Young people who live with you part of the time and their keep

Acc72

Just out of interest, how did you calculate the "cost" ?


Did you say eg. "rent =£100 per week for 5 people is £20 each" etc. ?


In this case the rent would be £100 a week whether there was 1 person living there or 5.


It is really the incremental costs that are important as rent, mortgage, rates, insurance, etc. are fixed and the likes of food and possibly electricity (small amount) would cause an increase in costs with additional usage / consumption.


Even with food, unless there are specific dietary requirements it does not cost an extra 25% on your shopping bill to feed 5 people rather than 4.

fannyanna

I've seen plenty of threads in the past on the subject of keep and the general consensus is that "children" in employment rather than education should start to contribute to the household.

I'm not really sure why it should be any different because the "child" splits their time between two households (providing the amount is calculated on a pro-rata basis).

Jet

The way I calculated the cost is as follows;

Worked out the total number of meals produced in our house in a week including breakfast and lunch. All kids have 3 meals a day provided from our shopping. I then divided our total shopping bill by number of meals to work out a cost per meal. I then multiplied it by the number of meals she has in our house. I then added all our household bills divided them by 6 (as there are 6 people in our family) and then divided that figure by 3 (as eldest is here a third of the time).

I'm sure there are other ways of working it out but that was what I did. It's not an exact science and I didn't get into who eats the most expensive stuff or who spends too long in the shower or it could get very tedious! 😀

DSmiffy

I would still ask the question further up this thread, where is she registered as living,? where does her post go?
My two are over 18, one lives with me full time, one lives with me every other week, the other week he spends with his father and his fathers partner. Both are registered at my adddress, that is where their mail comes.
Both of them pay rent to me, it was agreed between me and their father, as he is a two income family, that the children would pay rent to me only. The eldest pays £120 a month and the younger pays £100 per month as it is pro-rata to their earnings. The eldest has a better paying job so he can afford a little more than his brother.
On a side note, I don't actually spend the money they give me, although they don't know that. It is put into a savings account for when they leave to get a place of their own and then they will receive it back to help them buy items for their own place.
Don't get me wrong I could do with the money, but for me it was the only way of saving something up for them and to be honest I would hate to get used to having it come in and then have to manage without when one of them left. What you've never had, you never miss !

duchy

I agree with this but I think there is an emotional cost too.
I sounds like a step-parent driving the need for rent and if so (or even if there is simply that perception) the damage to the parent child relationship if the girl decides to stop staying and just visit but go home at night due to these charges could have a big impact. What then ? If she decides to simply visit on Sundays....would you charge her for Sunday lunch ? Calculate how much TV she watches? It can quickly turn into a mess and all driven by the sake of a few quid.

Yes children should pay keep but she doesn't actually live there-she is a visitor and frankly £100 a month is an awful lot -if you pro-rata it -and she's paying the same amount pro rata at her mother's house-which is a fair way to see if it is a reasonable amount or not. I don't think many people charge their just left school eighteen year old children £500 a month to live at home fulltime .

fannyanna wrote: »

I've seen plenty of threads in the past on the subject of keep and the general consensus is that "children" in employment rather than education should start to contribute to the household.

I'm not really sure why it should be any different because the "child" splits their time between two households (providing the amount is calculated on a pro-rata basis).

lazer

Jet wrote: »

The way I calculated the cost is as follows;

Worked out the total number of meals produced in our house in a week including breakfast and lunch. All kids have 3 meals a day provided from our shopping. I then divided our total shopping bill by number of meals to work out a cost per meal. I then multiplied it by the number of meals she has in our house. I then added all our household bills divided them by 6 (as there are 6 people in our family) and then divided that figure by 3 (as eldest is here a third of the time).

I'm sure there are other ways of working it out but that was what I did. It's not an exact science and I didn't get into who eats the most expensive stuff or who spends too long in the shower or it could get very tedious! 😀

So assuming your household bills are £600, that's £100 each, therefore your step daughter gives you £33 - correct.


Now you have actually done yourself here


What you should have done is divide the household bills by
4 full time, 1/3 and 6/7 (Adds up to 5.19)


Therefore 600/5.19 is £115.60 per full time person, and 1/3 of that is then is £38.50!


Just in case your other children claim your calculations are unfair some day

silvercar

Are your household bills the same whether you have your SD living there or not?

Seems unfair that your children have to pay for the choices you have made eg size of rent/ mortgage, heating costs etc

Indie_Kid

silvercar wrote: »

Seems unfair that your children have to pay for the choices you have made eg size of rent/ mortgage, heating costs etc

Agreed. It's fairer imo, to look at things like wages coming in, possibly the going rate for a room in the local area, etc.

Jet

The going rate around here is £100 a week for a room, plus then food on top.

So let's say she spent £40 on shopping a week. That would be 1/3 of £140 per week, which works out at around £200 per month.

Seems like too much to me.

silvercar

There is also the cost of travelling between the two homes and the cost of having some things in two places.