AIBU 'only' charging my son £80 a month digs? What would you charge your child?

[4thfloor]

i had a thread on Friday on which a few people commented that £80 a month was way too low.

So I'm asking if you have grown up children living at home, how much do charge them in rent/digs/board and lodgings?

Our set up is

DS1 has just turned 20, he works 16 hours a week (minimum wage)

I ask for £80 a month

He pays for all his own food/juice/toiletries/clothes etc

He puts approx £300 a month into his savings account to go towards a deposit for a flat when he moves out rather than me taking the money for board and lodgings

So my question is AIBU for charging him so little in rent and allowing him to save for his future or am I doing the right thing?

If you have grown up children at home how much do you charge them per month?

What is his take home pay on that salary?

It sounds OK from what you're saying, given that he's putting aside £300 a month - as long as that's definitely what he's doing and not spending it.

I only have little children now but I think you've got it nailed.

If you can help your children save for the future - do it :)
I, ideally, would do something similar to you

£80 is low but if he is reliable with it and saving that £300 regularly then in view of his finances then fair enough really....

I wouldn't charge my children unless I had to.

Sounds good to me

You are teaching him to save which is very important and you are taking some rent from him so he understands the importance of contributing and he is buying his own food etc so he is learning to budget and, I assume, he can cook and fend for himself

Sounds like a great arrangement to me

i think that is very fair,he needs a chance to get on his feet for the future

To add, my parents never charged me a penny and continued to support me through uni, bailing me out on my credit cards etc all the time

Whilst I appreciate how lovely this was I am SHITE with money. Perhaps a harder approach would have taught me some important life skills.

my mum always charged us 1/3 of out income but she did provide food and do laundry etc

I used to buy my own clothes and make up etc

Its hard to tell without knowing his take home pay. My DS is starting an apprenticeship soon, we are not sure yet what his salary will be a month, if its about £900 we were thinking of charging £200.

And he does all his own washing and ironing to.

If he buys everything then that sounds fair, especially considering he's saving so much. He sounds like a sensible lad.

I didnt pay rent at hone until i finished uni, even though i lived at home. But i did pay all my own fees etc, an always worked. When i graduated and started working more hours, i paid £50 a week to my parents, and had to do my own washing/tidying/run my car. They still did the cooking etc as im rubbish and they are feeders enjoy it.

I think i got a good deal, and my parents brought me and my brother up the same way, in that, its a 2 way street. We paid our board and helped round the house, in return they would help us out with anything we needed, eg if we were skint and needed petrol before payday etc. it created a mutual respect i think. To this day we are the same in that we all help each other, with money/time.

I think if it works for you, that's fine.

I wouldn't charge my children unless I had too. I was never charged and I don't intend to charge my DD.

I definitely think that's reasonable. He's not earning a lot so he will notice paying £80, but he is still able to save for the future. He sounds very sensible.

Is the minimum wage for 20 years old £5.03? Making his weekly income £80? If so I struggle to see how he's managing to pay you £80, save £300 and buy his own food/juice/toiletries/clothes every month.

Tbh I think £80 is a lot to be taking off someone in these circumstances and I'd only do that to my children if I literally couldn't afford for them to live in the house otherwise.

I was never charged either, and would prefer, if at all possible, not to charge my child, especially if they are contributing to household costs, as the OP's DS is, and are saving for their own place.

I don't charge rent to my oldest 2. it's their home. but they have jobs and so pay own way socially and often take us out for meals/ drinks, help around the house/ do own laundry and help gardening/ chores.

its what suits you and what you can afford.

It is quite low, but as he's being sensible with it and saving up, then I'd stick with that. If it were my ds I'd charge him a lot more and put it by for him as he's incapable of saving anything, however much he wants something he could be saving for.

We didn't charge my step son at all, and I have several threads about how disastrously that turned out. I will be taking a similar approach as you to my DDs when they get to that age!

Over 20 years ago when i was on a youth training course for a year. I earned £35 a week. My mother was given £20 of that. So charging your son that, is reasonable.

It depends,if you are charging that much so he can afford to save up then that's pretty reasonable. If you charge him market rent with which he would struggle,he might as well move out and struggle with some more freedom iyswim?

It sounds exactly right to me :)

It sounds like you have the balance right with the £300 he's saving up. If he wasn't saving anything, I would think £80 was too low to teach him anything about managing his money and balancing bills as an adult.

IMO it's not the actual figure that matters, but the lesson that is learned about how to keep on top of budgeting once you're earning and funding rent/bills/food/lifestyle. I moved out at 18 having never paid board at home, knew bugger all about budgeting and wound up in a real mess with overdrafts and credit cards, which I'm still paying for now.

OP - it doesn't add up
your ds earns 4.86/hour which gives him 345/month salary
he can't put away nearly 300 and give you 80?

what about the rest of his expenses?