How much to charge 18 year old for board & lodge

robnye

i have heard of parents charging 25%, then if they didnt need, putting the rest into a savings account for later on......

jemmychaos

onthemend wrote:

Thanks for all your feedback, it has been quite an interesting set of replies.

We have decided to charge a nominal amount of £20 per week, which includes our daughter doing her fair share of housework/own washing etc. We understand she will be bringing home about £100 a week. We have also advised that she puts £30 a week into a savings account, leaving £50 for spends etc.. (I would put more away but that caused a bit of friction!)

We had quite a discussion as you can imagine, but I think it put things into perspective of living costs when we showed her what our monthly outgoings are to run the house. I don't think any 18 year old really knows the true cost of living unless parents actually show them all the bills etc.

Unbeknown to her,we have also decided to put the money she pays to one side in a seperate account, to help her save for the future.

That sounds like a really good idea. Before I left for university my parents had me paying my share of the phone bill for years, and then presented me with a savings account book when I moved to university, and they'd been depositing it for me all that time! It was a really nice surprise. Sadly I then squandered it while I was at uni beause it took me about 3 years to start getting the hang of money - so I'd be careful when you give it to her!

I'm now in the opposite situation as I'm unofficially lodging with my boyfriend's mum and even though I take home 3 times as much as her, trying to get her to take money for food and bills is really difficult, even though her rent's gone up and council tax is just about to, she doesn't want to be treated as a charity but I just want to pay my own way!

bergerac_chic

Mmm - my parents told me that if I went home in the holidays I would have to pay them a third of my salary in rent, and it would be likewise if I went home when I graduated. Adding in the cost of flights (they live on an island) and not being able to see friends / partner over holidays and still having to pay rent / bills for UK address meant I was better off not going home. Sad to say but I chose not to go home. I REALLY struggled to get together money to buy a place and have really struggled since leaving uni but it still worked out cheaper than moving home! Have to say I really did envy all those friends who "went home while they paid off their debts and saved up to go travelling"! Little brother is now doing exactly this and isnt paying rent, seems a trifle unfair but hey whats the point in moaning to the family about it. Will only cause upset.
Those people lucky enough to be paying minimal / no rent - please appreciate it!

nicola.1

i don't know if anyone else has posted this but if she is earning £100 a week for example take £40-£50 off her and save half of that in an account for when she needs it, for a deposit for house car etc......

Savvy_Sue

bergerac_chic wrote:

Mmm - my parents told me that if I went home in the holidays I would have to pay them a third of my salary in rent, and it would be likewise if I went home when I graduated.

That's sad! Once my lot are no longer in education I will expect rent if they stay / come home, but I don't charge for uni holidays (except in help around the home, that kind of thing). I might if DS wasn't sensible with his money, but he is, and although I wouldn't say I couldn't use the money I don't want to put him off coming home!

elona

I agree with you Savvy Sue

My DD is coming home for a few weeks at the weekend and I am longing to make a bit of a fuss of her and make her comfortable.

I would not dream of charging rent while she is studying so hard and would also not dream of forcing her younger sister to work during summer holidays as she has a lot of coursework and revision to do - she works hard too and I like to be as supportive as I can , as does DH.

exil

There are three approaches to this

1. work out how much you would save per month if the offspring left home.

this would probably be a share of the food, possibly phone bills, but not council tax, TV licence/Sky, mortage/rent, gas, electric, etc which would probably be the same anyway (UNLESS you would actually move house if they left!)

2. charge a %age of the total bills. If there are 3 of you inc. offspring, 33%
or in proportion to income. Eg you earn 15k, O/H 10k, child 25k, child pays 50% of bills.

3. charge what it would cost the offspring to live independently.

Naturally 2 is a lot bigger than 1, and 3 is bigger still!

I would be inclined to go for 1, unless you are on a very low income (and your offspring is well paid) and need to charge a %age to pay the bills.

Hopefully what the son/daughter saves by not having to live independently is going to be saved for a house or a rental deposit, not spent on booze etc!

Have seen some stats which suggest that a 3rd adult adds about 30% to the
total of household bills.

liney

I will not charge my son if he is in education (especially not from P/T job when at school!!) I will not charge my son if he takes on a trainee/YT job to learn a trade. I feel that if i did, i would be encouraging him to take any job just to have a reasonable amount of money in his pocket, and not look at his long term prospects. I want my son to have the best possible career (of his choice) and paying rent to me will not be a factor in his choosing which path to take.

I will of course make it clear that he is very lucky i can do this and he best not flunk out ) £30 pw seems reasonable for a youngster earning minimum wage type money. Thats about 20% of take home wage i think. I dont believe in putting the money away, or threatening more rent if they aren't careful with what they have left: it's his wages and he can spend it on whatever he likes. I just hope i will have had a good influence on his spending habits so we don't need a stern talk.

wellsie82

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.

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.

m00

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.

so you dont eat food? or you dont use electricity or wash?

Its not personal - but what you have said basically is that you are living free at your parents - am I not right?

No wonder its a good deal!

So I dont see how you can class as what you are technically saving for a home as being the same as paying your parents rent?