Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how much you could do round the house at 21?

160 replies

StupidMistakes · 08/12/2013 23:05

Did you
*Know how to use the washing machine?
*know where the fuses were?
*Know how to reset the boiler?
*know water has to be paid for?
*Know how to wash up?

Three of the above things are acceptable not to know but seriously my flat mate at 21 didn't know how to use a washing machine, where the powder went or the difference between fabric softner and washing powder!!!

OP posts:
Ghostsgowoooh · 09/12/2013 08:30

I pay my water bills seperate from my council tax. Doesn't everyone? I've never paid it as part of my council tax

sashh · 09/12/2013 08:33

All of those.

But I had also completely rewired my place, just got an electrician in to check it and swap the old fuse box for a consumer unit.

I could do all of those except the fuses- to be honest I'd still struggle with that a bit now!

Unless you have ancient wiring it in now a flip switch or a button to press in. I don't think they even sell fuse wire now.

Metebelis3 · 09/12/2013 08:33

All my DCs (aged 10, 13 and 15) know how to use the washing machine, know how to wash up, know that water has to be paid for (how could they not know, our water company is SWW), know how to turn the central heating on and off and how to set the clock, and know where the fuses are. They do not know how to turn the boiler on again if it's gone off (neither do I. I know that there's something called a pilot light but that's my limit) and they don't know how to change a fuse (again, neither me). They all know it makes sense to have British gas or similar insurance for your boiler and electrical/wiring insurance (and plumbing insurance).

grumpyoldbat · 09/12/2013 08:42

No ghost depends where you live. My MIL has a separate water bill but ours is added to our council tax. Our council tax bill is itemised and it's listed as water and sewerage charge.

RalphRecklessCardew · 09/12/2013 08:44

I couldn't open a tin. I could, just about, boil a kettle.

RalphRecklessCardew · 09/12/2013 08:46

Still can't see the point of the fuse thing mind.

trixymalixy · 09/12/2013 08:47

I owned my own flat at 19, so I could do all of that.

wigglesrock · 09/12/2013 08:48

I'd moved out by 19 & by 21 was living with my boyfriend.

I could do all those things. I learnt how to change a fuse & wire a plug at school. My dad also taught me & my sister. He also made sure we could change a tyre before we learnt to drive.

OldBeanbagz · 09/12/2013 08:54

I knew how to do all of those things as i was living by myself from 19.

My DC (12 and 8) can do all of them apart from resetting the boiler though our current boiler hasn't needed resetting since it was installed 6 years ago.

whatever5 · 09/12/2013 09:05

I don't understand parents who do not teach basic life skills ... what the Hell are these poor kids supposed to do when they leave home?

If they're basic skills you can learn them quickly anyway when you leave home. I could wash up and use a washing machine but I couldn't do much else. It took me about two weeks to work it all out, I think.

Ghostsgowoooh · 09/12/2013 09:08

Grumpy I didn't know that! I thought everyone paid theres seperate. I'm in wales so maybe it's different for England.

Metebelis3 · 09/12/2013 09:09

Changing a fuse in a plug, and wiring one, are redundant skills now. But yes, we were tight that at school too. Second year physics I think. I thought the OP was talking about central fuse box fuses. And yes, again, as someone says upthread the modern boxes are flip button tyoes but that's when something gets tripped, right? If there is something more serious wrong then I would have no idea.

TinselinaBumSquash · 09/12/2013 09:12

I was pretty much living alone at the age of 14 (staying Ina house someone else was renting but not living at) I did everything a normal adult would, as well as going to school!

Before that I cared for my Mum a lot so yes, by the time I was 21 I could do all of those things, I also had 2 children :D

Ghostsgowoooh · 09/12/2013 09:15

My ds knows how to use a washing machine, wash up and can reset the boiler when needed. He can also put the gas and electric in as we are on pre pay meters and can put the emergency gas on when we run out and thats quite tricky to do.

He can also cook. He is 14 with asd.

Dd1 who is 11 can wash up and is starting to learn to cook.

I was doing everything by the age of 18. Uni student.

mrsjay · 09/12/2013 09:19

I pay my water bills seperate from my council tax. Doesn't everyone? I've never paid it as part of my council tax

IN scotland we pay our water with council tax,

I could look after a baby at 21

moldingsunbeams · 09/12/2013 09:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bragmatic · 09/12/2013 09:22

I couldn't use a washing machine. I couldn't afford one. But I diligently washed my sheets (by hand) every weekend!

I did stuff I'd never done before (like clean the toilet) easily enough. Never having done something doesn't mean you're not capable of it.

I singed my eyebrows a couple of times re-lighting that fucking pesky pilot light.

moldingsunbeams · 09/12/2013 09:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MistressDeeCee · 09/12/2013 09:24

At 21 I was still living at home with parents:

washed up couple of times a week
loaded washing machine & hung out clothes
Took turns in cooking meals
Could definetely wire a plug & reset boiler

So basically cooking, cleaning, washing werent difficult for me. That isnt to say, I was joyous at having to do chores Smile Id get out of them anytime I could. But that didnt mean, I didnt know how to do them. My DM was one of those who wanted to do every single thing herself, didnt teach her DCs much, at all. But my Dad was a bit of a stickler for that kind of thing..luckily. It'd be horrible to be totally helpless on that score

Lamu · 09/12/2013 09:25

I could do all those by 11. I used to get home from school and put the dinner on for a family of 6. By the time I was 12/13 I was also looking after my 6 month old brother, picking him up from the childminders, bathing and putting to bed etc. I was living alone by 18.

I think looking after yourself is an essential life skill. Parents who don't teach their children the basics are really doing them no favours. 34 yr old SIL admits her mum wouldn't let her lift a finger at home, she can barely cook a pasta dish.

moldingsunbeams · 09/12/2013 09:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrMoonshinesMinaturePig · 09/12/2013 09:31

I'm 21 now and can do all of those things although I have only just found the fuse box after the dining room being dark for 3 days. But I have two children and run a household. I had to learn from scratch after moving out at 18.

If I lived at home still I wold probably not know how to to the fuse box or the boiler.

grumpyoldbat · 09/12/2013 09:32

That sounds more like laziness though molding. For most of these things it's perfectly possible to teach yourself, quite quickly at that.

My dad taught me how to fix the fuse box. It was the old fashioned kind with fuse wire not trip switches. Everything else I taught myself, mostly before the age of 10 and certainly by the age of 21.

Keepthechangeyoufilthyanimal · 09/12/2013 09:33

DH and I bought our first house at 19 so yes.
I was completely capable of looking after myself from about 13 I'd say - as in, would cook dinner and do my own washing, etc. Dh was the same thank god!
I am Shock that some of my colleagues in their mid-late twenties still don't know how to do anything like that because they went straight from their parents house to living with their GF/wives who do everything for them. Makes me cringe a bit that they are so useless. One of them was asked to boil some spaghetti to go with the bolognese she had made - he boiled the spaghetti in the pan…didn't realise you had to put water in too Hmm

teenagetantrums · 09/12/2013 09:34

I dont think i knew how to reset the boiler but i could have worked it out i suppose if i needed to all the rest yes. My son is 19 and he knows all that stuff, except maybe the fuses i will ask him he might do. How do you get to be 21 without knowing how to wash up?

Swipe left for the next trending thread