What's the going rate for 'keep' from your children once they start work?

magsiebee

I wish I'd charged my children a third of their wages for board and insisted that they should save a third! The going rate was £35 a week when my eldest started work and the rest of my children insisted that they should pay the same despite the age differences. To cut a long story short I have been scammed by my kids... They owe me loads in borrowed money, that I doubt will be repaid and I'm always the last person to be paid out..make-up, nights out, friends and blah blah blah take priority. When I ask for board I get shouted at and a battle and abused...So...Who's the fool here? Me! I wish I could live in comfort for £35 a week...Any offers? Lol!

Steel_2

Just to add my two pennyworth to the discussion, just because parents don't have a mortgage doesn't mean they can afford to keep a grown adult at home.

My parents don't have a mortgage but their pensions are very low. I only found out last week my mother's eyesight has deteriorated over the last two years and she needs a new pair of glasses but has put it off because she cannot afford it - and my parents are the most frugal people I know.

I'm now giving her money to buy a pair of glasses because I can't stand the idea of her having to give up the hobbies she used to enjoy because she can't see to do them. I have also managed to weedle out of them that my father has been unable to get an NHS dentist and his teeth are so bad he's having them ripped out because it's cheaper than having them treated so I'll try and help him out with that otherwise he'll have nothing left to chew his food with.

If I were you Riq and all the other ungrateful little !!!!!! on this board who think their parents are a free ride or they are in some way entitled to someone elses money, I would start enjoying the smell of roses because once they're dead you're out on your own and it will be a cold shock to you all. There'll be no mummy or daddy to run home to when things get tough, no-one unselfish enough to pay hundreds of pounds a month in bills to keep you in comfort while you !!!! it up the wall in the pubs and clubs.

If the standard of living to which you aspire isn't forthcoming from your parents, move out and attain it yourself....and stop whinging.

sproggi

Steel wrote: »

If I were you Riq and all the other ungrateful little !!!!!! on this board who think their parents are a free ride or they are in some way entitled to someone elses money, I would start enjoying the smell of roses because once they're dead you're out on your own and it will be a cold shock to you all. There'll be no mummy or daddy to run home to when things get tough, no-one unselfish enough to pay hundreds of pounds a month in bills to keep you in comfort while you !!!! it up the wall in the pubs and clubs.

If the standard of living to which you aspire isn't forthcoming from your parents, move out and attain it yourself....and stop whinging.

Steel - I have just read through this whole thread and you have expressed my thoughts exactly!!!
What would these people do if they had no-one to turn to? Would they cry in the corner about how unfair it was that they actually had to pay for themselves? or would they get up off of their !!!!!! and do something about it?

My eldest son pays me £40 pw out of his wage of £180, he sometimes buys his own food and sometimes pays for a takeaway for all of us (6 in total), this money covers most of his food, his share of the gas and electric, washing, cleaning and the occasional lift.

He wants to become a paramedic, but as it will cost him to learn to drive (something he has to do before he is allowed to train) and to live whilst training, he has taken on factory work in order to save so that he can pay his own way. No loans, no grants, no borrowing just slogging away to save first.
I cannot begin to express just how proud I am of him, it was all his choice as he knows that we would have sold our souls to pay for him.

Why should people expect to be given everything on a plate?!

black-saturn

My eldest daughter has a saturday job in a pet shop and i only ask for 10% of what she earns which I will stick to.

vicky_kidder

black-saturn wrote: »

My eldest daughter has a saturday job in a pet shop and i only ask for 10% of what she earns which I will stick to.

Black Saturn, will you stick to this amount if she started full time work on full time wages?

lingojingo

busiscoming2 wrote: »

Just to change the scenario a little, do any of you charge keep to your teens who work part time? My son is doing A levels and gets EMA which he saves for uni, but works most sats and suns in a shop, we don't take anything. Comments please.

My daughter is also doing A levels and has a part time job. She keeps all her EMA and earnings but I have stopped giving her pocket money. I pay for her bus pass, essential to get to the 6th form college, and she buys most of her own clothes, make-up etc. We both find this fair. I did the same for my son, who is now in his 2nd year at uni. As a very poor single parent, I struggle to contribute much for him, but always send him back with food parcels whenever he comes home. I wish I could afford to do more.
What I think was important was to teach him how to budget, how to shop cheaply yet still buy decent food, and how to cook simple, nutritious meals. He has been amazed at how much his house mates waste!

SunnyBrighton_2

I've just come across this thread as I was searching to see how much offspring are being charged these days!
I'm a single mum, full time student with a full time student child and one at school.
Now, this is just my opinion - and it seems that there's a huge amount of resentment out there - but I believe that it is totally wrong to put students into such a large amount of debt before they've even begun to earn (different matter if they choose to get themselves into debt!) so despite things being tight, I wouldn't dream of ratcheting up my elder child's loan when it was my choice to have kids, and my responsibility to start them out in their lives - what they choose to do after that is their business. But when I first went to college, we got not only a grant, but also had our rents paid (housing benefit or something similar) and any debts were because we were ffeecckkless and drank it all, not because we wanted an education. That's why I won't take any (even though it would make my life easier) of the miserable pittance handed out as grants now (I believe that should be saved to offset a tiny bit of the grossly huge / hugely gross debt these kids end up with) for 'keep'.
There is little doubt (certainly in the minds of university staff) that the quality of many degrees is adversely affected by the jobs these students have to do in order to keep going. But hey, that's what the people of this country voted for - but I'm not going to add to my kids' future debt if I can help it.

swiss69

I think its a case of whether you need the money or not.

If not then I would still take a reasonable amount say 1/5 of waht they earn and then save it in an account. 5 years or whatever later I would then give it back to them for house deposit etc...

G-G_4

If you need the money then charge them what it's costing you.

If you don't need the money then take £200 a month and save it for them (don't tell them tho!) and then you can give it back to them when they need something important, car, house, wedding, children etc..

Idiophreak

Just to add my 2 cents for any future searchers - since I finished uni and got a steady job, I've been paying 200/month to my folks. I guess I eat there around half the time, but certainly get my moneys worth in electricity, washing, etc. And it sure beats paying 800/month round here to someone I don't know...

Now I'm earning a bit more, I half feel I should give them a bit extra, but still not fully financially stable, so try to buy them the occasional meal etc instead.