Thread: Pocket money
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Old January 28th 09, 03:22 PM posted to misc.kids
Rosalie B.
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Default Pocket money

"Tai" wrote:

As far as pocket money is concerned I had big plans for my children to have
good-sized allowances by the time they were in their teens and that they
would be budgeting their clothes, etc. and social lives out of that. The
reality has been that my 8 year old still doesn't need much more than his
tooth fairy money and gift sums from his grandparents. His money gathers
dust while he tries to think of something to spend it on. I never gave the
the older ones much more than $5 - $7 per week to use on their incidental
expenses. Pocket money stopped when they got part time jobs at age 15 and
they didn't want it anymore, they were proud of the quasi-independence their
own earnings gave them.

My mother had the same idea. I was to get a monthly clothes allowance
when I was 12. When it started, my mother was insistent that I needed
a winter coat, and some formals for ballroom dancing class, and she
made me buy the required clothing - I had to borrow some of my
allowance in advance. And I made some of my clothes and my mom made
some for me.

But what she found was - I didn't like to spend money and I HATED to
shop for clothes. So she would find something on sale that she
thought would be good for me and ask me if I wanted it, and I would
say "not if I have to pay for it", and she wouldn't be able to stand
not getting it and would buy it for me. And of course I never bought
any underwear. So at the end of about year and a half, I had bought a
winter coat and three formals, and had made myself a plaid wool jumper
(this is a US type jumper which is a shift type dress with no sleeves
and not a UK type jumper which I think is a sweater) and that was it.
I had no clothes to speak of and had saved $300 out of an allowance of
$25/month.

Then she tried the same thing with my sister with equally dismal
results, but in my sister's case, she wanted clothes but she could not
make a decision about what to buy and was always overdrawn on her
allowance. So after a year or so she had a closet of clothes that she
didn't like and no money.

I've been putting pictures of my family up on Facebook (restricted to
friends only, so no one else can see them). On one of the pictures of
me and my sister, she commented

That little strapless number was chartreuse tulle with fuschia velvet bows. Yes, hard to believe, but true. It was a sample, bought for about $10, and the tulle was sewn to the bodice with unfinished seams, so it was as scratchy as all get out. Soaping the seams helped a little, but not much. We found it in the closet 50 years later -- 2006. It was not one of the ones I decided to keep


My kids have been ragging on each other as to what they looked like
then. It has been quite amusing to read. DD#2 commented about dd#1
on a middle school class picture (DD#1 had braces and was wearing a
kind of cowboy shirt)

I don`t know which is worse the hair or the shirt. It`s amazing you made it through your teenage years unscathed!