Let’s talk about Allowance for teens
Forums:
DH has decided to give SD14 a Allowance. Now since SD14 visitation Varies differently during different weeks DH can't give her a flat weekly rate. DH feels it would be best to "pay" a hourly wage for work done. DH said SD14 will NOT get paid to do things like pick up after herself BUT will for raking leaves, vacuuming, dusting or other odd jobs.
My question is how much should a 14 year old get an hour doing these things I mentioned above? I'm also Curious how you guys handle Allowances and what other things around the house can SS14 do to Earn an allowance?
Allowance
I tried to follow what my mom did with me. She gave me a monthly allowance that covered my clothes, entertainment and etc. She was firm about not giving me more. It wasn't tied to chores. I credit this with teaching me to economize, make financial decisions and generally help me mature. I made lots of spending mistakes but it sure taught me a lot. I babysat and gave piano lessons to supplement it.
I tried to do this with our 5 kids but DH wasn't able to resist the kids' whining so it was not as successful.
Edited to add: I wasn't expected to do chores but with much younger siblings, I did a lot of babysitting in the family.
I view an allowance as
I view an allowance as different from payment for chores. An allowance to me is an amount you are simply given. My skids are pretty young, and they get a small allowance. It's intended to allow them to have some spending money and learn how to budget/save/evaluate whether something is worth spending your OWN money for. They do some basic chores as members of the household, but those chores are not tied to their allowances. I will pay for chores in addition to their basic chores when they want to earn extra money for something or I do not want to do a particular chore that one of them is capable of doing and willing to do. For instance, when someone's birthday is coming up, SD9 will offer to wash baseboards (which I hate to do) in exchange for enough money to buy a gift. We usually negotiate the amount at the time - some jobs are worth more than others.
When I was 14, 300 years ago,
When I was 14, 300 years ago, I got a monthly allowance which covered all my clothes, and any trips to the cinema with friends, things like that - but not school uniform which my parents paid for. It worked really well and I had the same arrangement with my bios. The allowance was not dependent on chores. I wouldn't expect teens to be paid for doing a reasonable amount of chores.
I'm with the others. Give an
I'm with the others. Give an allowance that's not tied to chores, but do have chore expectations separate from the allowance. An allowance is meant to help kids learn money management, not as a pay check. If she doesn't care about money, she will just refuse the chores. Especially if either of her parents will buy her whatever she wants anyway.
I would say that he should
I would say that he should give her a set amount weekly meant to cover some basic needs/wants that she may have. It wouldn't depend on doing chores per se, but she should have to maintain certain standards to get it. I would say those standards would include passing grades in school and maintaining her own space in a relatively neat manner. My parents always said school is the equivalent to a kid's job.. so that was part of the reason for the academic progress requirement. Of course, we didn't necessarily get dinged if we were struggling with a class.. as long as our parents saw us putting in legit effort. On top of that, we were expected to pitch in around the house in small ways.. for no extra money... like unloading the dishwasher.. or emptying the wastebaskets... those small 5 or 10 minute kind of chores were just expected of us because we were part of the family.. and everyone in the family is expected to do things to help the common good.
THEN.. there were chores for money. These would be bigger undertakings that would take more time or effort.. like raking the leaves.. shoveling the driveway... mowing the lawn.
We had a family joke that when we were asked to do somethign.. was it for "love or money".. love were the small chores we just did.. the others would net us some extra haha.
So... again.. a reasonable pocket money allowance with the ability to earn more for extra effort... I don't think 10-15 dollars an hour would be out of line for the extra chores depending on the kind of chore it is.. how hard/dirty etc..
So both DH and BM
So both DH and BM pays for ALL SD14 clothes, eating out, snacks, movies etc and this is NOT going to change. So I guess you can say SS14 does get an allowance already for these things and does nothing to get these things. The only thing SD14 has to pay for are Electronics, video games or Outrageously expensive special clothes.
So going forward if SD14 wants extra money how much do you think a 14 yr old should be paid an hour for doing odd jobs like raking leaves, washing car, Vacuuming etc?
It would be different
It would be different depending on the job. I would start with what it would cost you to have someone else do it and reduce it from there to take into account lack of taxes, whether skid can do the same quality job, etc. I wouldn't pay by the hour - a kid could easily take 5 hours to do a 1 hour job; I'd pay a set amount for a job well done. And if the skid consistently did a half assed job, opportunities to earn additional money would end.
I'd set prices per "above and
I'd set prices per "above and beyond" chore and tell SD she can earn that much by completing the chore up to the household standard (whatever that reasonably is). I'd also break the chores up into smaller segments so that SD is more likely to complete the task AND so you're not left with a bigger mess because it didn't get done but has to be done now (example: raked all the leaves but only filled half a trash bag that is now currently sitting in the middle of your front yard).
As far as which chores should be covered, I'd say anything that you or your DH does that is outside SD's bedroom and bathroom. I'd break them up by room, too. Make a check list that SD can check off what she does and pay her weekly based on what is checked off. Good news is that there are several cleaning lists online that list what needs to be done and how frequently, so all you have to decide on is price (which I'd say assume $8/hr, so a 15-minute tasks gets $2, anything less than 10 minutes gets $1, etc).
Here is a sample list I'd make for the kitchen:
- Unload the dishwasher (max. 2x/day): $1
- Sweep the floor (max. 1x/day): $1
- Mop the floor (max. 1x/day): $1
- Wipe down countertops, stove, and sink (max. 1x/day) - $2
- Dust and polish kitchen cabinets (max. 1x/month): $4
- Wipe out cabinets (max. 1x/month): $8
- Cook dinner for entire family (max. 2x/week): $8
You get the idea...
Pay per hour? Gee, I could
Pay per hour? Gee, I could have made dusting and vacuuming take hours, had I been given an allowance by the hour.
He should pay by the chore (properly done), not the hour.
IMHO chores should neither be
IMHO chores should neither be used as punishment nor should a kid be paid to do them.
Allowance is separate from chores.
Chores are an age appropriate contribution of labor to the family home. They teach work ethic, time management, etc.
Allowance is a benefit of family membership and a tool for teaching fiscal responsibility.
What Rags said.
What Rags said.
Lol!
I just had a visual of what would happen if I had been paid for basic chores growing up then walked into my home after work one day or on a weekend and my bride asked me to do a chore and I held out my hand and said "How much are you going to pay me?"
The outcome would not be pleasant. Though it might be entertaining from a run, duck, and cover perspective.
Just for shits and giggles I my give it a try this evening. After doing the 6 month bi-state see each other once ever 2mos thing she just moved to join me in our new city and state and this would be a good foundation to set..... Not really of course.
Bad Rags, bad.