how much board should I charge

Allison

Kimberley wrote:

Do you charge them 20% or whatever you charge from their wage after deductions or before????

Well we would do it in what they actually came home with.

Allison

jrrowleyws wrote:

That seems rather backwards, if they go back to education they are going to need the money they earned over the summer, either now or to save for university. If you take it away then they are going to need to work more to get by and therefore mabe compromise their education.

Fair enough charge rent when they are working full time having finished education, IMO I wouldnt deplete their hard earned savings if they are just working for the summer holidays!

Sorry I didnt make it clear in my first post, if my son leaves school and goes into full time education whatever money he earns will be his, our cut off line would be 18. (He has part time work now and I wouldnt dream of taking anything off him) When he turns 18 thats when we would start with the rent. 20%of whatever. If at 18 he was still in education we would still carry on paying for everything we do now all the food, bills, his clothes, his bus pass but as an adult he would start to pay rent. However little/much that would be. It is to show willing more than anything my kids are always on the want just today my oldest borrowed (Never to see again) £10 to take his girlfriend to the pictures. I'm not a horrible mum just setting rules out so they know where they stand. That way when they next one leaves school the rules are exactly the same for her and then for the youngest.

If like some people you charge your son £40 then three years later your daughter starts work and you charge her £50...... But she might be on less money so you have to start increasing the others rent.... Starts becoming a pain to know what to charge who etc.

We just decided 20% all round at the age of 18 would be the fairest thing to do.

bluenose1

dianadors wrote:

I used to pay a third in board, put a third away in savings and spend a third. I had to share a room with my sister(and sleep in a bunk bed!!) until I got married. Unfortunately circumstances are not always ideal. I could have moved out, but this would have cost me more than a third of my wage and I wouldnt have been able to save for my own house.

My mum used to say the above. Not that I ever saved a third in those days but it is a good rule of thumb. Give her that option and she should be biting your hand off to only pay £40.
I would tell her you were going to charge £60 but in view of it being shared room have reduced it to £40.
must admit I was pretty ungrateful at that age as well.

seven-day-weekend

I would charge about £50 pw on that income, but make it £35 for the fact that she shares a room. I would include bills and food in that.

mandymoo

We take £60 a month, yes I know thats only £15 a week I do all washing,ironing and cooking. This is my choice and I would`nt have it any other way. Soft as s*** I know. DS is doing an apprenticeship and the moneys not great until he finishes but he was 16 when he started it and has just turned 18 and in that time he has saved to pay cash for his car (£2,500) insurance (1,500) and all his driving lessons. By us not taking much off him he has been able to do all this and he does appreciate this.

jrrowleyws

Allison wrote:

Sorry I didnt make it clear in my first post,

ah, I see what you mean now and agree!

foxy-lady

Kimberley wrote:

Wicked!

My daughter is 14 and i wish i had put her part of child benefit into a secret house fund for her from birth.. bah!! Hmm i wonder how much it would be, i'll have to calculate it back not that i can afford to reimbirse her :eek: I can start from now though and the boys :eek: gulp!!!

I'll defo start from the moment they give me board though and they do know now how much they will be contirbuting if they stay on at home whilst working, though daughter wants to go Oxford :eek: but not until she stays on school until 19 first, if thats possible, not sure how old they have to be

I realize that i am fortunate as i can afford to save it for her and understand that many parents are reliant on the money to make ends meet.
The money is paid straight into DD bank account. When i had my son (4) we had to set up a monthly direct debit from hers into his. This is because the child benefit people would not make 2 seperate payments. Also- we set the direct debit up for half the monthly amount even though they give you more per week for the first child??
When they were little i had to withdraw money when they needed shoes from clarks as our budget wouldn't stretch to this.

A few months ago when i discovered this website i read an amazing piece of advice......

set up a decoy savings account for each child that will have a small amount of money in. My DH and I are adamant that the money we have saved for them cannot be used for anything other than buying a house. However- if they know about the account you cannot stop them from withdrawing the money when they reach 18.

Sorry for hijacking someone elses thread

xx

swizzle_2

I used to pay 20% of my take home pay and am planning on charging my own the same.

Living at home is much cheaper than living in the real world.

Wish I was still at home paying 20% for everything!

Even with moneysaving I have less than 20% left after paying for everything

oysterman

We charge our kids 25% of there take home pay upto a max of £50 pounds p/w.

grastgirl

Personally from the age of 16 whenever I was working full time my dad charged me one third of my take home pay, regardless of what I was earning, whether it be £100 or £400 pw (he might have relented at much higher than that:-)). He had let us know this rule from teenagehood and I agreed with him, to the point where when I moved to my Mum's I insisted she took the same, even though she didn't want to (I think we came to an agreement of half way between what she wanted (nowhere near the cost of having me) and the one third in the end).

I should add that having to share a room would make me want to pay up to %50 less, but I did share with an older cousin while sticking to the above arrangements.

Under this arrangement your daughter would pay somewhere between £33-£66 pw if she is taking home £200 pw. The other alternative I would consider to be fair is that she pays at least what you are losing out on, although another adult working in the house should make you better off as a household in my opinion.

grastgirl