How much to charge 18 year old for board & lodge

Feej_2

This is a fascinating thread - so many interesting views & different approaches.

A lot of the posts address the independent/dependent issue but in our house interdependence is the name of the game - and we really enjoy living together as a family who are also friends... sure, in time they'll do their own thing & move on, but for now they all have jobs which cover their personal spending, each person cooks the main meal one day a week which includes buying the ingredients, each is expected (and expects) to help with cleaning and everyone chips in to help in other areas depending on their individual skills, eg driving, IT geekery, sewing, baking, DIY, etc.

No rent is charged at the moment as 2 of 3 adult sons are students and the other has seasonal work only. We see giving accommodation as our contribution to their education without handing over money we don't have. Once employed & if still living at home, they will be charged 20% of net pay as I used to be (my Mum's suggestion as she'd had to pay 40% and felt it was too much).

It won't be saved for them - that's their job. I've been in continuous employment since I started my paper round at 13 and I look forward to being able to put my feet up now & again.

Only one job is not negotiable; as the only woman in the house I will not clean the toilet!

chaos5678

My son earned £180 per week and paid me £25 but bought his own food for work and any "fancy extras" that we wouldn't normally buy, like 30 pkts crisps every week LOL

deecy

My daughter is 17 and has worked full-time for the past 3 months earning between £350 & £450 per MONTH - It's her first job, she dropped out of college and my feeling is she needs encouragment to keep going with it through the early mornings and times when she feels she really doesn't want to go in.

For her being a teenager shopping, topshop, and shoes are her gods! My philosophy is then that if she keeps as much of her money as possible she can see that hard work and effort gets you the things in life you WANT (she doesn't NEED 16 pairs of shoes/boots/trainers!)

She buys her own make-up, clothes, bus & train fairs, does her own ironing & washing, cleaning and cooking.

We pay for food, bills and rent.

She gives us £30 per month.

It doesn't cover the costs but it's £30 more than she paid 3 months ago when we bought make-up, clothes, bus & train fares. So we are better off and she has a sense of achievment when her wages arrive which makes us a happier family.

black-saturn

Personally I wouldnt charge anything until they are about 20.

jackieb

No wonder i'm always skint! I never charged my 22yo anything. He's moving into a flat next month and i've told him that it's going to hit him hard. It would have been difficult to charge him anything as he was away all week at college and was only here at the weekends and holidays. He's on a modern apprentiship scheme and got less than £400 a month while at college (he also got his meals and lodgings paid for).

Now he's away to start work in April and his friend has bought a flat and there will be 3 of them sharing. I told him he could stay here and save for a place of his own but there's no telling him. I suppose at his age I was married with 2 children and I would have hated to still be living at home.

Kzlnd

I didn't pay anything for a while, not until I got my second job and then I was started on a very low wage so I didn't start to pay my mum until I got a rise six months later at 18 (I think).
Started paying £120 a month plus I would buy the shopping for the week every 3/4 weeks or so, I did my own washing, made dinner (NEVER WASHED UP! :eek: ) helped clean etc, at that time I still had around £600 left, can't remember my wages back then so not sure.

I thought my mum was unfair! :rotfl: Especially when my brother started working, he never paid anything, in fact my mum gave him even more money and bought him more things! Hence the unfair bit. :rolleyes:

Of course, now I think about it - I could have paid more but I was just greedy! I wanted to spend my money on clothes, shopping, going out, driving lessons, etc. I didn't use the money to save up for when I planned to move out, so my mum charging more would have been a much better use of the money.

I moved out over a year ago, I'm 20 now and sort of living in the real world, with rent/c.tax of £570+ per month and shocking water, gas and electricity bills :eek: ..I find myself wondering if I can move back home with mum :rolleyes: :rotfl:

Kimberley

m00 wrote:

So what you are saying is that you dont actually pay board... No wonder its worked out fantastic! Free food, free board and no bills or washing.

To be honest as a decent human being, if bought up right, they should give some money towards their keep as a gesture of goodwill. I think they are taking the pee to be honest and thats the thanks the parents get for bringing them up :rolleyes:

Kimberley

wellsie82 wrote:

Parents buy the same amount of food, pay the same amount for bills ect than before so why shouldnt they save the money for us?

They have no morgage or commitments - although they could take a % of the money we give them they have chosen not to as they feel it will benefit us more when we move and buy our own place.

Your taking the pee, why should your parents save money for you? Your not a kid your an adult. You should treat your parents with more respect. When i first got a job when i left school, my mum didn't even have to ask for keep.

huddsta

I'm 19 and an in my 3rd year of an engineering apprenticeship. My parents charge me about £60 a month plus the cost of our family broadband (about £17). I started paying about £40 a month when I worked weekends (aged 15-18).

At the moment me and my girlfriend, a trainee property officer, are saving like mad for our first house. Around 2/3 of my pay goes directly to savings as does the OH after her car/insurane payments are taken out.

But anyway, I think I get off quite lightly with the amount I pay. Any more and I would struggle to keep up load payments, my own bills, savings and car running costs.

suzysue_2

My 18yr old son pays £30 a wk, and for this gets everything, including me making his packed lunch (bag full!) everyday.
Our worry is that he will never have enough money to buy his own property and he is hopeless with money. Unfortunately we can't afford not to take some money of him. So we set up a bank acount for him online with a DD of just £20 a wk going into it. He only noticed something was going out of his account 7 wks later.
He now knows and is fine with the money going in and has agreed if he gets a very good wage he will put extra into it. (we'll see)