My parents wouldn't let me have a bike until I was 10. At that point, we had little money, so I found an old English 3-speed (Sturmey Archer hub style) for $10 in the paper. It had 26" wheels. I cleaned it up. That was the bike I used for the 50 mile rides. My sister was always the focus of better things. She was rewarded with a new 10-speed. C'est la vie. I have her old 10 speed today and she took my old 3-speed to sell at a garage sale.
My parents didn't give me an allowance. Instead, I had free access to the garden tools. The push mower was my primary source of income. Twenty five cents to mow the lawn. I could knock out 3 or 4 on a Saturday afternoon. The leaf rake was my friend in the fall. I managed $1 to rake all the leaves from a typical .25 acre lot (including bagging). Shoveling snow offered a little income during the two years in Springfield, VA. In Federal Way, WA, I used the axe to split and stack a cord of wood for the elderly folks. They usually paid me $2 for that.
Yep, brings back old times. One particular snow fall I made $3 - $5 per home and thought I'd hit the motherlode. That was big money for me.