Allowances

[Rusty Blade]

When I was a kid I got a 25 cent allowance per week until I was 12 years old. At the age of 12 I had my paper route and was a financially independent man (if you know what I mean...allowances were for little kids) It seems times have changed. We paid our kids an allowance of about $10 a week, but there were chores attached to those payments. My kids are millenials and their formative years were the 1990s. I was talking to a friend who is raising their kids now and allowances have gone through the roof. Talk about inflation. Some involve a credit card with a limit.

What was your allowance as a kid? What are your thoughts on allowances these days.

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

I have a 15 year old and an 8 year old

No allowances

We will occasionally ask the oldest to do a bigger task and give her $10 for it but it’s not a weekly thing

Neither are very concerned about money or “things” and when they ask for things we look at our finances and consider how long it’s been since a previous request

If it’s a significant purchase we’ll work out an agreement of things they can do over a period of time to save up for it

 

[FABarbuto]

My allowance was $5, with chores attached to it, growing up in the 80s & 90s. Additional allowance for side jobs (cleaning my aunt's bedroom, washing huge tubs of dishes for relatives, etc.) paid anywhere from $5 to $30, until I got myself a paper route & my first job was a ceramic sanitation engineer (dishwasher).

 

[ColtRevolver]

No allowance here, but plenty of work.

 

[rbscebu]

My first allowance was 6d per week at about 5yo. At 7yo it went up to 1s per week and at 10yo 2s per week, including having to wash the car and mow the lawn.

At 12yo I got my first real job of cleaning a shop after school each day at 1s per hour. Then no more allowance but I got paid 6d to wash the car and 1s/6d to mow the lawn.

Receiving an allowance each week taught me about saving and budgeting for what I wanted. That has held me in good stead throughout my later life.

BTW
6d = six pence
1s = one shilling or 12d
1d is about 1¢

 

[DCRIII]

I was allowed to have a roof over my head, food to eat, and new clothes and shoes when needed. I was also allowed to watch TV and use the computer when my father wasn't. Thankfully he and I enjoyed the same television shows.
Toys, a bike, or an occasional video game were things I got for my birthday or Christmas.
Once I started working at the age of 16 is when I was finally able to buy stuff for myself that I wanted but didn't need. My very first paycheck went to a nice heavy black leather jacket. That was 22 years ago and I still have that jacket. You learn to take good care of stuff when you have pay for it yourself.

 

[Roedeer]

at 10yo 2s per week

I think I used to get 5 shillings a month, and then graduated to 10 shillings a month at ~ 10 years old. Wow, I was finally getting a banknote (yes, there used to be a brown 10/- UK note).

There wasn't much scope for things like paper runs in my rural community, but I did low-paid agricultural work, and learned the lesson, in the 1970s.

 

[FarmerTan]

I only had one kid, so I couldn't do what I planned, and make my kids give me sealed bids on jobs around the house. But we took any money he got for presents and made him budget. We didn't want him to grow up to be a US Congressman; so he had to be fiscally responsible, lol.

He also had to tithe a tenth. Save half.

As he got older we explained that some stuff you gotta do for free, just for the privilege of being in a family: make yer stinkin' bed, feed the chickens, etc.

But I'd pay him for some jobs, and my customers would give him money for his "college fund" he kept in a jar.

He started working at 16, he's twenty now, buying a house in a few months, and we ain't co-signing.

He still budgets. We paid for him to do the Dave Ramsey "Financial Peace" thing at our church.

So his mom did a good job on the slacker!


My allowance was a quarter, dog gone, so I started working as soon as I could get work!

 

[FarmerTan]

I was allowed to have a roof over my head, food to eat, and new clothes and shoes when needed. I was also allowed to watch TV and use the computer when my father wasn't. Thankfully he and I enjoyed the same television shows.
Toys, a bike, or an occasional video game were things I got for my birthday or Christmas.
Once I started working at the age of 16 is when I was finally able to buy stuff for myself that I wanted but didn't need. My very first paycheck went to a nice heavy black leather jacket. That was 22 years ago and I still have that jacket. You learn to take good care of stuff when you have pay for it yourself.

AMEN! That might be the ONLY way you learn that lesson...

 

[RigelDust]

AMEN! That might be the ONLY way you learn that lesson...

I received $20 a month? Maybe more...?
I also had a sweet gig mowing lawns. I got a job as soon as I was able. The best job available was at the movie theater. Trouble trouble trouble lots of fun thou.

Oh and I take care of my crap. My Dr Martins are over thirty years old. God I love those boots.

 

[RigelDust]

My kids now do not get an allowance.
They and I don’t exactly know how or why.

 

[rbscebu]

I have no children (that I know of), however I do sponsor the education of the 11yo daughter, Marygrace, of a poor Filipino family. Her parents have a monthly income of USD 60 if they're lucking, driving a trisikad and taking in sewing. With that they have to keep themselves and two children.

Marygrace's parents cannot afford the "free" government schooling so I give her about USD 20 per month. From that, she has to pay for her transport, uniforms, books, stationary, lunches, etc. She only gets that allowance during school term. Outside of school term, she works as a house cleaner for someone else earning USD 1 per hour.

Marygrace is hard working both at school and at work. Each term she is top or second in her year. She wants to be an engineer like her sponsor .

 

[Lightcs1776]

I got 70 cents per week when I was young. My kids get a house, food, and an occasional extra purchase here or there. They have grown up appreciating what they have.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Toothpick]

I never got an allowance. I just asked for what I wanted and if my folks thought I needed it or deserved it they got it for me. Many times I never got what I wanted. You know what I learned from that? You gotta work if you want anything beyond the basic necessities.

So I made my own dang money. Washing dishes at the local restaurant. Selling baby hamsters to the local pet store. Selling my urine to my older brothers friends so they can pass a drug test. Laying sod and sweeping up inside newly built homes. Whatever I could hustle to make some money until I was 15 and able to get a “real” job.

If I have kids they won’t get an allowance either. They will get what they need and learn the value of working for a living. Ain’t nothing free.

 

[Roedeer]

Selling baby hamsters to the local pet store

Oh, God, the white mice.

I'd forgotten about that, but yes, the pet shop was actually paying me to clean up my escalating rodent explosion. It was quite lucrative for a while. I think this was about age 15.

I remember buying pipe tobacco (which I was theoretically forbidden from using) with the proceeds of the mouse operation.

 

[Toothpick]

Oh, God, the white mice.

I'd forgotten about that, but yes, the pet shop was actually paying me to clean up my escalating rodent explosion. It was quite lucrative for a while. I think this was about age 15.

I remember buying pipe tobacco (which I was theoretically forbidden from using) with the proceeds of the mouse operation.

Ha! I was in a town of 800 people. Why they had a need for hamsters I don’t want to know.
But I bought 2 from them when they opened the store. Just happened to be male & female. So when they had babies I thought hmmmm maybe they want them back. Sure enough they were eager to take them. I think I got $15 per litter. Probably just bought candy and junk food. I was only around 10 at the time

 

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

Rusty:
My brothers and I got no allowance (and you better not ask).

I faintly remember the ‘talk’ my Dad (now deceased), gave us...(I’ve included a parody of this long ago advice);

“A good [laugh] is half the shave". William Hone

 

[Buster]

I didn’t get an allowance. I mowed lawns and did yard work for a few neighbors. Had a few dog sitting gigs when neighbors would go on trips. I had chores but no money attached to them. My mom kept a jar of spare change in the pantry. For me and my sister to use when the ice cream man came around.

My kids don’t get an allowance either. My oldest has made some good money raising market turkeys and chickens. He’s in 4-H. He is known in the neighborhood as the chicken expert and takes care of of neighbors chickens and rabbits. also cats and dogs when they go out of town. Once the neighbors forgot to unlock their gate when they went away. When they got back he told them he climbed the fence to take care of the chickens all week. they were so impressed they paid him extra. He’s not a spender so he’s building up a nice nest egg.

 

[Tomo]

My old man paid $1 for each year of age. I soon discovered that better returns were to be had in the open market. Dog sitting, weeding, dog walking, shoveling snow, washing cars. I always had some sort of money making scheme on the go. At ten I hit the big time mowing lawns around the neighborhood with my dads John Dear. I had more money than I knew what to do with. I even subbed out contracts to friends. We had a computer and the leaflets I made looked very professional. The clients were kind of surprised when a bunch of kids turns up but we did a good job so got lots of repeat business. In the winter I bought a snow blower with the profits. Good times.

Now I work for the man. Not sure where I went wrong. University probably.

 

[StuMcB]

My 15yr old daughter has no pocket money. She has chores around the house that she must do before we load her debit card. Its a tenner a week. She's under strict instructions that if she spends it all in one go there's no more unless she works for it.

As for me it was twopence (2p) and went up to 15p, of which 5p was for the church collection. At age 11 I lied about my age and got a Saturday job in a builders yard. I went to £10 for 10 hrs work. But again this was split between house keeping for mom, savings account and the rest was dripped to me during the week by my dad. Aged 13 moved to a grocery store and got £20 for 15hrs work. So I was too tired to spend it. At 15 left school. First wage packet a whopping £25 for a weeks work. I was done. Lol