So, at the grand old age of ten, Miss Frugal gets £10 a month pocket money.
She gets £10 a month because I once read somewhere that a good guideline for pocket money would be to give your child £1 for every year old they are but I have no idea how that compares to what other children her age get.
I do know that it seems like a good amount – enough that she can start to learn how to budget her money and make decisions about what to do with her money. Does she waste it on little treats or buy one big thing? Does she spend it as soon as she gets it or save it until she sees something she really wants? And lastly, does she go without treats to save for something bigger that she wants?
It’s hard being a ten year old you know!
I don’t believe in telling her how to spend her money or making her save some or all of it – I’d much rather she learned that herself and to be fair to her, she’s usually a great little saver but last month, she spent all of her money on the day she got it. She’s regretted it a few times since then as there’s been a few things she’s not been able to buy because she had no money left. I’m hoping that when she gets her next lot of pocket money next week, she’ll be back to her usual saving self.
I have a different approach to pocket money with Master Frugal though as I think, at just turned eight, he’s a bit young to manage his own money and not nearly as sensible as his older sister just yet. I’m pretty sure that any money he got would be spent straight away on lego figures and sweets. Thinking about it though, I probably spend about the same on treats for him over the month as I do on his older sister though, it’s just that I don’t give him the money up front. When he gets a little older, I’ll start giving him pocket money too but for now, I think this is the best way.
I’m hoping that my approach to pocket money will help them to develop their own budgeting skills. I’d hate for them to leave home with no clue on how to budget, it’s so easy to get into debt these days so I want to make sure that I do as much as I can to make sure that they are as clued up as they can be.
What about you? How do you deal with pocketmoney?
