Is $180 a week a reasonable allowance?

Question

Here's the chore schedule my daughter made (this is taken from an e-mail she sent me)
monday-$5 for keeping clean my room, closet and bathroom. $2 for doing Monday's hw with Mimi. $2 for helping Ben with hw (this prevents "oh I forgot to do my hw"'s). $5 for feeding plus letting out wookiee &picking up all poops and pees (upstairs and downstairs.) $2 for
bathing mimi and getting her ready for bed. $1 for cleaning dishes (if containing meat, please put them in dishwasher :) )
tuesday- $5 for having room, closet, and bathroom clean at all times. $2 for doing mimi's hw with her. $2 for helping Ben with his hw. $5 for feeding wookiee, letting him out, and picking up poops and pees (report to me if any happened at school :) ) $2 for bathing mimi and getting her ready for bed. $1 for doing dishes (if containing meat, please put them in dishwasher :) )
wednesday: $5 for keeping room, closet, and bathroom clean at all times. $2 for doing mimi's hw with her. $2 for doing ben's hw with him. $5 for feeding plus letting out wookiee and picking up poops and pees (if any happened at school, please tell me :) ). $2 for bathing plus getting mimi ready for bed. $5 for weeding and watering the whole yard (back plus front.) the watering helps the plants that the sprinkler doesn't touch.
thursday- $5 for keeping room plus bathroom and closet clean at ALL times. $2 for doingmimi's hw with her. $2 for doing homework with bennett. $5 forfeeding plus letting out wookiee and picking up his poops. $2 for bathing plus getting mimi ready for bed. $10 for babysitting mimi (if at the club) and sitting in little kids room.
friday- $5 for keeping room plus bathroom clean at all times and closet. $2 for practicing reading, writin, math, etc with mimi. $2 for helping brooks or bennett with hw (if they have been assigned hw, or if they have a project, or if they missed a day, etc). 5 for feeding, letting out, and picking up wookiees poops and pees (report to me if any happened at school). $2 for bathing plus getting mimi ready for bed. $10 for vacuuming whole house. $5 for putting away laundry on dining room table. $10 for cleaning bathrooms- scrubbing toilet, wiping mirrors and windows, restocking toilet paper and soap, cleaning sink, mopping floor, cleaning out bathtub, dumping out garbage, taking out laundry.
saturday-$5 for keeping room plus bathroom and closet clean AT ALL TIMES. $2 for practicing reading plus writing, math, science, etc with mimi.$5 for feeding, letting out, and picking up wookiees poops and pees. $2 for bathing and getting mimi ready for bed. $5 for weeding plants and watering plants not reached by sprinklers. $10 for cleaning up mom's plus dad's room- making bed, picking up laundry, putting away papers and books, picking up trash, putting away shoes and jewelry, etc. $10 for cleaning up mimi's room, and the boys room- putting away laundry, putting out dirty laundry, bringing down dishes, making beds, putting away toys, wiping up spills, picking up trash, wiping surfaces, putting everything in place, etc. $5 for picking up living room, dining room, family room, kitchen, eating area, and patio.
sunday- $5 for keeping my room, closet, and bathrrom clean at ALL times. $2 for practicing reading, writing, math, science, etc with mimi. $5 for feeding, letting out, and picking up pees and poops from wookiee.$2 for bathing mimi and getting her ready for bed and church.
It adds up to 180 a week, is that reasonable?

Answer 1

No, even if you are rich you shouldn't spoil your kid. They should do chores for free, because they need to learn that when they are older no one pays you to do the chores unless your daughter wants to be a cleaner?? I hope this question is a joke. At the most a kid should be recieving between $10 and $20 a week and that's a lot. What the hell would she spend all that on?? Maybe set up a savings account for her or something instead, that she can't access till she's 18? Or tell he you'll donate some money to her favourite charity instead? I don't think it's ever good to reward kids with money for doing chores; it's not proper disipline. You could get a cleaner to do all that for cheaper.

Answer 2

Reasonable................................are you serious.................NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Your daughter needs to be doing all of what she's doing for $10..........after all, it is an ALLOWANCE - NOT a job.

My grand daughters do more than your daughter and they only get $5 a week.

Answer 3

woah woah woah woah woah.... HOLD UP!



When I was growing up... I:



1. Hung the washing

2. did the dishes

3. Fed the dog

4. Cleaned the dog poo

5. Walked the dog

6. Took out the garbage

7. Recycled/

8. Braught washing in/

9. Folded washing

10, Cleaned my room

11. tidied the house



ect ect.



and even then I was never given a CENT!.... I was told that I had to get a job... and you know what... at the youngest legal age I got a job and worked for 30 dollars a week. to me that was gold!!!



i never had fancy lunch money

I never got pocket money

I was never taken to music lessons or dance lessons

I never went to school camp

Sometimes I even chipped in for my own school uniform

I never got a cell phone

I never got a gameboy or x box or wii



and we lived off lentil soup for about 10 years.



But you know what... my parents paid their house off in 3 years.

AND i ended up extrmely humble and greatful for what I have.



---



On the other hand. these days kids are given everything



1. Pocket money

2. Iphones

3. Ipads

4. Gameboys

5. Xbox

6. Wii

7. Camps

8.School lunches

9. Fancy stationary

10. Swimming lessons

11. Music lessons

12. Dance lessons

13. Tutoring

14. Therapy.



The list is endless.



My point is,



I think... to be fair... your child is not a cleaner.... she or he shouldnt be expected to do ABSOLUTELY everthing especially before age 15... i think if you give your kid 10 or so jobs and give them $10-20 at the end of the week that would be reasonable...



If you kid is over 15 i think they should be expected to do those 10 things for free, maybe more... but they should also have a job of their own...



I think what is reasonable is:



1.Wahing their own dishes

2. Doing the wahsing

3. Haning the washing

4. Bringing it in

5. Taking the trash out

6. Cleaning their room

7. Washing the dog.

8. Cleaning the shower

8. Tidying up

9. Cleaning their rooms

10. Cleaning the kitchen and bathroom



I think THAT is probably enough...



Unless you are willing to pay them to be a full time cleaner and give them 50 dollars a day at 15.... then I dont think they need to be doing the entire house...



However if they are young, if they are MORE THAN HAPPY to do it for 180 a week and still manage to keep up with their homework then yes its fine...



If they are over 15 I think they should be making a bit more than what you are offering if it really does include every detail of the house every day.



But in general I don't think you should be giving your kids that much responsibility, neither do I think they should be earning more than $20 allowance...



If it is an option, give your kids a list of 10 things to consistantly stick to, they have enough going on at school, and they dont need 100 things to do at home as well. Maybe you should help them by doing MOST of the housework, after all you ARE the parent.

Answer 4

first of all: your kid isn't your maid. clean up after yourself.

secondly: your child is responsible for her messes and maybe dishes or something.

20$ a week is a nice allowance for a kid. you're crazy.

Answer 5

Make your own list of the things you do to keep her fed and a roof over her head and make sure you get paid a nice hourly rate. Share the list with her.



You're dealing with a kid....they don't control the situation.

Answer 6

:-)

ALLOWANCE WHAT'S THAT?

Answer 7

It all depends on how much you have to give. It is important to teach her what to spend her money on. I believe it is important to teach her that she needs to save the money (possibly open a bank account for her) because if not she will most likely spend the full 180 a week, knowing she will get another 180 the next. Also, another requirment to giving an adolescent that amount of money is the help them understand she will need it in the future to start her life. If not had done, teach her material things and money are not required in life to make her feel more loved.. it is the important people that will do that and money is only required for needs in life. I hope this helped!! Bless you <3

Answer 8

I feel that &180 is a very reasonable allowance! You sound like a very busy and helpful girl! My allowance used to be $25 a week! If anything your allowance is almost to much! I wouldn't complain!

Answer 9

That's too much. It's ridiculous to put a money value on every single chore.

Answer 10

woah, spoiled kids that is way to much

Answer 11

Is this a minor child that still lives with you?



If yes, give her a breakdown on how much her share of the mortgage, phone bill, electricity, food, water, cable, computer, clothing, washing detergent (if you do her laundry, charge for that) and rental use of your table to do homework on, shovel to pick up dogs pee and poop, stove for cooking, pots and pans for cooking, washing machine for washing her clothes, dish washer....you get it.



Deduct it from her list and give her the bill.. If she sticks with it, cancel her cell phone, internet, cable and strip her room to the bare necessities - mattress and bed linens.



No more nice, name brand clothes, now only generic clothes and shoes. And no make up, and generic shampoo.



Family HELPS family, they don't charge for it.



Your daughter needs a dose of reality slapped in her face.

Answer 12

To my way of thinking "allowance" is money given to a child just because she is a member of the family. It is not in exchange for anything she does. Pick an amount appropriate to her age.



As for all those chores... is someone kidding me? Is she volunteering to do all of these things and setting prices because she wants to make some money, or do you require her to do all of these things and she's pushing back? If you require them all, then you are treating her like hired help and you need to pay her for some of them. Some things shouldn't be paid for - see below. If she's just volunteering, pick the ones you're willing to pay her to do. Her prices look very reasonable, with exceptions below.



$0 for keeping her own personal areas clean and orderly.



$0 for caring for a family pet, provided the responsibility is equally shared by all capable, otherwise her price. $0 if it's exclusively her pet.



$0 for doing dishes provided the responsibility is equally shared by all capable, otherwise her price.



$0 for bathing Mimi if it's only a couple of times a week, otherwise her price.



$25 to clean Mom and Dad's room. That's your job



$0 for vacuuming provided she does it less than 1 in 4 times it's done.



Her price if siblings rooms are disaster areas or if they are capable of doing most of the work themselves, or if she does it more than 1 in 4 times.



Bottom line? She should share in family chores, but the key word is SHARE. So should everyone else according to their abilities. Even very small children can keep their rooms picked up, trash off the floor, etc. But if you treat her like hired help, you should pay her like hired help. If that's the case, her prices are probably low.

Answer 13

I don't give my daughter an allowance. Her chores are her part in our family. It is teaching her responsibility. After all once she becomes an adult no one will pay her to do dishes, vacuum or help anyone with homework.

Answer 14

Are you sure it's 180? She does a lot of work, but $180? How about $30?

Answer 15

180.00 a week for what she does is not an allowance that is a paycheck... When does that poor child have time to be a child. Everything is not money... What does the other people in the house do if that child does all that. Im a stay at home mom and i don't do all that in a week or a day. Please, dint make it sound good by starting it off with 180.00 enough for allowance.. 180.00 is not enough for maid service, childcare, cooking cleaning and dog care... Please!!!

Answer 16

First they shouldnt get paid for hw they should do it anyways because if they don't then they just ruin there life and it's a lesson not a chore second you shouldn't get paid for cleaning being part of the family is why your suppose to do it having animals is a privilage plus it's her room so if she wants it dirty tell her she can't have friends over unless it's clean and helping family is what your suppose to do not think u don't have to do unless you get paid and I'm only 14 so I might not know much but your daughter just sounds kinda bratty if she thinks she needs to get paid for helping

Answer 17

Thats way too much money i was raised to help with the family regardless of what i got out of it an allowance is fine i think but 180 a week is rediculous mar car payment is only 128 every two weeks haha

Answer 18

That is hilarious! And what exactly would YOU be doing as her mother? Sitting back and watching everything she does?

Answer 19

The only allowance I got from my parents at that age were 5 bucks a week, and a couple of belts to the rear when "bad". :(

Yes, that's quite a bit. A bit too much I'd say, but that's just me.