working children paying keep - how much? 22 August 2006 at 2:38PM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in Marriage, Relationships & Families 345 replies 60.9K views

rygon

When i was an apprentice (6 years ago) i paid £80 with a salary of £550. Although i only came home at weekends and summer holidays. Everytime i got a raise it went up. My parents would rather me pay a little less and for me to put as much as i could in a savings account for when i did move out, which helped a lot buying furniture etc.
£100 does seem very fair though and will teach her the value of money and how much it does cost to live. Has she set up any saving accounts yet?? Doing it direct debit and you dont miss the money going out but when needed its great

ohmsoft

I'm a working "kid" (late 20s!) living with my parents and paying way under the odds - and honestly think its affected my appreciation of the value of money (especially as im now forced to move out)

What you charge has to be between you and her but my freinds parents did what I though a good idea - they charged a hundred pound extra which they placed in a savings account without telling my mate - when he moved out a few years back they pretty much furnished his flat with the money - and he was used to living on less...

pandas66

I think £100 per month sounds a very fair amount of board.

Its 20% of take home, still leaves a substancial amount for herself, to spend and to save, hopefully!

There would be household jobs to do on top in my house! We all have our own space, so keep it clean!

Savvy_Sue

KittyKate wrote:

I keep asking my mum what she wants but she always avoids the question by saying "needs to think about it". I'm feeling a bit weird about it as I've been home from finishing uni a couple of months and still not paid anything and I feel like a scab or something. I want to give her some money but I don't know how much. I earn between £550 and £700 a month, depends on how much overtime I can fight for at work. What do you think a reasonable amount would be?

She may feel awkward about taking money off you, when she knows you're not earning that much. And she might want to keep you at home by not charging you. And she may not realise you feel so bad about not paying her anything!

So, does she NEED the money? How many of you are there? How much do YOU NEED for getting to and from work, clothes for work, toiletries etc? And do you know what it costs her to keep you? Do you help out?

You see, if my sons come home after Uni, I probably will ask for keep, but if I don't NEED the money, I'd rather have their help around the house, as long as they're not frittering money.

So, do you know what your mum spends on food each week? Can you offer to do the shopping with her, or for her? Can you make her an offer and see if that's acceptable? Budget for a 'poor' month and then maybe treat her in the 'rich' months?

Does that help at all?

kittykate_2

Savvy_Sue wrote:

She may feel awkward about taking money off you, when she knows you're not earning that much. And she might want to keep you at home by not charging you. And she may not realise you feel so bad about not paying her anything!

So, does she NEED the money? How many of you are there? How much do YOU NEED for getting to and from work, clothes for work, toiletries etc? And do you know what it costs her to keep you? Do you help out?

You see, if my sons come home after Uni, I probably will ask for keep, but if I don't NEED the money, I'd rather have their help around the house, as long as they're not frittering money.

So, do you know what your mum spends on food each week? Can you offer to do the shopping with her, or for her? Can you make her an offer and see if that's acceptable? Budget for a 'poor' month and then maybe treat her in the 'rich' months?

Does that help at all?

Thanks a lot

I get paid again on Friday and I'm gonna give my mum some money, I should get around £750 so I think I'll give my mum £200/£250 depending on how much tax and NI I have to pay. Does that sound fair? I'd like to give her more but I can't afford at the moment (got my overdraft and a credit card to pay off as well as learning to drive).

I think she does need the money but she doesn't say she does. My dad doesn't work due to disability so they don't have a lot of money coming in. What income they have is ok to live off but they have absolutely no savings. I know my mum won't like to take the money but I wan't her to, even if she saves it up for a holiday or something. She says she's gonna put £50 of her wage away for 'a rainy day', so I think this will help her a lot with her savings.

I feel bad about not paying at the moment as I paid my own rent etc throughout university and now I feel crap cos I'm back to where I was before uni (not contributing etc). I think I will feel loads better once I'm paying board, it'll feel good that I am giving my parent's something back after they've raised me and helped me for so long.

Thanks for your advice.

KKx

starlite_2

My parents very much need the money from my 19 year old brother but only charge him £100 per month (he earns 15'000).
he is terrible with money and spends it all within a week of payday, one example is he recently sold his (full series) collection of 'friends' dvds for £20 and bought the new 'slim' set for £200.

I frequently tell them they should increase his 'board' as he needs to realise the value of money, fair enough if he was saving for something but he isn't, he just buys worthless junk then has to borrow from them for bus fares etc.

nearlyrich

Hey KK I hope my two feel like this if they move back here after uni, you sound like a lovely person and your parents should be very proud of you.

starlite_2

Oh yes, KK it's always a bit of a limbo period when you finish uni, and I'm sure your parents just want to help you in anyway you can.
Things will certainly improve though once you are settled into working, and theres no better feeling than , say, taking your parents out for a lovely meal and being able to pay for it , I loved that as it felt like I was giving something back.

bling152

im 23 and i only pay £100 a month and i earn about £13.000 a year thats why im never leaving home. lol

niceshoes_2

I think that £25 - £30 per week is a reasonable amount to be charging on the wage that is being quoted.

I know that a friend I work with pays her mum £5 per week (and she gets all her washing, ironing, dinner and packed lunches) Subsequently, she is very spoiled and always wants her own way.

I think that it is right to ask for some dig money, but I think that any more than £30 would be a bit harsh, on the money that is being earnt.