how much should my daughter be paying for her keep

lyndarling

my daughter is 19 and gets just over £900 a month wages, she gives me £140 a month for her keep, which I`ve told her isn`t enough. but how much should she be paying ?

greyteam1959

Maybe depends on how much she contributes to the running of the houdehold in other ways ??
Cleaning / washing / gardening / shopping etc.
I doubt she does any of the above !!!
To be realistic she should be contributing around £100 per week.

MX5huggy

Depends of what final result you are looking for? Do you just want to cover the added costs of having her around, so food, gas, elec, water if on a meter (would you get the 25% single adult discount on council tax if she moved out?)

Or do you want to show her how expensive running a house is and get her to pay her share but this will mean moving out will become more of an option for her.

What does she do with the £750 odd she has left?

The nicest thing you could do is make her pay more and save it for her, without her knowing, and give it back to her when she leaves home to set her up.

robpw2

£140 a month insnt bad , i wouldnt got up as far as £100 a week but perhaps £60 a week as that is the standard room in a house kind of rate

i agree with mx5 about saving anything extra over what you need to charge to give back to her

Barneysmom

I's say about £250 a month. That leaves her some for going back to work, some for spending and some for saving.

skylight

Check out what the room only rate is in your area, then add on money for utilities/food/internet/washing services etc. Then compare that to what you are charging your DD and talk to her about it, showing her what it would cost if she were living in the big wide world and ask her to suggest an amount for her increased contributions.

It doesn't mean you have to keep it all - use what you need to actually keep her and put the rest away for when she really does want to move out so you could give the excess back.

pollypenny

I would also say it depends on your needs. If there are just the two of you then she should contribute more to the expense of running a house.

If you don't really need the money, I would charge according to her attitude to money. if she is extravagant and wasteful, I would up the charge and teach her to budget. if she is careful and already saving, all well and good.

lyndarling

she doesn`t save at all, and never has any money left at the end of the month, she doesn`t do anything in the house eith, as she is out every evening and at weekends, she buys clothes, dvds, cd`s etc. My husband has just had a cut in his hours which now means he will lose about £139 a week, roughly £420 a month, he was on low wages to start with, and I only work part time, so we really need the extra money, I think £240 sounds about right, but she probably wont agree !

robpw2

lyndarling wrote: »

she doesn`t save at all, and never has any money left at the end of the month, she doesn`t do anything in the house eith, as she is out every evening and at weekends, she buys clothes, dvds, cd`s etc. My husband has just had a cut in his hours which now means he will lose about £139 a week, roughly £420 a month, he was on low wages to start with, and I only work part time, so we really need the extra money, I think £240 sounds about right, but she probably wont agree !

if she doesnt agree then do not feed her , simples tell her that she will have access to the cooker and the microwave but it will be her job to cook for herslef with goods she has bought , access to things like tv and phone should be restricted unless she buys electricity from you same with any other electrical items she may have

treat her like she would be treated if she was in her own place and not paying the rent that is reuired gven a week she will be begging to go back to how it is and pay the full amount

MX5huggy

£139 a week, roughly £420 a month

More like £600 a month (139 x 52 weeks / 12 months)

Svenena

If you charge her more than she wants to pay, then she may just move out and you won't be getting any extra money, so this could backfire. In some parts of the country you can rent a room inclusive of bills for £200, and even with food costs she wouldn't be that much worse off to move out.

I'd charge what you think it costs her to live there - increased bills, food, the time you spend on cooking/cleaning up after her. I think if you charged more than this in order to make a profit just because you are struggling financially seems a little unfair on her.