Calculating how much kids (do/don’t) cost when they leave home

bluebirdy

Hi, Not a pension question but it is a retirement planning question.

I’m doing lots of number crunching about when we can afford to retire. Struggling a bit to work out the true cost of kids, namely lumbering young adults who leave every device and light on, use the tumble dryer at all hours, stand with the (full) fridge open going ‘why is there nothing to eat?’ 

There are four of us, two working parents, one at sixth form and likely to go to university, one layabout NEET with a bit of part time work.

I’m factoring in an extra few hundred quid a month for uni child in a couple of years but then is it possible to estimate what additional costs we might gain or lose there?

And if Chief of Loafing ever gets a FT job and moves out, what would you estimate disposable household expenses reducing by, because it isn’t going to be a quarter I assume. 

I’m hoping I’m not the first person to wonder and that someone has calculated a number…

SouthCoastBoy

Depending on which part of the uk you live uni costs can be expensive. I'm based in England and it cost me around 8k per year as my children received the minimum loan. The loan did cover tuition fees and a bit over 4k for living allowances. The 8k paid for the accommodation 

Somebody

Contribution towards uni costs is a lot.  Same as SouthCoastBoy we paid the accommodation cost for ours as they did STEM subjects and we didn't want them to take part time jobs so they could focus on their studies.  

If they moved out you would be paying less for food, plus lower heating/electricity/water bills - probably savings of a quarter per person for groceries but less for utilities. 

As soon as our youngest found a job (after a 4 year course) the Mrs retired and I followed a couple of months after.

artyboy

We are (in theory) starting the process of 'coming out the other side' - one last year Uni, one potentially going this year (unless they take an apprenticeship or defer to 'do a season'). I suspect it will be a good few years though before I see any benefit, as Mrs Arty is now talking about buying them houses. 

So it may well be more about how indulgent you are as parents rather than where your children are physically residing...

Flugelhorn

the only bill that went down in proportion to the offspring leaving home was the water bill - went down 25% when first and then 33% when second went .

agree Uni cost a packet - the kids got minimum loan and accommodation was v expensive 

tacpot12

Our food bill went down my more than 25%, electricity went down by about 20% due to less meals and washing/drying loads. Gas went down very slightly but not enough to worry about factoring in. 

Don't worry about the devices and lights being left on, they consume a tiny amount of power compared to microwaves, overs, washing machines, tumble dryers, etc. Don't worry about the fridge door being left open either; so long as it's only for long enough for them to see that there is nothing to eat inside a full-to-the brim fridge, it won't amount to a noticable change - you will miss the joy of such interactions when they are gone.

The biggest joy of our youngest leaving home was the lack of water streaming through the ceiling when they took a shower - they seem to find a way to direct enormous quanaties of water into places that were completely watertight when others took showers. I still don't know how they did it!

Apricota

We are a house of four, but two went to uni last Sept. Our gas and electricity bill went down 40% and our food down by 55%. However as others have said, with minimum loans taken plus the tuition loan we are also paying 8k per uni student, for accommodation and food. Plus I pack up food stuffs etc at the beginning of the term. So for twins is £16k a year, for four years at the moment 

Spendless

Only my food bill went down when my eldest went to Uni. He never returned as he met someone there and is now married. Food bill went down further when youngest went and some other expenses such as if me and her went on a shopping trip/for a coffee out. These amounts though didn't overall save us anything due to the cost of accommodation that they didn't receive enough maintenance loan to pay for themselves. Daughter currently receives around £6k and only that because she comes under London. Her rent for not a full year is £10k. We have to take her whole loan add to it and send her money to live on. They can't always find part-time work, a pandemic got in the way of son finding something, daughter has very high contact hours till late in the evenings at times and last term inc Sat mornings. That's a regret I have not planning and saving for the Uni accommodation costs. I would also allow for them taking 4 years at Uni rather than 3 just in case they need to use their 'gift year' for whatever reason (both of mine have).  

Dizee123

Don't assume that once they leave home/university that they won't return!

The year I retired our youngest's marriage split up and he ended up living back at home for a year until he had rebuilt his finances.  The electricity bill went up by around 25% and although he bought most of his own food, there was an increase in the cost of household products (I am still not sure what he did with the loo roll ).  We also had 2 grandchildren living with us every second weekend and they consume a lot of resources....There was then the cost of outfitting a new place for him as he doesn't earn a lot - he is registered as disabled so luckily qualified for a small council flat.with

The month after he moved out our eldest informed us his landlord was selling his rented house.  He asked if he could come home for a year to build up a bigger deposit to buy a place.  This time only 1 grandchild staying over a couple of nights a week but again subsequent increase in energy costs.  He has now had an offer on a house accepted so parental contribution to fees, furniture etc. coming up soon.  Hopefully, their little family will all be back together soon as his partner lived with her mother 25 miles away.

We decided to charge neither of them board and lodgings so they could replenish their savings and move on with their lives as soon as possible and luckily were in the position to afford it.  However, it was not a cost that I had budgeted for in our retirement planning and although we redirected some holiday funds and missed out on some leisure time I think the trade off was worth it to help them and see a bit more of our grandchildren.

I would just advise people that it is great to make a plan, but please remember to build in contingency to be able to change it when life events take an unexpected turn

ex-pat_scot

Similar to the above.
Between £6k and £8k pa for university accommodation, as ours get / got the minimum maintenance loan.
Water bill is about 1/4 of the amount that it is when all 4 children return home.
Food bill is also much lower - a combination of two hungry boys, and also we (mrs XPS) tends to "buy better" when they are home, and lots of wine gets consumed.
Electric is also signifcantly lower, as I have one who spends all his time on power-hungry gaming PCs.

Kim1965

Since my daughter left home my water bill has dropped from £52 pm to £19 pm. She had two 25minute showers per day, plus a daily full load in the washing machine.
I think kids are financially crippling full stop. Thankfully both are through uni.