Pocket money has been a hot topic in our house. Until last week, we were just doing sporadic money for jobs/chores. However, the time is coming for a more formal arrangement. I was therefore interested when a friend on Facebook asked: Does anyone else’s 8 year-old get pocket money, if so how much?
Pocket Money Habits
She was asking as they currently give £1 a week but were informed by their daughter that ALL her friends got more.
There were a variety of responses including:
- My two get £2 per week which they can spend on anything they like. If they don’t do their jobs and keep their rooms tidy, it goes down…..
- Only in return for little jobs like clearing the dinner table, plumping the sofa cushions (!) and making sure he wipes away the toothpaste from the sink bowl.
- My daughter has £3 a week (when we remember!). She has 3 money boxes, £1 each: One for spending, one for sharing and one for saving. But if I’m buying a magazine or something for her brother and she wants one, I’ll substitute the spending £1 for that. She saved £42 of her spending one to buy a suitcase from Smiggle!
- Emily earns money for good behaviour; she normally gets between £2-£3 a week.
- They only get money if they do extra jobs ie hoover car/stairs. Hence they don’t get money every week!
goHenry
Then someone mentioned goHenry cards. They said they found them good as they give an idea of what the going rate is for certain age groups.
I immediately looked into it.
We’ve just received Sofia’s card and she could not be more excited. We haven’t learnt the full ins and outs yet, but it’s for children aged 6-18, and essentially you have parental control of a pre-paid card and app. I fund my own linked account and then can automatically transfer a set amount of weekly pocket money on the proviso that chores are done. I can also do one-off transfers and take money out of her account. Sofia can use the card at cashpoints to withdraw money and can use it as a debit card in shops. I can set a maximum spend per month and there are loads of features such as charting spending versus saving.
