My parents would pay for our school uniforms and a modest range of casual clothes but when I got into high school and bought clothes on my own, my father would withdraw money from my bank account for that. That money came from birthday and Christmas gifts over the years. He’d ask how much I needed, and gave me a ride to and from the mall–just like he did with Mom!
I think I started getting around $5 a week as a preteen in the early 90s. Ninja turtle action figures were $4.99 and it took a couple of weeks to have enough money to cover the tax for one. My parents couldn’t ever make up their minds about allowance though, so sometimes it was tied to chores, and sometimes it wasn’t. The money was strictly for candy and toy and movies/video games. My parents took care of the basics. Sometimes I had to save some ever changing portion, and other times I didn’t. I was great at saving as a kid anyway though, and at one point was loaning it to others to be paid back with interest. When I was a teen, I got about $10 a week. My sister’s currently pulling in $20 a week, which is insane imo.
I and everyone I know got pocket money. Maybe it’s an England/Scotland thing.
I got 10p a week in the 1970s, which got me the Beano, some penny chews (Fruit Salad and Crackerjack), and maybe an eighth of an ounce of Milk Gums. I also got 5p to mow the lawn, and once I washed my dad’s car so badly he gave me 2p. I was very offended. I got pocket & chore money until I was old enough to have a paper round, about age 12.
One thing I noticed was there was a class divide: the poorer kids got much more pocket money than us middle classers. They also got bigger toys for Christmas and birthdays too.
What’s Beano, because I can’t imagine you mean the tablets that reduce gas from beans.
In theory, I got an allowance.
In reality, I seldom got it, my parents always forgot. There was household money in a jar and I used that to buy household groceries, and snacks for myself.
Yup. It varied as we got older, from about 5-10 dollars, but usually Mum and Dad would give us money for chores: dishes, sweeping the floor, bathroom, vacuuming, etc. etc.
We always had money for subway tickets, and if we wanted cash for something special–a movie, a new computer game, going out with friends–they were pretty reasonable (within limits… no, we really couldn’t have a pony).
Per Fran Lebowitz’s advice, my parents gave me just enough money to cover gum and cigarettes.
Heh. My Mom lived at home when she went to college and her daily allowance from her father was calculated to cover bus fare, snack and cigarettes.
No, no allowance. My parents would give me spending money if I went somewhere without them, but if I was with them, they just bought me what I wanted within reason.
“The Beano”, not just “Beano”. It’s an old-skool British comic.
I got a great allowance. Both my parents worked and I’m an only child, and it’s in my allowance that you can make the most solid case I’m spoiled. I would guess it was around $140 a month at its highest. I had chores and got good grades, but they were never a condition of my allowance. I didn’t go out much and I never wanted a lot of things, so most of it went to necessities and savings.
They still give me money now, even though I’ve been working full time for years and have asked them not to on numerous occasions.
Is that like “The Batman”?
Yes, but only my parents know why. They weren’t particularly punctual about giving it out, and I wasn’t very good at remembering to ask for it, mostly because if I wanted something, I usually got it anyway. As the only granddaughter (& daughter & niece), I was a bit (uhm, okay, a lot) spoiled as a child, and Gran was deeply opposed to the concept of an allowance. “Families share what they have” was her motto, while Mom’s was “A family is NOT a democracy.” I suspect my brother got the short end of that stick, since Gran & Mom frequently had it out about issues I brought to their attention.
Anyway, my allowance was originally 25 cents. I remember Daddy telling Mom that he’d better give me the quarter, and **Bobotheoptimist ** the three nickels and a dime because Bobo wasn’t old enough to understand it was the same amount, so that had to be in the late 60’s or the very early 70’s. When I was 13 or 14, I begged, whined & pouted my way into $20 a month. I have no idea how much it was during the 9 years between. It wasn’t tied to chores, most of the time, and not for long when it was.
On my 15th birthday, I was told to get a job. On my 16th birthday, I was given a '72 Vega stationwagon so I could drive myself to work. I understood needing a job, but giving me that car was just plain mean. 
Born mid 60s; in the late 70s, I think I got 10p / week. Maybe 20p.
Born in 1966 - when I was a teenager I started getting an allowance - it was a dollar a week I think. And half of that had to go to the church for offering. Frankly, it just didn’t cover my cigarettes or drugs so I resorted to stealing money from my mom’s purse. (No, I was not a good child.)
In any event, my son, who is now 17 and has a job no longer gets an allowance. When he did, it was during the last - oh - four years or so - he got $40 every two weeks and his chores were:
[ul]
[li]Cleaning both bathrooms completely[/li][li]Cleaning up the backyard (after the dog)[/li][li]Getting the mail each day[/li][li]Emptying the dishwasher[/li][li]Taking out garbage[/li][li]Cleaning the tile floors within the house[/li][li]Vacuuming when asked[/li][/ul]
We also had the option of asking him to do various other tasks on an as needed basis, but we’d pay extra.
In the late 70s, my 2 brothers, my sister & I each got 25 cents per month.
<suspicious look> I didn’t think my sister posted here… </look>
Actually, Sis and I got fifty cents a week, if you asked our parents. Half of that went into the Sunday School collection plate though. Perhaps we didn’t feel as virtuous as our folks thought we might.
One additional bonus, though: when we hit junior high, we had a whole $50 at the beginning of the school year with which we could buy fabric or clothes for the entire school year.
No wonder I started babysitting at age 10!
No wonder I’m so tight with a buck, especially when it comes to clothing!
Before high school, I never got an allowance. I never carried any money around either, except for lunch money. If i wanted something, i’d ask my parents and they’d either consent or say no. I guess they kept a “mental allowance” and would decline to buy me anything if they felt it was too much. Any money I got for birthdays I just gave to my parents. I guess they kept an “account”, but really it was just a number on a paper that didn’t really mean anything.
During high school, I guess I just asked my parents for money whenever I needed any, and they gave what I asked for. In some sense, i could have ended up very spoiled, but I was actually pretty good. I never spent outrageous sums, and i always tried to save money when possible, even though I didn’t have to. (e.g. buying store brands). Most of the money just went to food anyway.
From about fourth or fifth grade on; it started at five bucks and at some point increased to ten per week. I’d get the full ten if I: hadn’t gotten in any significant trouble that week at home or at school, had done all my chores without an excessive amount of bitching, and hadn’t borrowed any cash from them mid-week (for spending money, that is. If I, say, asked them to write a check for the fee for a field trip, that was fine; “can I have money to go to a movie” meant it was an advance on my allowance.)
I also learned via observation that the giving of money to the child is a decision best discussed in advance with the other parental unit. Especially when the money involved is “I will give you an extra few bucks if you don’t piss the rabbis off to the point where they call us this week” money. That was a fun argument to listen to from a distance.
Edit: This was in the mid- to late-90’s.