spending money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD's college is a few miles from an expensive city. I asked several moms I knew of older girls at the same college. We decided on $400/month.

seems pretty steep! what is that expected to cover? clothes, haircuts, toiletries, midnight pizza? Beer et al?

This is my dd too. She's not a pizza and beer girl. But she likes good sushi and organic snacks. She wore a uniform in high school and mostly athletic-type clothes out of school. So she really didn't have a wardrobe. The girls at her college dress nice and they go out to nice places. She and her friends have a "put together" look that I have yet to achieve. She has good grades and has had some awesome internships so we feel it's working fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I send allowance once a month. Keep in mind the need for food, toiletries (tampons, deodorant, gum, sunscreen) and school supplies (post-its, tabs, special pens) and random things that come up - new charger, college t-shirt, seeing a movie, bday gifts for new friends, etc.

Think about what kind of food plan your kid will have. The bigger the food plan, the less the money we send. I did not want my kids getting a job their freshman year. Adjust to college, make new friends, get used to running all your own errands, doing all your own laundry, etc.

I did not want my kids to get stuck for cash. I started out sending $80 per month, and after two months asked my son how that was working out. When he told me that it was okay but he was being very careful the last week and a half to make sure it lasted, I upped it to $120 a month. That works better for him (he gets his hair cut once a month).

When my DD started college, I started her at $120 a month and she never said a word about money being tight.

If you are waiting for college for these things, you are too late. My 8 yr old does his own laundry.

Actually it usually works out. I didn't have my kids do their own laundry at 8 because it would have been very inefficient to run many small loads so we did family laundry. By high school my kids were doing sports laundry as it usually needed to be done every 2-3 days. And in college they are both doing their laundry. Laundry isn't a skill you need to build up over 10 years, it's actually pretty easy to figure out.

[Anonymous]

I don't get the obsession some parents of younger kids about the laundry. If your 8 yr old does laundry, fine, but I agree that it's not a life skill that must be mastered before college. I didn't want kids in the laundry room (except for drop off and pick up). When they visit home from college, it's with clean clothes, so I know they've figured out the laundry thing.

[Anonymous]

Weirdly enough, $400 a month sounds low to me. When I was in college, I started the year off with $3000 from summer jobs and that was sufficient for every year but senior year (when renting a Selectric for a semester to work on my senior thesis busted my budget). As the Selectric reference no doubt suggests, this was a long time ago and in an era where kids didn't have credit cards. Given that I must have spent $300+ a month then and wasn't doing anything extravagant (but wasn't feeling cash-strapped either), I'm guessing the $400 isn't the whole picture.

At any rate, I'm wondering whether you're sending kids to school with credit and/or debit cards as well as cash and whether things like textbooks and transportation home come out of the $400 or whether they get put on a card or paid by parents in some other way.

The other thing we'll be figuring out is whether we do a lump sum for the school year or per semester vs. monthly or as-needed infusions. Because it was summer earnings, I had the lump sum scenario and I thought it imposed a useful discipline. DH, whose family lived much closer to school and saw him regularly during the year, had kind of random infusions. I think that would have made me crazy, but it didn't bother him.

[Anonymous]

It's hard to figure the money they "need". I have a DD in a sorority and an internship. So she does "need" professional clothes and cute going out outfits. She took nothing but basically sweats and running shorts to college with her. She also has lots of "needs" in health and beauty products.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the city - are there jobs available?

If so, yes -they need a job. Too many of my lazy millennial employees had the "college as a job" arrangement and we actually now only hire employees who have some work experience- can be at a restaurant or retail, but they must have work experience. We're not interested in people who have never demonstrated the ability to hold a job, even a menial one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked every semester of college for my spending money. It helped me manage my time better and it helped me
Land my first job out of college (as I had interned at the office my senior year). Working is not a bad thing!

Millennial here. The BEST internships that will get you good jobs are usually unpaid internships. It's a catch 22. You need money, but you need to take unpaid internships to get money later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the obsession some parents of younger kids about the laundry. If your 8 yr old does laundry, fine, but I agree that it's not a life skill that must be mastered before college. I didn't want kids in the laundry room (except for drop off and pick up). When they visit home from college, it's with clean clothes, so I know they've figured out the laundry thing.

My roommate in college (and most of the girls in my dorm) had to be taught by the RAs how to do their laundry. Who sends their kid to college and doesn't teach them this? Anyway, many of them missed the part about sorting white clothes from non-white clothes and that it was important to read the tag. They ended up with very expensive clothing shrunk down to doll size and white clothes stained with all kinds of colors. I guess they just threw everything in together. I bet they wanted more spending money too b/c they ruined their clothes. If I wanted money to spend, I got a job. I babysat all through college and worked as a summer nanny. I used the money for books, car insurance, gas and spending money. I wouldn't give my kid spending money in college. That's what jobs are for!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weirdly enough, $400 a month sounds low to me. When I was in college, I started the year off with $3000 from summer jobs and that was sufficient for every year but senior year (when renting a Selectric for a semester to work on my senior thesis busted my budget). As the Selectric reference no doubt suggests, this was a long time ago and in an era where kids didn't have credit cards. Given that I must have spent $300+ a month then and wasn't doing anything extravagant (but wasn't feeling cash-strapped either), I'm guessing the $400 isn't the whole picture.

At any rate, I'm wondering whether you're sending kids to school with credit and/or debit cards as well as cash and whether things like textbooks and transportation home come out of the $400 or whether they get put on a card or paid by parents in some other way.

The other thing we'll be figuring out is whether we do a lump sum for the school year or per semester vs. monthly or as-needed infusions. Because it was summer earnings, I had the lump sum scenario and I thought it imposed a useful discipline. DH, whose family lived much closer to school and saw him regularly during the year, had kind of random infusions. I think that would have made me crazy, but it didn't bother him.

I posted earlier that we do $1000 a semester but do pay for books, Greek dues, some clothing, plus when we visit we do Target runs. But both kids are expected to supplement the allowance from us with their summer earnings and on campus work. So their monthly expenses may be more than $400 but that's their problem.

We debated whether we should pay for Greek dues but ended up doing it. For better or worse none of the kids in DCs frat/sorority seem to pay their own dues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the obsession some parents of younger kids about the laundry. If your 8 yr old does laundry, fine, but I agree that it's not a life skill that must be mastered before college. I didn't want kids in the laundry room (except for drop off and pick up). When they visit home from college, it's with clean clothes, so I know they've figured out the laundry thing.

My roommate in college (and most of the girls in my dorm) had to be taught by the RAs how to do their laundry. Who sends their kid to college and doesn't teach them this? Anyway, many of them missed the part about sorting white clothes from non-white clothes and that it was important to read the tag. They ended up with very expensive clothing shrunk down to doll size and white clothes stained with all kinds of colors. I guess they just threw everything in together. I bet they wanted more spending money too b/c they ruined their clothes. If I wanted money to spend, I got a job. I babysat all through college and worked as a summer nanny. I used the money for books, car insurance, gas and spending money. I wouldn't give my kid spending money in college. That's what jobs are for!

Well I guesss that proves that my college kids are geniuses. They could follow the directions posted on every college dorm washer and dryer. And no clothes were ruined. I'm so proud.

[Anonymous]

Or it proves they have nice machines. The ones at my college most certainly didn't have directions on them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or it proves they have nice machines. The ones at my college most certainly didn't have directions on them!

$60k per year, directions included. That's true, but even for my kid at a very urban OOS public, directions are posted.

[Anonymous]

DD is outside a major city. She gets $250 -- anything more comes from her own money. We will pay for books and transportation to and from home, in addition.

[Anonymous]

We pay for our son's tuition and related expenses (fees, books), but he is responsible for his own spending money. He uses what he earns during summers and has to budget to make it last.

He did run short last year, so took a job walking a professor's dog a few times a week.

I think acquiring these earning/spending/saving skills is very important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD's college is a few miles from an expensive city. I asked several moms I knew of older girls at the same college. We decided on $400/month.

seems pretty steep! what is that expected to cover? clothes, haircuts, toiletries, midnight pizza? Beer et al?

This is my dd too. She's not a pizza and beer girl. But she likes good sushi and organic snacks. She wore a uniform in high school and mostly athletic-type clothes out of school. So she really didn't have a wardrobe. The girls at her college dress nice and they go out to nice places. She and her friends have a "put together" look that I have yet to achieve. She has good grades and has had some awesome internships so we feel it's working fine.

LOL

My son loves those things, too - but if he wants them, he needs to figure out how to earn the money to buy them.