To think for £100 a week to live at home I can have a shower every day?

[tryinghere]

I live at home, I work f/t and I'm doing an online course. I pay £100 a week contribution and I am moaned at for spending about 15 minutes a day in the shower.
Admittedly one day I was in there half an hour and accepted that I was in there a long time, I was asked to be more considerate and I did, but, I have reduced it to 15 minutes a day and that's still too long.
Apparently it's not necessary to be in there that long and the rest of the family make sacrifices and go without only showering every other day and using sink and flannel in between, I hate this.

My parents don't have a lot of money but they do have 4 children and my mum chooses to stay at home meaning she chooses that we make sacrifices.
As the oldest, I'm the only one paying my way and don't feel it's unreasonable to shower for 15 minutes a day.
I get my parents choose not to so they can save money but I pay them a lot.
Do I stand my ground on this one and shower away or is 15 minutes ott for £100 a week.

The article said it was taken from a University of Surrey study where sensors were used to monitor 87k showers - all students so it does query whether this applies to the ‘general public’.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13173253/length-average-shower-Britain.html#:~:text=In%20total%2C%20these%20sensors%20captured,longer%20amongst%20the%20general%20public.

Ah, students! I wonder if that makes a difference?

Where do you rent and pay your bills for less than £400 a month? My gas and electricity bill is more than that per month. My council tax is more than that per month. Our food bill is more than that per month. We don’t have rent or mortgage but food and bills alone are around £1500 per month.

Yeah I think the younger generation might be more thorough with their hygiene than the average MN user.

What are you actually doing for 15 mins in the shower??? I put a pizza timer on for 10 mins this week and went to get a shower, I managed to wash, wash and condition my hair, shave legs, dry, moisture, apply face serum, apply hair serum, brush hair, put pajamas on and was coming does the stairs as the time went off!

£400 a month is a different matter, i did read it as £100 a month! And I agree prices do vary, where I live a quick scan of letting sites tells me that a room in a shared house (without food ) is about £500-600 a month (bills included) so £400 including all food is a bargain. This is South coast

I'm not going to tell you where I live, sorry, except it's in the north of England.

As a recent UoS student I would say there’s a very diverse demographic so would argue it’s a fairly representative sample of the population at large, age aside, but maybe they feel students don’t shower as much/as long!

😂could be!

😂

@tryinghere Sorry you have had a bit of a hard time on here OP, but I agree with the posters saying 15 minutes is a long time for a shower to be on.

I think because you still live at home you are a bit sheltered from how horrifically expensive everything is outside. You pay £400 a MONTH for your 'keep.' (Rent and bills etc...) £400 wouldn't pay for a week's rent on some houses in my village. (Some 3-bed, private-let, house rents are £1500 to £1750 a month.) JUST FOR THE RENT!

You are blessed and privileged to be paying £400 a month for everything. I am not having a go at you, (honestly!) because it's not your fault you haven't experienced it yet. However, try and have some understanding towards your mum. She is clearly struggling.

Remember - most things in the house (that are electric powered,) and have a heating element, will use a lot of electric. Kettle, electric bar fire, hair straighteners, electric heating, blow dryer for your hair, microwave, toaster, fan heater, snack sandwich toaster, and yep, the SHOWER! Fortunately, most people will only use all of these items for short bursts of time. So shouldn't rack up the electric bill too much!

The shower on for 15 minutes will be using lots of electric. I take about 4-5 minutes for my morning shower, and often have a shower mid to late afternoon, as I go for a 3 mile walk every day. But that second shower is about 2 minutes. It's just to freshen up/get the film of sweat off me (Yep, so attractive I know! 😁) When I wash and condition my hair, I do take 10 minutes in the shower, but I only wash my hair every 3 days.

Perhaps those saying 15 minutes or more is quite normal are very dirty to start with

£400 wouldn't pay for a week's rent on some houses in my village.

Op isn't renting the whole house? The rest of the family lives there too. She has a room. So how much a three bed costs to rent where you live is irrelevant.

Wait....you're netting about £1500 a month and paying £400 a month for room and board and probably WiFi, TV, laundry and incidentals not to mention cleaning services and use of communal facilities plus a steady mailing address and you're complaining because your parents (who you admit are struggling financially) ask you to take shorter showers? You have the audacity to complain that your mum (cook/cleaner/personal assistant) doesn't leave your younger siblings in the care of other people and go out to work full time (paying at least two thirds of her income over in childcare) just to further service your comfort? Is this a joke post? Seriously, you can't possibly think you're in the right here?

I’m also in the north of England, but people’s bills can vary wildly. Nobody can say £400 is too much or little without knowing what her parent’s bills look like.

@mrsdineen2

Oh YES!

You most certainly do win Mumsnet and The Internet today!

Most excellent MrsDineen2!

Thank you for making me laugh out loud ... will now have to discuss with the rest of the house!

x

Yeah I think some posters are upset that they've got a whacking great mortgage to deal with now, and sometimes rent comes out cheaper (as it should really).

Is that 15 minutes in the actual shower or 15 minutes in the bathroom - so undressing, showering, drying off, brushing teeth etc,? If it’s 15 minutes in the shower then YABU. I shower every morning and I’m in the cubicle for 5 minutes or less. Wet hair, shampoo hair, rinse hair, apply conditioner, wash body, rinse hair, done (hair not incredibly long but longer than shoulder length). I might occasionally take longer if using a body scrub but that I rarely have time for that. When DD lived at home there was an electric shower in the bathroom she used and I would have cried at the cost of that running for 15 minutes!

£400 per month in “rent” is a very good deal. I was paying more than that when I lived at home before moving out in the late 1980s! (Paid third of salary).

I could take 15 minutes on days I'm making an effort using a decent hair conditioner and shaving legs (and anything else as required), using face scrubs etc but that's probably one a week at the most. Normally 5 minutes for a quick shower is enough.

Why don't you offer an extra £50 per week to cover the showers? Where I am £100 would just about get you a one bedroom council flat in a run down scheme.

15 minutes is not a long shower for me. It seems strange that your mum would rather your family wash with flannels every other day than get a job, but there may be more to that that you haven't explained. If I were you I'd move out.

@SabreIsMyFave: The shower on for 15 minutes will be using lots of electric.

At 10 litres per minute, to heat 150 litres of water from 15° to 40° would need about 4.5 kWh, which would cost perhaps £1 for electricity or 40p for gas. The water itself is probably about 25p if the house has a meter. So the shower will add between 40p and £1.25 to OP's Mum's bills, depending on the arrangements. Plus soap etc.

Whether or not this is a lot depends on your point of view, but it does seem like it might be helpful to have the numbers. 🙏

Jesus. 15/20 mins is reasonable to me. I have 2 showers a day. 15/20 mins in the morning and about 10 mins before bed.

And, FWIW I think you pay a fair amount to your parents.

Unfortunately, you are living under their roof, out of respect you should follow their rules. If you don't like it, then it's probably time to start looking at flats or a house share.

I put a post in linking this earlier in the thread - it says in here that a 15 min shower would likely cost around £1 for water and electricity if it’s an electric shower, so £5-10/week would be plenty

https://www.idealhome.co.uk/house-manual/money-matters/how-much-does-it-cost-to-run-a-shower#:~:text=Power%20(8.5kW)%20x%20cost,0.038%2C%20the%20cost%20per%20minute.

Get your own place and spend as long as you want in the shower (though I daresay you'll get a massive reality check when you find out how much it costs to run a home). You sound entitled and very disrespectful of your mother who "chooses not to work" but presumably runs the home??