21/2009

My husband and I have never paid our kids for doing chores in the house they live in for free.  When they would caomplain about " Our friends get an allowance" I simply explain that thier friends are not living in my house.  If they want money for something then they go do yard work for a nieghbor or they did stuff for us over and above the daily household chores.  We would just explain to them that we don't get paid for cooking there dinner or washing thier clothes so why would we pay them for doing the same...

Kathie - posted on 01/21/2009

We have 2 teenagers and 2 younger ones.  We have never given them an allowance.  There are certain things that they have to do around the house.  Washing/drying dishes, setting table, cleaning their bedrooms, bathrooms, vacuuming, general cleaning and taking care of the dog one week a month.  These are their responsibilities as members of the family (society). 

They can make money by doing things that are outside of their responsibilites such as cleaning (or helping) clean the garage, mowing the lawn, shoveling snow (good exercise too!), helping mom for a period of time, spring housecleaning, and other things.  We have also implemented an "A" policy.  They receive "X" amount of money for A's.  If they get a D - it crosses out the A.    This helps encourage them to get A's because there are items that they want to buy.  It also makes sure they dont get bad grades because it will cancel out the A money (this was evident in our last report card with my 8th grade boy.  He is working harder now to improve his good grade in Science!  Teaches him that if he is lazy, he wont get rewarded.  it worked! :)

Be careful not to "over pay" your child.  i have heard of people that have done this because they have the means, but it doesnt teach the child about "reality".  If he gets $20/hour for something then when he goes into the real world, he will expect too much per hour.   

When budgeting,  you could teach them to have a "save" amount, a "spend" amount and a "Charity" amount.  Save - maybe 50%, spend 40% and give 10% (either to church or charities or use it for helping others.)  Charity teaches them to care about others and see their needs.  In this materialist society, it helps them get their focus off themselves. 

You could encourage them to save  for a car or college by "matching" their savings.  Just some ideas.   God bless!

Patti - posted on 01/21/2009

Wow...thanks for all the great advice everyone! You've all given me alot to think about!

Shellie - posted on 01/21/2009

OK well we have never been great at keeping up with allowance either until we got our daughter a cell phone. She got it for her 13th birthday. a pay as you go phone to start. We give her allowance every week. She has chores clean her room, pick up after herself, clear the table after meals, and Dishes, every single day All of them. She doesn't do her chores we deduct from her allowance,for each instance something isn't done.

What we did to teach her the VALUE of her money is she had to buy her own cell phone miniutes. The phone held us accountable, to make sure she got paid for what she earned, it taught her not only the value of the dollar in a way she could relate to (Miniutes or texts) but also how to budget her money. IE Money for the movies, or a new lip gloss etc... She had to save enough for her phone, so she learned wants vs. needs... No Money, no miniutes. Now she is 14 and she is on my cell plan, she pays me a set amount monthly for her phone. If she doesn't budget her money to pay me for the phone, she looses the phone, not until she comes up with the money, but for the entire month. Luckily she hasn't had to do that yet :D She can also earn extra money for babysitting her sister, or babysiting for neighbors, additional odd jobs etc. So if she does all her chores she earns enough for her phone. He phone costs her 3 weeks worth of her allowance, so she has the 4th's weeks worth to spend, or save as she wishes. It's been almost 2 years now and it seems to be working pretty good. :D

Mandy - posted on 01/21/2009

I just wanted to write a quick note that in our house we too have expected chores that dont count in their "paycheck", clean up after dinner, feed the cats, take out the trash, bring in the groceries from the car and the list goes on. There is just that extra stuff that are paid chores.

Lori - posted on 01/21/2009

From the time my children entered kindergarten, we have 'given' them their age, in dollars, every week. This is their money, to be used to pay for special things they want to do or things they want to save up to buy. They use this to buy birthday gifts for friends, and at Christmas time, I expect them to have set aside a reasonable amount to donate to charity. It's been a way of teaching them money management skills. We do NOT tie their allowance to chores around the house - as members of our family, they are expected to perform these anyway. No questions, no complaints.

Once my older daughter (now 17) got a job (to pay her car insurance) we discontinued giving her an 'allowance' weekly - but we still slip her the odd twenty to put gas in her car, or treat her and a few friends to a movie now and then.......

Jackie - posted on 01/18/2009

My kids are 17 and 14 and they have never really got an allowance... not for household chores... Chores are things such as--empty dishwasher, fill dishwasher, keep kitty litter clean, and tidy the bathroom, take garbage and recycle out. Things that are expected and (also not paid) is picking up after friends and yourself. Bedrooms are their space... if they choose to keep in a mess... no big deal... just close the door. When they want to go to a movie or out for lunch... I pay for it... as long as it is not excessive. I have a hard time giving money for being part of the family.

We have our own business...and when they help there then they get paid a very fair wage. My daughter has worked part time at the same grocery store since she was 14yrs old... now it is time to get my son started on a part time job.

Mandy - posted on 01/18/2009

I am a big fan of Suze Orman the financial advisor and she had a great idea on teen allowance and it goes something like this: minimum wage is $6.00 an hour or close to it, so if you break that down in minutes it is like 10 cents a minute, you right a list of things wash the dishes, vaccum the carpets, sweep the floor, laundry, shovel, mow, ect, ect, ect, and he can pretty much choose whatever he wants to do that week whenever and he will right down how many minutes he took to do whatever chore he did and at the end of the week you add up the minutes and give him his paycheck. here is the deal though, if he takes 30 minutes to vaccum and it should only take 10 minutes then he can either get fired from that job leaving him with less to do to earn money or he can get deducted pay. however you and his father figure it out but I love this concept because it is actually setting them up for a job.

Pati - posted on 01/13/2009

My daughter has earned an allowance since she started school. The chores as a teen, besides cleaning her room and bath room, keeping it picked up and picking up after her friends. She gets to do her own laundry now, she gets to cook for me one night a week and with me another, she gets to do the dishes a few nights as well. Take out the trash and bring in the mail and make sure the dog has water.  Now she has a job of her own as well, but if she still wants allowance then she still has chores. She been griping a bit that she has so much to do with school and cheer and competitions and work and I laugh and say, If Im doing this all then I keep the money . She gets 40 a week, and for awhile that did not even fill her gas tank.