Money Moral Dilemma: How much board should I charge?

FATBALLZ

At least £50 a week, I don't agree with making money out of your children but to give them a free or super cheap ride isn't doing them any favours, they need to learn the value of money and the cost of living, it costs me £600 a month for my half while I live with a partner, if I only paid £30/week I'd be rolling in it by now.

If you're including food in this I'd probably add on £25 a week as well. If I was making a profit out of the deal I'd probably save it to one side and give it back to the child in a few years (house deposit, wedding costs).

marmalade2000

My daughter moved out aged 18 to rent a 1 bed flat,

rent £350 per month
council tax £70 per month
electric £40 per month
water £20 per month
telephone
/broadband £20 per month

total £500 per month
out of income of £650 to £700 per month so leaving her with between £150 and £200 per month for food/ clothing/personal items etc,

she managed to last the six month tenancy contract then returned home,skint and a lesson on independence learned.

pippinpuss

I used to pay a 1/3 of my pay as board to my parents in the late 70's. I only got £200 per month. It made damn sure I didn't waste it & got to know what things cost. I was also expected to save some too.
BUT what I didn't know was that they saved this money in a special account & when I got married used my board money towards the cost. What a brilliant idea.

I wish I had £170 clear at the end of the week to spend on myself!

Streethawk_2

McKneff wrote: »

£30 a week and she is moaning, so it leaves her £170 a week to herself.

Tell her to pay up or ship out. She should be paying at least £60 a week.

Dont let her get away with it,

If you must write everything down and split the gas, elec, water, rent, food, etc etc, etc, present it to her
and tell her she must pay her way or find somewhee else to live.

Follow through though or you will regret it.

Spot on!
Rent £60pw
Water, elec, gas £20 pw
Council Tax £10 pw
Sinking fund for maintenance and repair of property £5 pw (boilers and drains don't fix themselves. carpets wear out)
Insurance £5pw
Then she can do her 1/3rd of the cleaning roster or pay £20-30pw for someone else to do it. this is not a hotel.

£100-120pw on living expenses - then add food costs (£30 pw?) WELCOME TO REALITY!!! See what a cushy ride you had so far!!!!

Another poster says her mum charged her £15 out of her £25 when she was younger (60%). Seems like a good balance to me.

Now then, how much extra for chauffeur services ?

Gavin83

MDE wrote: »

So, profiteering from your children then? :mad:

Nope, as I don't have children and I clearly said you shouldn't charge them too much. It does seem many are profiteering though as it really doesn't cost that much to keep a child at home.

I reckon the average couple would be financially worse off if their child moved out while paying some of the sums suggested in this thread.

MDE

Gavin83 wrote: »

Nope, as I don't have children...

The phrase you used was

a good way to earn a little extra.

This makes it seems as if you are looking to earn from them!

craig86

£20 a week is ridiculous. IMO £50-100 is more like it (even then that's probably less than her 'share'). Charging £20 a week will just mean that (a) she won't learn the value of money and (b) she'll never want to leave home because it would be 'too expensive'. As other posters have suggested, you can save some of the money to help her with a house deposit or wedding if you choose.

A final point is that, personally, I wouldn't have given her £30 a week and paid for mobile phone, gym, etc. while she was at college/uni. I had a part time job from the age of 16 till I left uni - as well as full time jobs in the summer holidays - which helped pay for driving lessons, a car, uni costs, etc. Not only does it give you money but it teaches you important life skills. If you did want to help her out, paying for accomodation and study costs might have been a better idea than paying for luxuries.

asher3

Put an add on gumtree for a lodger. See how much people are willing to pay for the room fully inclusive.
Show it to her.
Then say the cost has gone up now to £60 as you argued over £10.
She pays by direct debit.
Take it or leave it.
Simple.
1 damp room in a Favelha (slum) in Parauay with one light blub no kichen and shared toilet costs £100 a month. You have to get home before 8pm or you will get mugged. If it is raining you cannot get home as it floods.

You are doing her no favors charging her £30's a week.
It is better that she gets angry with you, rather than she gets angry at the whole world when she has to pay her own way later.

jubarnes26

MDE wrote: »

A lot of people have used the argument of the parents helping children (regardless of age) learn to budget and manage money etc.
Tell me how having a parent take money off you and invest it in a bank account that you knew nothing off helped you become experienced at managing your money? Isn't this just parents doing the thinking for you? What happens when your boiler breaks, car gearbox fails, roof starts leaking? Do we hope our parents will appear with an account book with savings in it that they had put aside for us because we'd been too short sighted to do so?

Precisely because you don't know it's being done for you therefore you learn to live in the real world and manage your money accordingly.
Most parents want to help their children but also teach them responsibility, presumably most will not tell their children they are doing this and encourage them to save also, it is not taking away the childs responsibility to look after themselves at all merely putting it aside for a later date as a gift. I think most sensible adults ( and they would be more mature by then) would see it as such and not start to expect any further handouts.

If my mum had presented me with a deposit after several years budgeting for myself it wouldnt have changed my attitude to money at all i would just been delighted and extremely grateful for an unexpected windfall.

Augustus_the_Strong

Work out how much you need to pay each month to cover all the household bills, food etc. Then work out how your three incomes work out proportionally. Pay in the same proportion of the household monthly bill total. So if you earn £40000, your partner earns £35000 and the daughter earns £25000 pa, the proportions would be 40%, 35% and 25%. If your monthly household outgoings are £2000, you would pay 40% of that which would be £800, your partner would pay 35% (£700) and the daughter 25% (£500).
I've used this system very successfully in a variety of shared households over the last 25 years and it is fair and flexible. You just need to agree what is covered by the household bills (for example, electricity, supermarket spending etc, but not going to the pub). The advantage of it is, everyone pays an amount proportional to their income, and everyone has some left for personal spending. It's easy to adjust the amounts if someone's salary goes up (or they lose their job). It works best with everyone paying a standing order per month into a dedicated bank account.
Best of luck. Don't let her get away with paying such a tiny amount as £20 or even £30.