How old were you the first time you wanted to earn your own money?

Middle aged now, and I'd much rather just have someone hand me the monies instead of having to earn them, so...

I still don't and I'm not young. At this point due to cost-to-benefit it's becoming increasingly rare for me to buy things.

Health issues probably don't help, though. EDIT: I also once had an unpaid internship at a car dealership (nothing else was available) and that didn't paint employment in a great light for me either.

Like, 8

5

I started my first summer job at 14. Bought myself a discman.

I'll let you know if it ever happens.

Around 13 years old when I started dating. Was a rink rat and got extra ice time and money refereeing games. Always brought all my gear to rink just in case.

Paper route summer after 5th grade (maybe 10-11yo). By freshman yr highschool, I had 4-5 routes totaling 270+ papers and would inline skate the routes to save time. Sundays were a bitch to say the least. But when I went "collecting" it was awesome getting paid and keeping a lot of that money! I went through so many wheels, bearings, and laces, and kept upgrading skates too. Been working 1-2 jobs ever since pretty much. I'm hitting 40 soon.

When I discovered video games at the arcade. So, I guess around 14.

That's when I also discovered that nickles could be hammered into quarter-size slugs. There were three of us doing it. We'd use the nickles to buy tokens from the machine during happy hour at six for a dollar (20 cents worth of slugs), then sell them back to kids during regular hours at a quarter a piece. The kids would buy them because there was usually a line at the machine after school, so they didn't need to wait in line if they bought them from us. That's how we funded our addiction. I don't remember how long we did this, probably only a summer.

My first wage-slave job was cleaning cages at a pet store around that same time. I took over for my best friend's sister for a few weeks when she went to some sort of summer camp. I hated it very much. I worked a little harder in school after that.

I was around 15. Not many jobs were legally possible at that early age. My aunt was in HR and she found a nice and well paid spot for a few weeks during summer.

The moment i bit into a succulent roast beef sandwich from arby’s. I also became a smoker and began puberty in that very moment

I have never wanted to earn money. I have only been forced to do so by the need and desire to spend it.

Started working at 14, and I guess wanted to, sort of? Wanted to go with my friend to England in the summer and my mom matched what I paid, which was really nice, she was not usually like that but did think traveling was important and couldn't afford to take all of us anywhere far like that. We got to go abroad 3 summers that way.

Delivered newspapers at 13, because I wanted to buy myself a computer.

Paper route when I was 14.

Yes, I'm aware that paper routes aren't really a thing any longer... I'm old.

like, 10.

My mom used to give me extra pocket money if I helped around the house beyond my usual tasks, so things like ironing or washing the windows/car. After that I started a newspaper round at 13.

Hard to say. I've been the guy my friends always borrowed from and paid back with interests for as long as I can remember. As a kid I even had built myself a wooden safe with literal stacks of cash in it because I had exhanged everything into small bills. It wasn't much but it looked like it.

wanted to. no idea. like a lot of boys I got paid a few bucks every so often for picking weeds or later mowing a lawn. real first job I did intentionally and regularly was baby sitting.

I don’t know if I have ever wanted to earn my own money as much as when I wanted to be able to afford shit.

The first job I had was delivering newspapers, which I quickly expanded to three routes. I wanted the money from that to buy a new bike and go-cart.

After that my motivation for working in High School was to buy pot, be able to get Hardees and Chinese food after smoking the pot and also to keep my car working so I could drive to get all of the above.

During college the motivation was to pay rent and etc.

12 when my family didn't have the money for a ps2 on christmas. Got a job on a farm nearby that January.

I got my first job at 15. Wanted to get a job since I was like 12. Was super made that I was legally not allowed to work until 14. Had a couple of friends get jobs at 14 and I was super jealous.

1. My parents tried to give me money but also could clearly not afford to so I felt guilty if I ever needed to take some from them. I ended up getting a job after school. In hindsight I was exploited since I worked 30-45mins overtime unpaid everyday but I was happy and I did a good job and the money was a lot for me at the time.

I was about 12 when the first people started offering money for fixing their computers. Like neighbors etc.

The amounts were wildly differing and the work was often the same every couple of months. But it helped me have a little slush fund for computer parts and beer later.

Started raking blueberries at 14. Started in the kitchen at 16.