Hy Yvette,

When DD started up with the pocket money idea, i told her to make a budget, working out how much she needs (eg mobile, birthdays, shopping etc), once she had done that I made a list of jobs she would have to do and then we negotiated, her budget came to $100 a month, well of course I wasn'g going to pay her that much. She was very thorough though, listed items with cost etc.
So we negotiated, and agreed to $70 a month, for this she has to do the dishes (wash, dry and pack away) twice a week, keep the kitchen benches, table etc clean, sweep the kitchen, empty the bins, help with the washing, feed the dog every 3rd night and cook dinner twice a week. If she doesn't do her jobs, her pocket money is docked. It works pretty well.
Originally, when she was about 12 or so, it was just putting the dishes away, and vacuuming DD got $5 a week.
We've also got the gasbagging problem, she used to be a really quiet kid, but has come out of her shell, which is great, except that last year was her worst report ever. She has really worked hard this first term to make sure that her report wont be bad again, she hated the idea that she had a D, let's hope that she keeps that attitude.