How much should I charge my dd for housekeeping etc?

debtfreein4years

i paid £50 a month when i had a part time job when at secondary school so was taking home around 200 every 4 weeks (plus babysitting money of around 150 every 4 weeks) that was from 16 to 18. when i started my first job i had to pay 10% of my gross salary which worked out to be around £100 a month and it just went up gradulay to £140 a month. I did get the money back through the month in takeaways if the family were having one, the odd bit of clothing, lifts here and there.

i did grumble at the time but i actually wish they had made me pay more to get used to what a house costs to run. one of my friends parents made her pay £400 a month and her mum saved it for her so that when she did move out she had enough for a deposit. she didnt know her mum was saving it for her which is the way to go i think.

gizmo111

one of my friends parents made her pay £400 a month and her mum saved it for her so that when she did move out she had enough for a deposit. she didnt know her mum was saving it for her which is the way to go i think.

Trouble with this is if the parents need the money or don't plan to save it, charging a higher rent leads to some very disappointed young adults, better to be up front at the beginning about what the money is for IMO.

jellyhead

Are you a single mum? will you also have to pay extra council tax if there's an earner in your house?

frankie55

MY breakdown with my now left home kids was,1, take of all travelling and lunch expenses.2, divide the rest into three, 13rd for board, one third for clothes/night.s out etc and one third for saving, which I looked after for them. I'd allow them to take the cost of a holiday from but they had to savethemselves for spending money etc.
Sounds harsh I know, but my son quickly increased his wages and we stuck to the same ratio. When he did get married he got all of his third savings back in a nice comfortable cheque, and we paid around 99% of the wedding (long story don't go there) and they went of a lovely surprose honeymoon they wern't expecting to afford. My DD was very different in that she was a very free spirit and moved about quite lot, we did take board money from her and her boyfriend when he lived with us. I got the 'never going to get married story so can I have a deoisit for a flat and fell for it' and a year later they did want to get married!! but had no money. Myself and OH were working in well paid jobs so we set a budget of £3000 for the wedding, to include everything (10yrs ago) and was left with around £1.67 un the pot. Both my kids have said that they were glad we made them tae responsibility for themselves, and we didn't feel as though we had been taken to the cleaners. They both had full White Weddings in a church as that is what they wanted, but, we did use pub's rather than Hotels for the receptions as they both wanted to have all their friends and relatives with them their chiced entirely, but my DD Ma-in-Law wasn't impressed, she wantd a fancy dancy hotel but wasn't up for paying for any of it lol

ailuro2

I think the "take off the travel and leave them a third" option is very fair.:D

Or let them pay for 1/3 of all the bills excluding the mortgage but including food, and of course inbetween food shops, council tax, fuel, car insurance if they share the car, petrol,takeaways, Sky TV/broadband.... in other words everything it takes to run a house.;)


It stops them getting used to having a substantial disposable income to fritter away, then carry on frittering when they have their own bills to pay.

I had to pay 1/4 of my wages to my mother, plus buy all my own toiletries, clothes etc. when I was 16.

I moved out not long after my 19th birthday and bought my first flat soon after (In the Halcyon days when you could buy a one bed flat for under £20K in a reasonable area!)

If DD still complains she is getting a poor deal, then offer her these choices

1 - move out
2 - pay one third board
3 - pay her share of all the bills
4 - pay the original £50 which should be proprtionately increased as her wages rise. Your current loss is around £130 a month, she needs to be aware of this.;)

belfastgirl23

I'd be more worried that your daughter was shocked by the fact that you were expecting board. I'm assuming she isn't aware of the fact that money is tight. I really think it would do her good to sit her down and take her through your budget and explain to her just how much comes in and goes out. I know some parents feel a bit uncomfortable about this but i think it's actually a vital part of their growing up. I would also be making it clear to her that it's actually a drop in income for you and that you will have to look at making cuts somewhere. It isn't about telling her to pay because it's fair, it's about explaining to her that the money is needed.

you are doing the right thing!

valos_mummy

£50 sounds fair to me. At the moment I am very very lucky in that my mom only charges me £25 a week; but that's because I have a flat on the market that's not had any takers yet (It's been on since May ) so she knows I'm still having to cough up half the mortgage payments for that each month. Although when it does sell I'll be expecting rent payments to go up and rightly so. Fingers crossed it'll be soon as I know she's starting to struggle a bit.

I_am_mad

Speaking from a point of view where I pay to live with my mom. I pay 20 pounds a week and my boyfriend who lives here also pays 60 pounds a week so all in all its 80 that my mom gets. I dont mind paying this as it is taken out of my student loan so I dont miss it.

But having broached the subject of I dont think its fair to take my money off me when I get a full time job, my mom says she will be taking alot more off me when i have my job, which ok is fair but not really as its the first time i will have ever worked properly for my own money. I dont know if she would consider letting me have the first 3 months off, I will have to ask. The only thing I think is this is the only time i will have to enjoy spending my money on whatever i like as in a couple of years i will have my own house/children.

Speaking from experience I dont think any parent should demand money off their children just talk about it together and come to a comprimise as other wise the child may feel begrduged to give away any money and it may cause a rift!

GettingHitched

when I was 16, ( and had my first "proper" job ) I paid £80 pm, then I had to buy my own food, clothes etc and pay for my pets too ( i did that before then tho out of my pocket money ) and then when I moved back in with mum ( relationship break down ) I paid £90 per week..I wish I could live that cheaply again!

Dinah93

I'm 24, and moved back home when I was 22, and I don't think I could hold my head up if I was sponging off my parents. Myself and my OH both live there while we save for our house, we pay £480 for the two of us. This covers all food including packed lunch, we share a double room, all our bills, maintenance of the house etc. All the whingey brats on here complaining about paying their parents rent should be ashamed, you're a full grown adult now take responsibility for yourself! Don't like it? For Gods sake move out and see how you like paying £800 a month for a flat with bills, council tax and food, how does that £200 a month look now?! You choose to run a car, you pay for it, you choose to go drinking with your mates, you pay for that, so why should your parents continue to sub you to eat and have somewhere to sleep?! Those are nessessities that should come before you have money for going out or buying new tat, and I'm really angry at the greedy attitude that says 'its my money, all mine, why should I pay them anything' well guess what, they actually love you which is why they haven't said 'it's my house, all mine, but cos I'm nice I'll recomend a good bridge to sleep under while you enjoy all your money'. Sorry for the rant but the greed of some people just baffles me.