As a kid: Did you get an allowance?

Keesha

🐟
Location
Canada 🇨🇦
If so....
1/. How much was it?
2/. Were you required to do something in exchange for it?
3/. If , so... what?
4/. What did you do with the money?
 

Never got a regular allowance. I started working, at eleven, and from then on, I made money for what I needed/wanted. I never paid my kids allowances, either.
 
No, I never got an allowance. My dad threw me some change here and there, a little went into a piggy bank and the rest was spent on things like penny candies. As I got a little older, I did some babysitting, don't remember how much I got or what I spent it on. I was always required to help my mother with housework like dusting and changing sheets before I was school age and on the weekends afterwards, with no allowance involved.
 

I used to get 50¢ when I mowed the lawn.

I would go shopping with my mom each week and I would buy 3 comic books @ 10 or 12¢ each, a couple of candy bars for a nickel each, and with tax I'd be lucky to come home with a few pennies.

When we got home my dad would then ask me how much I had left, and when I told him I'd get the "You spend yer money like a drunken sailor!"
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Ha, my poor parents -- they grew up with very little, were young adults during the Depression, and tried to instill in their kids the virtue of saving money. A lot of it did stick though, despite my penchant for candy and comic books. If my dad knew what my net worth is right now he would be stunned -- and proud.

RIP Pops and Mom. You did okay. :love_heart:
 
1/. How much was it? $0
2/. Were you required to do something in exchange for it? Just required to do something, no exchange
3/. If , so... what? Everything they told me to do
4/. What did you do with the money? That was my question to them

I had a conversation with Dad about that, after seeing what Bobby Clem got every week

‘Well, young man, how much do you think you should get?’
(Threw me a curve)

‘Well, Bobby Clem is getting $2.50 a week’

‘Interesting. Think that’ll be enough?’
(Now throwing knuckleballs)

‘Well, I s’pose for starters'

‘You sure?’
(High and outside)

‘Yer right, I think $3…..for starters…. should cover things’

‘What about all that Brylcreem?’
(The fastball…low)

'Well, OK, $5 would be fine'
Swing and a miss

‘You sure?’
(High and outside again)

‘Yeah, I’m sure’
Swing and a miss

'OK, we’ll start on Monday'
(The wicked curve)

‘Now, let’s consider what you’ll need to come up with for board and room…..’
(Blazing fastball down the middle)

Call strike three

I’m just standing there, looking at what just happened

Not long, I Got farmed out (tossing hay bales)
 
I never got an allowance if I wanted something I'd asked and usually got what I wanted. I never really wanted much. Maybe money to go to the movies, or roller skating on the weekend. As a teen I would go to Woolworth's for nail polish or lipstick. I think my Mom was more concerned about the colors I chose than the money. Everything had to be light pink and perfume had to be Apple Blossom appropriate for a teenager she always said.
I kept my room clean, dried the dishes and I cut the grass for my Dad who had only one day off a week. He appreciated that.
 
Yes and that was the beginning of learning what money was and how to use it. I believe my first was 20 cents at what age I don't recall. I was taught not to spend it just because I had it. I don't recall how much my last allowance was because I went to work in a store for 35 cents per hour when I was 9. I worked mowing lawns in the summer, raking leaves in the fall and shoveling snow in the winter. I also took care of my neighbors' dog feeding it and taking it out during my lunch period at school. My dad kept an eye on how much I made and how much of it I was saving. I opened a savings account when I was 13. I was so proud of my savings pass book.
 
I asked my grandfather for an allowance one time, I was about six, he said you just ate my my table, didn't you, I started working at a cabinet shop , when I was nine years old, saved up 25$ , got me a 1948 Willis car, I use two pillows , to see between the searing wheel, drove, mom and myself to town many a time to shop, the old car would hang up in gear , I had to get underneath, and push the rods.
 
I got 2 shillings and sixpence, also called half-a-crown,
there were eight in a pound, I can't remember having
to do much for it though.

Mike.
 
We only got an allowance during our holidays and it was a quarter a day which was a lot back then.
We had to do the dishes and clean up our campsite for it and we spent it on candy. There was a store that had loose candy for sale....licorice , black balls, gummy bears etc. Plus they had awesome scooped ice cream. It was heavenly.
 
Yup. And I had a bank account at the age of five opened for me by my Gran. I learned about money early and became good at managing it but in those days banks actually gave you decent interest. It was great incentive for a kid. Nothing like it is now.
 
My sister and I each got $5.00/week to cover the cost of our school lunches. I think at the time the lunches were 65 cents so we had an extra $1.75 for various small purchases.

The money wasn't really in exchange for anything it was just part of the cost of maintaining us.

We did have routine chores that were just a part of everyday life. My sister cleaned the house, the areas around the television set were always immaculate. :rolleyes: I did the cooking and helped in the yard. We each did our own laundry.

I was insecure about money and tended to save it for something that was important to me.

My tendency to save my money used to cause some friction. When we would go to a firemen's field day, carnival, etc... my mother would give us each a few dollars to spend. My sister would immediately spend hers and be back looking for more. I walked around looking at all of the options and in most cases didn't find anything that was important to me or if I did I could never convince my mother to backtrack so I could make my purchase. I remember one time when my mother was handing out money to us she told me that if I wasn't going to spend the money she wasn't going to give me any, I told her to keep it. That turned out not to be the best response I could have chosen but I meant it and so did she.:):playful::eek:nthego:
 
I’m not sure if I got an allowance but did get money when I needed it. I did have chores and it depended on my age as to what they were.

First chore I remember is drying dishes while my mom washed them. Later had to clean my room, etc.
 
Yes, I got an allowance. It was not pay for chores. Chores were a responsibility of each member of the family. If I didn't , there was no TV or stay in my room or no movies next week, etc. But I still got allowance .
 
Yes, off and on. Remember those cute little grocery carts kids used to shop for their own things alongside their mother? I remember making a list: Candy, "funny" books (comics).

An aunt took me to the bank and we opened my first savings account when I was about 6 yrs old. Chores were a separate responsibility. I sometimes earned money babysitting, but when i turned 16 I got a real job in a grocery store
 
None of us kids got an allowance, though we all had to do chores, as well as keep an eye out for one another. We asked when we wanted to see a movie or needed bus fair to visit friends across town. As we got bigger, my older sister went strawberry picking for the summers, as well as shrimp peeling at the cannery as a young teen. I did some baby-sitting and worked in a couple of department stores. My younger brother delivered prescriptions for a local pharmacy. When we were really little, we'd pick up discarded pop bottles and cash them in for 2 cents each and purchase penny candy.
 
Not till my teens. It was actually child support. Fifty dollars went in a bank account, that I got when I turned 18.

Fifty to me every month. I spent it on clothes and skating.

Spent the bank account on a car.
 
I never got an allowance or paid for the chores I did. I didn't care because my parents were very good to me and if I wanted something all I had to do was ask and they would get it for me. If I ever was sick I could always count on my Dad to bring me something that he would buy for me on his way home from work. He did the same for my brother and sister.
 
Not till my teens. It was actually child support. Fifty dollars went in a bank account, that I got when I turned 18.

Fifty to me every month. I spent it on clothes and skating.

Spent the bank account on a car.

You/your mom were fortunate because that was most likely before the courts got tough on child support, which they should have done a lot sooner.
 

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