"How much allowance should I give?" is one of the most-Googled questions in this whole category. The honest answer is: it depends — but there are sane starting points.
A rough age-by-age starting point
A common rule of thumb is about a dollar per year of age per week, adjusted for your budget and what the money is meant to cover. A six-year-old might get a few dollars; a twelve-year-old handling small expenses might get more. The number matters less than the consistency.
The hybrid model most families land on
The setup that tends to stick is a hybrid: a small baseline just for being part of the household, plus earning chores on top that are genuinely optional and genuinely paid. Base chores build responsibility; earning chores teach that extra effort pays. Monstir is built around exactly this split.
Stop doing the weekly math
The hardest part of allowance isn't the amount — it's remembering to pay it and tracking what's owed. That's the quiet job Monstir's ledger does in the background so you never have to reconstruct the week from memory.
