What's an appropriate allowance for a 7.5 year old?

[TwoBees]

My initial inclination was $1. Too much/too little? What's the going rate in your area and what do you feel is appropriate?

[Mikey0709]

Per week? Per month? That sounds REALLY low to me, but it could just be me. I would be thinking $10/month possibly. (enough for an action figure and a treat). Right now my kids aren't getting one, but the tooth fairy usually brings $2, and the grandparents will give them dollar jobs quite often.

Interested to hear the responses you get!

[magnoliaparadise]

Oh wow, $1 a week here would be a deal. I wonder if living in a HCOL area also trickles down to allowance? (An aside - I'm sometimes stunned at what my kids' friends get from the tooth fairy - I know some kids that get $10 or $20 per tooth and this is not private school!!!!).

My kid is 9 and doesn't yet get an allowance, but I was thinking $6 or $9.... but that isn't as much as it sounds because I would make her save a third and put a second third into charity, so that amount is really more like $2 or $3 respectively for spending... and I think would be granted upon the condition of some chores...

Quite honestly, my kid will just spend the money on candy or iPhone games so I have successfully resisted any allowance so far........

Would love to hear what others are spending and also whether that amount is tied to chores (i.e. if amount isn't tied to chores, I'd be more interested in paying more nominally)

[sariana]

We do $1 per school year, so my 3rd grader gets $3/week and my 7th grader gets $7/week. But I know we're low for our area. Many kids get $1 per week per age. Then again, my kids want for nothing. They don't have any expenses.

What is your child expected to pay for? My DD has $3/month in Girl Scout dues. That's pretty much it.

[trcy]

DD is 6. Her allowance is tied to chores, $0.25 per task. Right now she has 2 chores and gets $0.50 per day. I need to rethink this because she needs more responsibilities around the house and at $0.25 a chore, it could quickly become a ridiculous amount. I already joke that she has more money than I do.


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[TwoBees]

Per week. Ok, looks like I am really low. TBH, DD1 does not have that many chores so I am hesitant to go too high. $5 a week just seems like a lot to me! She doesn't need anything, but she wants everything.


We do $1 per school year, so my 3rd grader gets $3/week and my 7th grader gets $7/week. But I know we're low for our area. Many kids get $1 per week per age. Then again, my kids want for nothing. They don't have any expenses.

What is your child expected to pay for? My DD has $3/month in Girl Scout dues. That's pretty much it.

She does not have any expenses, but I am thinking of having her pay for soft pretzels at school weekly if the wants them ($0.50 per pretzel once weekly) instead of occasionally giving her money. And I am sure she will want to buy snacks at the swim club this summer.


DD is 6. Her allowance is tied to chores, $0.25 per task. Right now she has 2 chores and gets $0.50 per day. I need to rethink this because she needs more responsibilities around the house and at $0.25 a chore, it could quickly become a ridiculous amount. I already joke that she has more money than I do.



I considered this, but DD1 will do exactly enough to get the amount she needs for what she wants and nothing else and most likely ask for extra money for doing something extra. Since some of the "chores" are things she is supposed to do anyway but I am tired of nagging her about (clean room, clear place at table, etc), I don't want to play mind/money games with her. I want her to get into the habit of doing these things routinely because we will eventually add more chores that really are chores. Does that make sense?

[TwoBees]

Oh wow, $1 a week here would be a deal. I wonder if living in a HCOL area also trickles down to allowance? (An aside - I'm sometimes stunned at what my kids' friends get from the tooth fairy - I know some kids that get $10 or $20 per tooth and this is not private school!!!!).

My kid is 9 and doesn't yet get an allowance, but I was thinking $6 or $9.... but that isn't as much as it sounds because I would make her save a third and put a second third into charity, so that amount is really more like $2 or $3 respectively for spending... and I think would be granted upon the condition of some chores...

Quite honestly, my kid will just spend the money on candy or iPhone games so I have successfully resisted any allowance so far........

Would love to hear what others are spending and also whether that amount is tied to chores (i.e. if amount isn't tied to chores, I'd be more interested in paying more nominally)

Yes, I do think allowance is tied to COL. We are in a fairly high COL area. DD1 gets $1-$2 per tooth but I have heard of kids getting much more. I am sure there are many kids in her school who don't even have an allowance but are just given money whenever they ask for it. :rolleye0014:

[Pear]

We paid Dd $7 a week in 2nd grade (she just finished), but it is tied to her completing her chores and meeting some behavior standards. We make her put some of her allowance in the bank, but the exact amount varies.

[cvanbrunt]

We just completely re-vamped how we do allowance. The girls were getting two bucks a week because they really don't need anything. Now we are doing pretty much what the article outlines. They get a dollar/age/week. They have to split into three categories: spend 70% save 20% give 10%. The save and give are minimums, they are welcome to save/donate more. We talked about how much we donate to charity and how we make decisions about where the money goes so the girls will do that this year when DH and I have that discussion. In the meantime it will just accumulate. We also were very clear about what we will pay for in the future (food, clothing, extra curriculars/lessons, any school related expenses) and everything else is on them. If they want a snack at the pool, its on them. They have to buy all the crap to make slime. If they lose or break something, they replace it. (My oldest is currently paying off the $110 it cost to repair her clarinet.) We also increased the number of chores but they are unrelated to allowance. We just think they can do more. Girls are on board with no complaints. I think its because they got such a big raise! We liked the idea of them having enough money to have to make decisions about it.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/02/kids_allowances_you_re_doing_it_completely_wrong.h tml

[vonfirmath]

My initial inclination was $1. Too much/too little? What's the going rate in your area and what do you feel is appropriate?

My almost-6 year old gets $5/mo. My son gets $10/mo (but it just increased to $10 this year -- at the beginning of 4th grade)

So $1/wk doesn't sound out of whack.

[essnce629]

We do a dollar per year of age, starting at 5 years old and NOT tied to chores.

So 13 year old DS1 gets $13 a week and 8 year old DS2 gets $8 a week. They pay for anything they want (toys, snack shack, etc) outside of Christmas and their birthdays with their own money. DS1 has to also pay for half his monthly phone bill. If they break anything in the house they pay for that too by me garnishing their wages (which happens a lot with 2 boys)!!! 😂 DS1 has had to pay for two lamps and our swing set slide and DS2 is currently paying for my Chromebook that he broke a few months ago.

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[alleycat]

Older DD started getting an allowance when she was 8. At eight, she was in second grade and was learning about money. Allowance is half her age but we don't to fifty cents. At 8 and 9 years, she got $4/week. She's now 10 and gets $5/week. She saves half, donates 25% and can spend the other 25%. She spends her allowance mostly on Christmas and bday gifts for the family.

DD2 is seven and DH decided it was unfair that DD1 got an allowance and DD2 didn't. For the past year, he's been giving DD2 $1/week. Basically, he gives DD1 a five dollar bill, she gives him a dollar change and he hands the dollar to DD2.

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[lizzywednesday]

We're teaching about money using birthday and Tooth Fairy money, but DD does not get an allowance.

If she were to get an allowance, I wouldn't want to tie it to chores/expectations. I need her to pitch in and help around the house because that's how our family has to run.

I got an allowance as a child, but don't remember how much it was. It was likely in the neighborhood of $5/week until I was old enough to babysit. After that, I was able to earn money by caring for my siblings after school and during the summers while my mother was in nursing school.

I was also working regular babysitting and cat-sitting gigs by 8th grade, so between those and birthday money, I had quite a nice chunk of change put away for my 8th grade activities!

[rin]

Interesting, this thread suggests that we are very low. We live in a HCOL area, both our girls (5 and 7) get $1.50/week. They really don't need anything and tend to blow it on snacks at the pool etc. We do expect them to save/donate a portion.

[specialp]

They have several chores that are helping around the house, but only one is tied to money and is about their stuff - picking up their toys - inside & outside. Roughly $1 per year of age a week. Roughly because we pay daily in quarters so it isn’t exactly equal to age. Their piggy banks are save/spend/share and they are really young so quarters encourage that divide and because it’s a daily chore. They have a weekly wall calendar with pockets at the bottom so I fill those up with their quarters every week. On the days they do it, they get the $. If they don't, they don't and we are fine with it, but if we have to pick something up (like bikes in the driveway so we can pull in) those items go into toy timeout for a day. When I run out of my quarters about once a month, we count the money and exchange for dollars so I can get my quarter supply back. We have no rules on how to divide $, but they do a great job on their own and have a good amount saved. They can't use spend $ to buy snacks and candy so they only use it so far on toys and riding rides, but generally are always saving up for something specific. [eta: they do buy us parents Christmas gifts with their own money, very small items, but we pad the amount if they go over $5).

[almostmom]

I give my kids $20/month (they are 11 and 13). That way I'm not always trying to remember if I paid them! DD spends hers almost as soon as she gets it, these days on slime materials for herself and her store (though he might have $100 in her wallet, and a couple hundred in the bank). DS barely spends his. And while they are 2 years apart, they mostly do the same things, so we've made the allowance equal. They supposedly have to clean their rooms on Sundays, put their lunches away after school and take the trash in and out as chores. But DH really wants them to have more hard core work to do, which we are actively debating...

[anonomom]

My 8yo theoretically gets $5/week. In reality, what this means is that DH has set up an "allowance bank" spreadsheet and it adds $5/week to her balance. We don't actually hand her any real money. And we do expect that 30% will be saved and another 30% will be set aside for charitable giving, so she really gets just under $2/week in spending money.

Functionally, what this means is that every so often, DD will want something and will ask if she has enough allowance for it. If she does, I let her buy it and we take it out of her "bank." Because she doesn't have money in her hands, I think she forgets to spend it most of the time, so she ends up with a fairly hefty balance. It has worked well so far, though one might argue that she isn't really learning much about handling money since it's all virtual.

(fwiw, the tooth fairy brings $1 at our house).

[Mikey0709]

Wow - it just hit me that if i paid my kids $1 per their age a week like others suggested - that would be $112 a month total for my 3 kids! Ha....that ain't happening!

[smilequeen]

We have done $1 per year of age per week so $7 a week for a 7 year old. But that depends on your reasons for doing allowance. We wanted them to learn to save and budget for things they want. $1 would never buy anything but if you just intended them to save up over time and never spend it it would be different. Still seems too low to make any educational impact though.

[niccig]

DS is 12 and gets $5/week - half is saved and half is spending $$. He also gets $$ from family for gifts. He saved a fair bit of money and asked our financial advisor if he could invest it, we agreed to match what he invested.

We will increase allowance next year as he's in middle school and will walk home, and I expect him to get a snack on way home. I like the idea that he has to pay some part of the phone bill as he's getting a phone over the summer.


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[niccig]

My 8yo theoretically gets $5/week. In reality, what this means is that DH has set up an "allowance bank" spreadsheet and it adds $5/week to her balance. We don't actually hand her any real money. And we do expect that 30% will be saved and another 30% will be set aside for charitable giving, so she really gets just under $2/week in spending money.

Functionally, what this means is that every so often, DD will want something and will ask if she has enough allowance for it. If she does, I let her buy it and we take it out of her "bank." Because she doesn't have money in her hands, I think she forgets to spend it most of the time, so she ends up with a fairly hefty balance. It has worked well so far, though one might argue that she isn't really learning much about handling money since it's all virtual.

(fwiw, the tooth fairy brings $1 at our house).

I use an app that gives DS his allowance and allocates certain amount for spending and saving.


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[trcy]

I use an app that gives DS his allowance and allocates certain amount for spending and saving.


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What's the app?


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[niccig]

What's the app?


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iAllowance
You can have multiple children and you can have separate accounts for each. I set how much to put in his spending and saving account each week. You can have a chore list or rewards that give extra money. We were forgetting to give DS cash and he would tell us how much we owed him. This was easier to track and I deduct anything he buys.


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[TwoBees]

Thanks for all of the replies. I found it really interesting to read all of the approaches to this. In the end I decided on $3/week for now, and told DD1 that I strongly encouraged her to put $1 of that aside for charity/donations (T'zedekah at Hebrew school and camp, adopting an animal at the zoo, etc) but told her she was not required to do so at this time. I bought two jars for the money, one for "Spend and save" (ie, spend immediately or save for something larger) and one for charity/donations. I plan to phase out giving her money every Sunday for Hebrew school next school year and encourage her to donate from her own charity jar.

[carolinamama]

iAllowance
You can have multiple children and you can have separate accounts for each. I set how much to put in his spending and saving account each week. You can have a chore list or rewards that give extra money. We were forgetting to give DS cash and he would tell us how much we owed him. This was easier to track and I deduct anything he buys.


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Thank you for this! I set up the app immediately after reading and I can already tell it will solve most of our past issues with allowance. DH and I are terribly guilty of forgetting to have cash on hand for the kids.

[niccig]

Thank you for this! I set up the app immediately after reading and I can already tell it will solve most of our past issues with allowance. DH and I are terribly guilty of forgetting to have cash on hand for the kids.

This was our problem too - never had cash or forgot to pay DS.


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[trales]

Rather than give an allowance, we do have a chart where she can earn money. As much or as little as she wants. (she is 10 and can really understand this) If you want money to buy frivolous things- you earn it. Otherwise, you can talk to mom and dad about what you want and why.

When it comes to big things- she wants to get an iPad. We sat down and talked about what was reasonable for us to contribute, and what was reasonable for her to contribute.

The kids wants for nothing and I don't love the idea of just giving her money each week/ month.

We go to bookstores and I buy her stuff, but when she has 4 unread books at home, I don't buy anything. I buy her ice-cream when we go out. We go out for sushi. We talk about how those experiences are her allowance- those are recreational things the family spends money on.

[jennilynn]

We just started allowing our kids the ability to earn an allowance. It's tied to "extra" chores and is optional. My 8 yo and almost 7 yo can earn up to $2.50 a week, and my 4 yo can earn 50 cents a week.


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[c&j04]

I agree with some pp-my kid doesn't NEED me giving him money. But learning money management is tremendously important to DH. I'm naturally a saver so birthday and Christmas money added up in my hands. DH has spent about 10 years overcoming his lack of childhood teaching on this. So now our boys will have allowances starting in first grade. We also give occasional options to earn money for extra chores.

[maydaymommy]

We just completely re-vamped how we do allowance. The girls were getting two bucks a week because they really don't need anything. Now we are doing pretty much what the article outlines. They get a dollar/age/week. They have to split into three categories: spend 70% save 20% give 10%. The save and give are minimums, they are welcome to save/donate more. We talked about how much we donate to charity and how we make decisions about where the money goes so the girls will do that this year when DH and I have that discussion. In the meantime it will just accumulate. We also were very clear about what we will pay for in the future (food, clothing, extra curriculars/lessons, any school related expenses) and everything else is on them. If they want a snack at the pool, its on them. They have to buy all the crap to make slime. If they lose or break something, they replace it. (My oldest is currently paying off the $110 it cost to repair her clarinet.) We also increased the number of chores but they are unrelated to allowance. We just think they can do more. Girls are on board with no complaints. I think its because they got such a big raise! We liked the idea of them having enough money to have to make decisions about it.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/02/kids_allowances_you_re_doing_it_completely_wrong.h tml

I just want to second my recommendation for this article, and the author Ron Lieber. He wrote The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money and is the Your Money columnist for the New York Times.

This was a timely post for me to read because we are about to jump into the world of allowances, fix our muddled messages about money and spending, and we are going to do it according to the book. (and sorry this became a whole rambling account of what we are going through right now.)

DH and I have always been poor at budgeting, saving, everything. Our conversations about money have never, ever gone well. Finally, we've figured some things out and it's important to me that we educate our kids about money, as we would anything else. I do think there are gray areas...I don't necessarily want them to feel the burden of our bad choices in life.

I was furious that DH, on his own, started giving DS1 & DS2 an "app allowance" each month. It wasn't at all consistent and it got terribly out of hand. DS2 has a real problem with screens. (I guess I should say that is OUR problem for creating it and doing a poor job from the beginning. He's just SO different from DS1 who can self-regulate tech use.) When DS2 started crying for in app purchases, it was my breaking point, and the "light bulb moment" for DH. DS2 needs see a tangible exchange of MONEY for stuff that he wants.

One thing I have definitely done since first reading Ron's columns and book, is be more open about money and spending. I talk out loud about looking for coupons, price checking, and waiting until things go on sale. Recently, DS1 saw me take a coupon from a magazine for Crazy8. He thought that was odd, but then I showed him how much I bought when I used a coupon, on top of a sale, and compared it to what I could have purchased for regular price. I was pretty proud of myself for that!

Previously, I didn't want my kids to feel limited in choices or experiences by our financial situation, and I didn't want to make DS1 anxious about not having enough money for things. I've started to explain that if we splurge on something, we need to limit something else. EX. If we go ahead and get the TWO pairs of top of the line glasses for DS, then we don't get the extra team hoodie when the team Spirit Wear store opens. I've also talked to my kids about being a SAHM and how that effects our lifestyle in good and bad ways.

I think the really difficult thing about this allowance plan FOR ME, will be NOT buying them things I know they'll like, and kind of "need." I do it All. The. Time. I know it will be hard for me to stick to not buying those extras for them. One thing in the book that really resonated with me was that being part of our family and helping out as appropriate isn't something that deserves a reward, or payment. It took a while for me, as a teen, to surpass a job that paid $10/hour. That seems totally out of sync with what kids get from allowances tied to chores now.

[belovedgandp]

Love the article.

We started allowances at 6. All three kids got a Moonjar bank for their birthday. It had three compartments - spend, share, save. They are paid monthly twice their age. So starts at $12/month. Now with a 7, 10, and 13 year old I'm at $60/month total.

We don't dictate how they divide their allowance but ask that they put at least something in all three. Gift money doesn't have restrictions but is typically still in all three but more heavily spend.

I don't pay for extra things. I will pay for an item when out and they pay me back. We have a lose clothing budget and DS1 had paid the difference when he wants a pricier version of something that I'd normally purchase. With elementary school the kids use their share/spend money for back sales and club t-shirts.

My goal for the next couple of years is to get more precise in my budgeting for DS1. So that in a couple of years or at least by 16, I'll give him money about quarterly for his clothes, activities, gas, everything. Rather him hit bumps his last two years of high school than in college.