how much do you give for allowance?

[babymommy2]

how much do you give for allowance and how often do you increase it. Do you base it on age or grade or something else. My 8 year old wants an increase. I am thinking ahead to how much he may need as he gets older as my plan is to add certain things he is responsible for buying as gets older. Right now he gets 2$

[LuckyMommaToo]

DS is 8 and gets $8/week. But of that, $3 goes to savings (this is for a car someday or another similarly big purchase), $1 toward charity, and $4 to him. I use the KiddyBank app on my iphone. When his savings account hits around $25 I transfer "real" money into his actual savings account. Once a year he decides where to send his charity money (so far he's stuck with the Cheetah Conservation Fund).

He uses most of his spending money on itunes (songs and apps) and for video games.

-e

p.s. DD is five and gets $5 a week. $1/charity, $1/savings, $3 for her. I pay her in cash because she doesn't understand virtual money yet!

[Red Pajama]

My oldest two get $12.00 a month each. 6 goes to their savings, and actually I already transferred a year's worth over the summer into their account.

It's not a lot of money, but I'm not paying them for anything really. They have chores, but they'd have those if they were not getting an allowance. For me, the point of the allowance is handling money, and at their age, I don't want them with too much money in their pocket.

[Imakcerka]

NOTHING!  Those little wise acres don't deserve a dime of my money!  I work, they don't!

just kidding!

[LynnS6]

Theoretically, our 10 year old should be getting $8 a week and our 7 year old $5 a week. In practice, we always forget to give it to them. And they don't have much they want to buy (ice cream from the ice cream truck about 2x a year). The only thing that dd (our 7 year old) does is take the money out and count it. It's been very good for her math skills (She's got $53.75). But it also makes me feel like I'm raising Silas Marner. Right now, the only money they get is the money relatives send for birthdays.

When they get older, they will probably have things they want to spend their money on. Then we'll institute an allowance again.

(We used to make them put 25% of the money toward charity, 50% for savings and keep 25% for spending. However, giving money has little meaning for them. So, I've been looking for ways to them to actually do things for charity, rather than give.)

[sharon71]

Our teen daughters 14 and 16 get  $ 100 a month each, they do chores and if needed babysit their younger sister. Their allowance then covers their expenses such as their cell phone,Our oldest DD pays for her birth control and her contacts,etc.

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Originally Posted by LuckyMommaToo 

DS is 8 and gets $8/week. But of that, $3 goes to savings (this is for a car someday or another similarly big purchase), $1 toward charity, and $4 to him. I use the KiddyBank app on my iphone. When his savings account hits around $25 I transfer "real" money into his actual savings account. Once a year he decides where to send his charity money (so far he's stuck with the Cheetah Conservation Fund).

He uses most of his spending money on itunes (songs and apps) and for video games.

-e

p.s. DD is five and gets $5 a week. $1/charity, $1/savings, $3 for her. I pay her in cash because she doesn't understand virtual money yet!

I like that whole system!!!

[butterfly_mommy]

We use the http://www.fourpiggies.com/ system. We do have the banks and the book but you can do it without buying the stuff. Anyway how it works is the child gets the dollar amount that corresponds with age so our 3 year old gets $3 a week. He has four banks Spending, Savings, Sharing and Schooling and he puts a set amount in each one.

So currently he puts

$0.50 in spending and uses this to buy little toys, has used it for those coin machines for toys, will save it for a few weeks to buy a bigger toy, etc 

$1 in savings this is for bigger items that he has wanted for a long time last spring he bought his scooter and a few weeks ago he bought a new pair of swim goggles (his old ones were fine but he wanted green goggles with dark lenses and has been looking at them and wanting them for about 4 mons now) 

$0.50 in sharing he uses this to donate to various charities. He really wants to take some of his sharing money and pick out some food to donate to the food bank, he also wants to donate money to the butterfly release we attend each year in honor of our DD (it is his fav event) last week I was at the optometrist and they had a donation box there for optometry research and he wanted to put his 0.50 for that week in the box. We talk about what different charities do to help others. He has also giving some of his sharing money to people living on the street (we have a few in our neighborhood that we see regularly)

$1 in to schooling this will go towards his Registered Education Fund to help pay for post secondary education whatever that may be for him.

Whenever he gets money as a gift or finds money he gets to pick what banks he would like to put it in. He sometimes splits it up and puts some in each bank or sometimes he puts the whole amount in one bank. For example just before Christmas my grandmother gave him $5 and we were at the mall shortly after that and I had his money with me and he decided he wanted to put all the $5 into the salvation arm pot. I think a lot of his "donating" into boxes etc is really the thrill of put money into a box but I do let him know that once he puts it in the box then it belongs to the charity and we do talk about what his money will help with.

It is a good system and he is slowly understanding the concepts. I have to remind him how much goes into each bank but am hoping eventually he will remember on his own. As he gets older the amount will go up by a dollar for each year and the amount that goes in each pig will also go up of course.

[emelsea]

My son (age 7) doesn't really get an allowance, but there is a list of "jobs" on the fridge that he can do to earn money, and each job has a certain "wage" listed next to it.  These are all jobs that his dad or I would normally do, like making my own bed or watering plants or picking up branches and raking the yard or vacuuming.  He doesn't get paid for his regular chores (making his own bed, picking up his toys, putting shoes away, sorting the recycling and feeding the pets) because I consider them to be things that he does as a member of the household.  

This works for us, because it puts him in control of his earnings.  He knows that if there are things he wants to buy, he has to do X amount of work to earn it.  

[4Marmalade]

We do something very similar to LuckyMommaToo.  Ds1 and dd1 are currently the only ones getting an allowance.  And because we have such bad memories we dole it out once a month.  They get double their age a month.  Ds is 9 so he gets $18/month.  Ds is 6 so she gets $12/month.  I use an excel spreadsheet and they divide their monthly allowance between savings (schooling, car, etc..), charity and spending (day to day spending - candy, toys, etc...).  It is up to them how they allocate it but they need to put something into each account.  There have been a few months where most goes into spending but overall they do a great job of dividing it up.  Usually at the end of the year we discuss where they want to put their charity money and I transfer their saved money into their bank accounts.  Their spend money is spent throughout the year whenever they want something that I normally wouldn't buy for them.  This system works well for us and I like it because it is a good example of how dh and I handle our own money.

They have also started asking to earn money so on top of the daily chores that they are expected to do they can do additional "big" chores for money.  Ds1 vacumned the entire house this morning for some additional money.  Other big chores are shoveling snow off decks and bringing in firewood.

[SimonMom]

My 8 yo gets $5 a week..his to spend as he pleases. 

[pigpokey]

Mine (7, 8) don't get allowances but I do work hard to facilitate them working outside the family.  I don't think they should be paid for working for the family, and they get all they need and much of what they want from us already. 

[Imakcerka]

Still nothing!  They bleed me dry every chance they get!

[~cassie~]

Mine get nothing either.  They all  have 40-80$ from money they have received as gifts but thats all they get aside from tooth fairy money and the quarters they beg me for all the time for gumballs from the store :)  They pooled their money last year and got an above ground pool.  I think they paid for the entire thing except for us kicking in 75$.

[g-mom]

I'm with lmakcerka (you are funny).

We give our 5 y.o. pretty much what he asks for if it seems reasonable. He's eating us out of house and home anyhow. And lot of the figures here seem huge to me--what would my 5 year old do with $5 a week? I barely get that in "fun" money (we're on one income and it's not a big one). But I'm starting to think ahead and want him to learn some responsibility. He is good at counting and knows about money and has been handing over the money for stuff at the farmer's market, butcher etc. for some time now, but obviously it's money we hand to him right before that, so not serving the same purpose. And $5 a week, if half went to savings and another one or two went to a good cause of his choice, that's not such a bad idea; it's an ice cream cone on the weekend or something.

Anyhow, my main point: Those of you who do give allowances, at what age did you start?

[meemee]

nothing.

i dont see why dd needs an allowance. if she wants something she can always ask me. and she does.

she gets a sense of money from helping with grocery shopping and other stuff. 

she does get money sometimes. either she goes and spends it right away, or forgets about it. 

she is very empathic and feels for causes. she has given away her precious toy to a crying girl so i feel i dont need to teach her to give. 

and therefore no need for allowance in our family. 

[*bejeweled*]

My DD (age 9) gets nothing. She knows that she is expected to help out with any and everything, and she does. We get her pretty much whatever she wants or needs. She gets money from relatives for special occasions, etc. and she knows how to save for the extras she wants. She usually has a wish list that is prioritized.

[*bejeweled*]

[quote name="pigpokey" I don't think they should be paid for working for the family, and they get all they need and much of what they want from us already. 
[/quote]

I agree wholeheartedly with this.

[Polliwog]

There's absolutely no extra money in our budget for allowances right now. Even if we did, I couldn't see giving more than $2 or $3/week.

[Imakcerka]

Still nothing.  Probably will always be nothing.