Once your kids are earning should you charge them Housekeeping?

thorsoak

My opinion is that once a child is in full-time employment/has reached full-time employment age and is no longer in education, then s/he should be contributing to the family "housekeeping pot". Any child who does not do this is, in my book, a selfish brat, and any parent who does not charge a child is frankly irresponsible!

If the parent(s) don't need the contribution from their offspring, then that contribution could be saved and then returned to the child/ren when then eventually set up their own establishments! memb

Gillyx

I don't see the connection between paying keep and budgeting at all. I never paid keep and I can budget fine now. People paying keep could be giving mum or dad £300 but have no idea where it goes a month, or how much stuff costs? I never paid keep but my parent made me aware of how much things cost, and I did a good bit of the food shopping so was aware of the price of groceries etc.

I'd also say not paying keep doesn't make you a selfish brat? As I said in earlier posts, the parent I resided with had an extremely stressful job where he worked long hours, including weekends, if I had given him £500 a month would that have solved his time issue? Definitely not, so my contribution was in keeping the house clean, tidy, clothes all washed and ironed, food in the cupboards, dinner on the table every night, which he probably couldn't pay someone to do for £500 a month.

sooty&sweep

Hi Gillyx

I think the issue others are raising above is when a child starts to earn a reasonable amount of money but they believe they should be able to spend it on "toys" and going out whilst also expecting their parents to provide a home for them, food on the table, clothes washed and ironed etc basically treating it like a hotel.

Although you didn't contribute financially by the sounds of it you did contribute with your time and helping out around the house which is probably more important if your parents have a time issue.

Jen

meer53

Once my son started to work full time, he paid me £150 per month. Now he lives with his mates in a flat, financially, he wishes he was back at home ! Much cheaper !

victory

thorsoak wrote: »

If the parent(s) don't need the contribution from their offspring, then that contribution could be saved and then returned to the child/ren when then eventually set up their own establishments! memb

Funny you should say that because that is exactly what my friends mum did, she kept it in a bank account and when it came to moving out and getting set up she gave it all back to her much to her absolute delight, if it can be saved that way perfect if not yes then they need to contribute, nought comes for free:D

nearlyrich

This is an old thread LOL mine have both left home completely now but both came for Sunday Lunch today, they even washed up without being nagged. My two both paid £150 per month when they lived here DD got a gift when she bought her house, DS will get the same when he is in a position to buy. They are both financially astute so I think I did something right.

rachelhen

well I never charged them(son and two daughters) but at ages 24,25,26 they are all in their own places and working and never expect anything much financially from me so it hasn't made them bad with money. We never had much and I think they appreciate that.

Person_one

shop-to-drop wrote: »

I would charge this whether or not I needed the contribution. My plan would be to set up an account for this money and save it. The money would then be used at my discretion to help the child when they needed it. For instance when buying a house. I don't think I'd let them know I was going to let them have it back but I may hint.

I think it is so essential for young adults to learn to budget and the cost of living ASAP and that would be my reason for doing so.

I've never understood this attitude, how will they ever learn to save? That's a far more important skill than learning about the cost of living, life will teach everybody that one sooner or later anyway.

I honestly think that the only really effective way to teach your children to be good with money is to be good with money yourself, model it, be an example, talk openly about how you're managing the family finances. Pretty much universally among my friends my age the ones who are financially savvy are the ones with financially savvy parents. The ones with parents in tons of catalogue debt and so on are heading the same way.

Person_one

thorsoak wrote: »

My opinion is that once a child is in full-time employment/has reached full-time employment age and is no longer in education, then s/he should be contributing to the family "housekeeping pot". Any child who does not do this is, in my book, a selfish brat, and any parent who does not charge a child is frankly irresponsible!

Call me sentimental, but I like to think the relationship between parent and child has a bit more to it than landlord and tenant!

But then I'm one of those selfish brats with irresponsible parents, they let me live at home for free after uni while I saved a house deposit. I moved out at 24 into my own place so they probably got rid of me a lot sooner than if they'd been taking a quarter of my wage every month.

mrs_marty

In my parents house I wasnt, 1. They wanted me debt free when doing my degree, the uni was 20 miles away so reasonable to travel too, then 2. I got got engaged to first husband so wanted us to have a large deposit for our own home.

My little sister reason 1. exact same however 2. has never come into play so pays digs rightly so at 29 and having everything done for her plus she couldnt rent in the lovely village my parents live in for a reasonable amount and her area of my parents house is quite frankly like a granny flat and no one bothers her so why would she move?!? So why shouldnt my parents take a nominal amount from her