I pay all the bills. My wife stays home. What's a decent amount of allowance for her per week?

Justsyd	Have a household account for her for groceries and stuff, and then a personal account of around fifty dollars, or however much that you spend per week.

caramel delight	Talk to her and go over your finances and let her know aside from the bills how much she can spend and take the credit cards away from your wife.... You have to explain to her and make her understand about how her spending is begining to become a burden....If she continues, make her get a job and put your son in school....

joker:P	I would say whatever amount you are allowed to have she is allowed to have.

Kendrick	It depends on how much you make minus your bills, retirement savings, and general savings. I would think that you would split up the difference and give yourselves 'allowances' with her getting more because she has additional expenses associated with being a woman, like makeup... Maybe a 60%/40% split or something.

Lynn K	How much money do you make? What she is expected to do with this money (ie: is it pocket money? is she expected to buy gifts with this money? is this strictly money for her entertainment?) Does she have her own bank account? Do you give her money to buy the groceries or do you do all the household purchasing? Does she have access to a credit card? What are the total household expenses and debt load? All these things have to be considered. Start at a minimum of 20% of your take home pay and work from there.

uneekqamar2004	Hire a nanny and send her to work.

ims_qld	Lisen man take this answer from me and thing about it. would you like you wife do and you are wana do to her? if you are disable person and she is the one she earn the money would you like her to say take $2.00 for week coz you are helpless??? now what you need as i can understand you wife she is a good spender with money ? talk to her for more then one time maybe she thing you are happy when she spend the money . so if she dont wana listen then go to the hard way . but life it's not only money life is share with body and soul and money is nothing when love is between . thank you

marisanj	An allowance??? What the hell!!! She's your wife not your kid!! Tell her what the deal is and explain to her that she needs to cut down on the spending...

devil_queen_biatch14	not sure i mean she should get paid a reasonable amount for what work she does at home. i dont work but i got 1100$ a month income and my man works i take his money n pay the bills and all and i give him an allowance of 50$ a wk then i put the rest towards food and what ever we need. i give us an allowance of 200$ wk and the rest goes in the bank, i also cook clean take the boys to their events do the shoppin plan the meals ect ect ect my man said last night they would be lost without me.

FatElvis	As a couple, you need a family budget. Part of that might be an allowance for her, but it will only be part of a larger plan.

geraldandstine@sbcglobal.net	u raised her that way now deal with it. she bcan't spend what you don't give her.

H	Nothing. If you don't have kids, tell that lazy trick to get a job!

Lucky	Here is what you need to do: Take your paycheck and subtract 10%. That goes directly into savings to not be touched (and PLEASE tell me you are saving for retirement, right???). Next take out your mortgage payment (or rent payment), utilities, cable bill, phone bill, car payments, car insurance, water bill, and any other bill that must be paid. Take out as much as you need for groceries, toiletries, cleaning supplies, diapers, clothing for your 3-year-old, and other household necessities. Next, take out an amount that you feel you would need for entertainment as a family (or for dates, in which case you should include money for babysitting); think of things like going to dinner, going to movies, renting movies, the zoo, etc. After this, what you have left over should be split between you and your wife evenly - even though you go work in an office, she works very hard at home every day! Your personal money should be used for lunches out at work, any clothing or entertainment for yourself only, and any other personal expenses. If there is no money left for you to spend, then you shouldn't be spending it! If you guys can both adhere to this method of managing your expenses, you should be okay. Also, FYI - I am a financial analyst and personal finance consultant.

Hollynfaith	homegirl? You called the Mrs "homegirl". How old are you? 20? Sweetie, I'm going to give you some insight. Rather than staying on that runaway train you're on, get off at the next station with the Mrs. ,Sit down and show her where you are financially, set a goal and have a game plan, then both of you work on that together. If she has an understanding on how things need to work, rather than being in the dark and assuming you have more money than you actually do, she'll be less likely to want to spend it. Communication is key here dear.

Butterfly	depends on what she is really used to and how much you can afford

Shining Star	Allowance should be 2579.25 a week according to salary.com (134121.00 divided by 52 weeks a year). "Salary.com determined that a stay-at-home mother might be paid as much as $134,121 for her contributions as a housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, janitor and CEO, among other functions."

nanny4hap	I agree with Amanda F., that amount is very generous.

badcat	First off don't use the word allowance.It will probably start a fight.Second sit down with her and explain to her that you understand how hard she works taking care of the house and your child.But the budget doesn't allow for the kind of spending she is doing and that she has to sit down with you and make out a family budget for you to live by.Has for how much to pay her. There really isn't any set amount you can't put a price on the work she does taking care of your child.But if you need to set an amount when you set your budget guidelines.See what if any money you have to set aside for her spending.I am a stay at home mom also. And we took a rather large hit to our budget when I started staying home over a 30,000 a year hit.So we don't have a lot of extra money to spend either.But I handle the budget so I know better than my husband does what we can and can't afford.I don't get much spending money only about 20.00 dollars a week but I do have what my hubby calls my company car.And that cost over 500.00 a month between the payment and insurance.So I guess you can count that has my expense.But every ones situation is different and you have to work out what you can afford.

Matt C	$25 per week for spending money. Not counting groceries and household items of course.

basketcase88	Talk to her about the goals that you BOTH have for your families finances, saving for college, retirement, home purchase/mortgage, etc. Tell her that her extra spending is causing problems with your plan. Work out a budget between the 2 of you that you can both live with. Also, I hate your use of the word "allowance." You do realize your wife is doing a job that's every bit as important as yours? You've even said you'd like her to stay home, so you've got to quit thinking of your salary as "your" money and think of it as "the family's" money. If you're treating her like a child here, and giving her an "allowance" is certainly doing that, then she's going to probably react negatively. You guys need to agree upon an amount of money that each can spend per week/month/whatever that neither has to account to the other for. She shouldn't have to show you every single receipt from every single store she goes to, that's demeaning. Make sure though that she's not dealing with depression. If she's having a difficult adjustment to being a stay at home mother, then she may be compensating for it by going shopping. Your attitude (again) can and probably does play a huge role here. Realize also it's the holiday season. I imagine she's doing most, if not all, of the purchasing of gifts. That's going to be more money for this month. Relax, dude.

Jack C	the same amount that you spend on yourself.

?	give her fifty dollars a week

GrnApl	If she went to work outside of the home what would you be paying for fulltime childcare? That is what you should be giving your wife for pocket money. Do you realize that an at home mom does the equivelent of 2 full time jobs? Could you afford to pay for childcare, housecleaning, cook, decorator, launderess, nutritionist, lover, hostess, taxi driver, and a host of other things that she is responsible for 24/7 whether she is ill or not. Do you get a day off? Receive benefits? Try getting your bills paid automatically so that the money never hits your account and then isn't available. This can be done for mortgage, car payments, utilities, etc... Lastly, you can get your direct deposit sent to an account that only you have access to and then deposit the childcare expenses into her account.

stormy	don't give her sht. she should be paying YOU by giving you blowjbs every night.

?	the word allowance is not a good word to use. i owuldnt even bring it up. simply talk to her and let her know that times are tough and you need to save up some money. im sure she will understand.

tater bug	explain that you are worried about the bills and you really want her to stay home but the spending is getting a little out of control. maybe she can do something from home to earn a little cash, like babysit a couple of kids ur kid's age. for 2 kids she could bring in $150 a wk. if that doesn't work i would only give her enough $ for groceries and gas in the car.

allgrownup	if you pay all the bills then she needs about 50 dollars a week. she should be understanding that you love her and your child enough so that she can stay home with your kid. your a good man tell her to stop being greedy before you put her to work! your a excellent guy! i'll take you and i would not need allowance! lol.

MKM	My husband pays all of the bills, he gives me money for gas,groceries,beauty salon,etc. And he also gives me 75.00 dollars a week for my own spending money, if I rack up a credit card it comes out of my own money.. He'll pay for anything else we need, funiture, appliances anything household. If your wife is just spending frivolous that's wrong.. I also work part time and make about 300 a week. But my husband has never stopped giving me the xtra money that he always has,good man he is..

squeegie	Have you set down with her and showed her the bills????? How dare you suggest an allowance!!!! She works JUST as hard as you do!!!!! Trust me. I have been both. I was a single Mom for 15 years and now I get to stay home. It is just as hard being a stay at home Mom as it is to work. She deserves just as much pay and recoginition as you do you big strong bread winner you!!!!

truebeing3030	My husband pays all the bills and I stay home w/ our 4 month old. I want to spend, spend, spend too! I don't get an allowance, but I do have a reasonable limit on the credit card, but I have to buy everything we need all month. It all adds up quickly. Get her credit card w/ a certain limit on it so she doesn't over spend. Sounds kinda funny and I was scared to be so dependent on my husband, but it has been working out awsome.