Did you get an allowance when you were a kid?

[BoringSupreez]

I've noticed that having an allowance doesn't seem to be as common as it once was. Most kids I've met/known, their parents just buy them games every once in a while instead of giving them an allowance. I think it's better to have an allowance, as it gives the kid greater freedom with his money, as well as teaching him how to budget, save, etc. Did many of you have allowances, or did you have to beg your mom at the store for games?

Personally, I've always had one, except for when I was too young to take care of money. If I didn't have any money, I just didn't get stuff, simple. Except for Christmas and my birthday, or course.

[AppleQueso]

Never had one, though I'd probably give my kid one if I had a kid.

[BurningDoom]

For a short time I got 50 cents every Friday in 2nd grade to buy popcorn at lunchtime that was available on Fridays. But I instead spent it at 7-11 on the walk-home from school on the Street Fighter II arcade that was there.

Years later, in middle-school, or maybe it was early high school, for the span of about half a year I got $75 once a month because my mom landed this nice job after years of having to be on welfare because she had to stay at home with my disabled brother. He was finally at a stage where he could be trusted alone. But then shortly after I turned 16 and got my first job so I didn't need it.

Other than those short spans of allowance, I mowed lawns around my neighborhood for $5-$10 a lawn depending on how generous the person paying me was. Sometimes I'd get the occasional old lady that thought I was cute and would give me $20-$30 if I was lucky.

[indecks]

$5 every two weeks when I was a kid until I was about 10 or 12, I think. But then after that, it went to $5 every week. At the time NES games for rent were $2.68 at a local rental store so I'd have my mom pick up a game for me and use 'half' an allowance each week.

[Hobie-wan]

I didn't have an allowance until high school, then I was getting $5 a week. I pretty much used it to buy music every few weeks. We had some neighbors we were friends with down the street that always went on vacations every summer and Christmas break so I'd feed and watch their pets so I'd have a larger bit if cash occasionally. I'm pretty sure I bought my original NES from a friend with one of the pet sitting stipends.

[MrPopo]

I had an allowance and lunch money, but I skimmed the hell out of the lunch money, essentially doubling my allowance. But I still couldn't buy myself games outside of birthday/Chanukah because my mom didn't want me to waste all my time on them. So instead my money got saved for big stuff, like the N64 when it came out.

[benderx]

Never had an allowance. Cleaned the back and front yard never recieved any money. I didnt have much video games in the 90s eventhough wanted them very much.

[deathsled]

Can't remember when it started exactly but at some point I started getting a dollar each week for whatever school year I was in, so $5/wk in 5th grade, $7/wk in 7th and so on. Then they would actually lump it into months so I could have it all at once if I wanted.

[saturnfan]

During middle school I got a whopping 2$ a week for my allowance. Normally what I did was that I just kept a tab, and when the total got to around $50, I would have my parents buy me something I wanted, usually a video game. So it was a pretty good, I couldn't argue with getting something free once in a while.

[Ziggy]

I had an allowance and lunch money, but I skimmed the hell out of the lunch money, essentially doubling my allowance.

I use to do stuff like that too. My allowance was something like $5/week. I really don't recall. Maybe $7? I remember it taking FOREVER to save up for a new $50+ game. You pretty much had to rely on birthday money for that huge boost. The fall was awesome because I would get an incredible amount for bagging up leaves (50 cents per bag!). I remember one year, my friend's father offered to pay more per bag, and since I could hang out with my friends at the same time, it was a win-win. I was raking up leaves, then my mom called me home. Told me flat out I had to rake the leaves at home FIRST. It was like something out of an 80's/early 90's family sitcom. A day or two later I was hanging out with my friends again. My friend's father came out and paid them. I had to watch the money change hands, it was awful!

I got back though. There was a dozen or so bagged leaves that were very old. For some reason they were bagged but never taken to the curb. I guess they were forgotten. I rebagged them with shinny new bags, took the credit and got paid for them. My mom was like, "How did you bag them so quickly?! Somethings not right..."

What an evil little child I was.

I think it's better to have an allowance, as it gives the kid greater freedom with his money, as well as teaching him how to budget, save, etc.

I agree. It also teaches that you can't always get what you want. And on top of that, the game were so much better. Taking months to save for that new game, it was that much better when you got it. And since you couldn't afford games, you enjoyed the ones you had more.