Community Chat

[luvmybeetle]

Didn't get an allowance.  I grew up in the 50's.  My mother was the only one that worked as my father had a heart attack and never worked again.  

She gave me everything I needed and if I wanted something that was too expensive she would explain that we didn't have the money.  I was also expected to help and learn to iron and keep my room clean.

I never gave my children an allowance either.  I explained to them that they live here too and are expected to help with cleaning by keeping their rooms clean.  

My daughter was not good at it, but my son was always neat.  And today he has the cleanest house.  He also gets up every Saturday and cleans.  Good grief.  They learned without bribing with money.  If they needed money to do something we gave it to them.

Children need to learn responsibility not bribery.

[skatting44]

  @monicakm 

     do remember the 50 cents a week for numerous house chores,   washing dishes,  doing laundry & hanging it outside on a line,  cleaning the house  . Yes, gas was 30 cents a gallon .  Went to work at a summer job at age 13  .

[patbz]

Whatever the going rate was in late 50s early 60s,I got towards the upper end. Both my parents had well paying careers and I had a lot of assigned chores (bathrooms cleaning, vacuuming. Etc. When I entered H.S. I got a monthly clothing allowance(bought responsibly; this continued through college). The clothing allowance really taught me to budget. I also worked during the Summer and school breaks.

[conlt]

We never got an allowance. It sounds weird but we were free to take money off of the kitchen counter for what we needed. For instance, we could take some money and buy a pizza for ourselves. Now mind you, at the time, Pizza was $0.50. 

My parents were in real estate and sometimes did not make it home for dinner. There are 5 of us siblings. 

We called it the "money counter". We all respected it and none of us overdid. 

Later, I worked in our Real Estate Office and Shoe Store. They were side by side. I had a car to drive because I ran errands for the business and did the banking in another town at age 16. 

I was a responsible kid. We had a lot of freedom, the only rules were that you did not steal, lie, make it to supper everyday at 5 PM, and do good in school. 

I had no curfew either. 

We all grew up very responsible. When I went away to college, I had no problem adjusting, I think because I was not sheltered and worked from a young age.

When I worked, I purchased my own things. I did not need the money counter anymore but my younger brothers did. 

[mormel20]

When I was very young (elementary school age). I would help dust furniture or other minor things.  I would get "change". And sometimes my dad would empty change out of his pocket onto his dresser and he would say I could have the change.  I had a little bank and I saved my coins to buy things I wanted. 

[sunshine45]

i think it began at about $5 a week and went to about $10 a week.

i also babysat for about $1 an hour when i first started.

i had a passbook savings bank account AND a christmas club account. i opened up my bank account at school. a teller from one of our local banks would be there one day a week to take deposits. i felt so grownup and i loved seeing that account increase. i also remember having dime books.....saved dimes in a collection book and you could then take the book to be deposited once it was filled.

[Sooner]

I never got an allowance, never got paid for the work I did but I was just part of the family business, part of whata you do to live.  We all worked and had responsibility.  

I had a few bucks to spend, got money occasionally, got money if I needed something.  

[J Town Girl]

I also never received any allowance.  If I wanted something and it was practical and not expensive my parents would generally buy it for me.  An example would be, I was allowed to buy one 45 rpm record when I would go to the department store with my mother. It would usually be once a month and records at that time were less than a dollar. 

When I became old enough to babysit.  I would keep the money I made so that I could save for something I wanted.  One of the things my Dad would do was offer to match half of the money as long as I came up with the other half.  It would often take me a long time to save but it made me appreciate what I had and take good care of it.  

Of course I always got birthday and Christmas presents from my parents.  

I always helped my mother around the house and was responsible for keeping my own room clean.  

I know it's not a popular opinion but my parents didn't want me to work (except for babysitting) because they felt that I should enjoy my young pre- teen and teen years.  My Dad would always say that I had the rest of my life to work and he didn't want me have to join that world before I needed to.  

He was raised in a large family and had to work at a very young age and didn't want that for his two kids. 

I had a lot of respect for my parents and even with my more easygoing childhood I didn't grow up spoiled or self-centered.  I spent twelve years in parochial school and was always taught to be appreciative of what I had and to be respectful of others.  

[beach-mom]

Nothing. 

My parents never had candy in the house. Every Friday night, if we had behaved and helped with our home duties, my father would let us have a Hershey's bar - with or without almonds.

 I started babysitting at 12, and I was one of the few girls around, so I was busy!

My parents were not taskmasters! We had to keep our rooms clean, clean the table and do the dishes, and I had to iron EVERYTHING, even my dad's boxers! I was also responsible for weeding the side hill. I try to avoid both of those today!  

[Carmie]

My parents owned a business and worked seven days a week.

I cooked dinner every night and did dishes, scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom every Saturday which included washing and waxing the floors.  I vacuumed and dusted too.

In the summer, I cut the grass and trimmed 35 feet of hedges.

On top of that I babysat my two brothers and a younger sister.  They had chores too.

No allowance.  During football season, I would get a dime to spend at the football game.  I usually bought a candy apple.

My friends and I would look for empty Coke bottles and cash them in for spending money.  They were worth either two or five cents depending on the size.

I also had a part time job in high school that paid $15 a day plus tips....I worked two days.