When I got my first job, I was expected to start paying “rent” which was always the total amount of my paycheck (of course I learned to lie about what I was making and hide money.) I resorted to credit cards as an escape, and now I am $45,000 in debt. Thanks a lot, Mom and Dad!

However, my mom told me that she used to get pocket money every week (she’s from Pakistan). I’ve been trying to convince her that she should do the same with me, but my brother always ruins it by requesting $5 for washing the car (with me and my dad’s assistance, I should add).

by the time I was in 5th grade I was receiving 3 dollars a week. it would work out to be just enough to buy SOME of the things we wanted, but not all, so we had to constantly make trade offs.

though we were immediately cut off once we started working. then we had to pay INTO the house, so that we didn’t have too much money in our hands to be wasteful with.

Worked out pretty well for me. Not so much for the siblings once they started managing their own money they went a little wild.

You honestly think that a 12 year old boy who is home alone is just going to do the laundry for no reason at all? You must be pretty naive…

While it may not teach a child the value of a dollar, it does teach them that you shouldn’t place a pricetag behind every deed you do.

Of course, that was back in the Dark Ages.

the following pay period they shall be required to return 10.00 of those dollars. or they shall receive no money at all that week. essentially they shall be getting 15.00 a week but with an extra ten that they must hold onto and not spend or suffer the penalty of 5.00 lost.

this plan does not however forbid the child from spending all of the money in some sort of investment as long as that investment can earn them back enough money to fund their next allowance.

i feel as a child i was never taught how to hold money. every adult knows you can’t spend your entire paycheck.

Then my parents set up a bank account and deposited about £20 a month straight into it. I also got a weekend job at about 14 so that brought in money too. Unlike some of my friends, my parents kept my pocket money going even when I had a job, so I usually had more money than my friends through school.

By the time I was 16, I think I was getting £50 a month off my parents and about £30 a week from work, which isn’t bad! Funded trips to the pub – uh.. I mean.. Youth Club..

I never had my money stopped, but then, I was pretty well behaved so never really did anything that deserved such a punishment. I also did a LOT of the household chores, because my mother was in a train accident when I was 13, so I pretty much did all the cooking, cleaning, laundry etc for the family from about then.

It actually shocked me when I found out some of my friends refused to help out round the house unless they were ‘paid’ for it. In my house the only question was who did WHICH chores – it became a bargaining point: “I’ll do the laundry AND cook dinner tonight and tomorrow if you do the vacuuming and dusting.” stuff like that.

He’s learned now to leave his cash at home – a trick his little sister has yet to master.

I had a savings account and was encouraged, but not required, to save. My parents never monitored my money or looked at my account unless I asked them to, if I needed them to make a deposit for example.