son eating me out of house and home

haras_nosirrah

could he be smoking something that is well known to bring on the munchies?

GBNI

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

could he be smoking something that is well known to bring on the munchies?

I wondered the same!

OP, I think you need to sit down and have a serious chat with him. He is old enough to understand financial struggles and needs to be made aware that his selfish actions are leaving you without food to do yourself as for no interest in finding work it's probably as you are subsidising him so much! Time for some tough love.

tea_lover

Maybe keep back some of the family allowance. You say the lunches at college are fairly cheap. If you give him enough for a sensibly-sized meal there each day, would that leave you anything?

ViolaLass

Is he having the lunch at college or is he using your food and keeping the money for other things?

hazyjo

Write out all the costs - he's probably totally oblivious, or happy that you're paying.


Get him to earn some of it doing jobs at home.


tbh, if he's lazy now (sorry, does sound that way), it's probably only going to get worse and the quicker he gets that kick up the backside, the better.


Write the prices on everything and charge him if he takes something that he's not meant to.


Nobody likes a liar and I'd be upset about that more than anything. Some tough love needed.


Jx

WantToBeSE

I love the way that some people are blaming it on weed


My son (15) is the same, he eats all the time! I just make sure that there are plenty of (cheap) things in the cupboards that don't need cooking/heating up etc.


OP, you say he has a cupboard with tins of stuff etc in, but that requires getting out a saucepan, turning the ring on etc..far too much effort for a lazy (if he is anything like mine!) teen.


How about putting things in the cupboards like home made flapjacks and biscuits, crackers/tortillas and salsa, nuts, fruit, things that he can just grab.


And then tell him that he can eat what he wants from his cupboard, but that you are on a budget and cant refill it until (whenever).

haras_nosirrah

not blaming it on weed - just asking if it is a possibility.

AngelOfTheNorth

Hmm. There's clearly a problem here, but at the same time if he's not putting on weight, he evidently does need to eat a lot. I notice that a lot of the food you mention is quite carb heavy. Is he getting enough protein? Brioche, noodles etc may be nice but won't keep him full for long. And do you know why he wastes what you cook? Is it stuff he doesn't like?

duchy

I'd warn him .....and then if he's still doing it- replace what he's eaten over and above out of the following week's CB and he'll have less for lunch.

If he doesn't like it he can go get a job at weekends - regardless of if he has any interest in doing so or not ..........or maybe conditional on him staying living at home. He sounds very selfish.

As for your daughter- if she lives at home - she either cooks for everyone or no-one . Your home your rules.

pinkshoes

If he eats something that is planned for a meal the next day, then when it comes to meal time, serve him up an empty plate, saying that someone ate the meal already without telling you, so you couldn't buy any more.

I would get a padlock for the cupboard. If he asks why, say that food keeps going missing, and as it isn't him or you, then you must have giant thieving mice, or beef burglars, so need to stop them.