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.

We have a big clock in the wall in the bathroom for this exact purpose as people lose track of time in there.

Oh no its like the mn chicken
I love the competitive MN posts.

On one hand you get people insisting that if you don't shower twice a day and wash thoroughly in every crevice then you smell, are unhygienic and definitely shouldn't be entertaining any intimacy with your partner. The people at work can smell you a mile off and if you say otherwise then you're nose blind.

On the other hand, nobody should spend more than 4-5 minutes in the shower. What does anyone do in the shower that takes that long? After 2 minutes there's nothing left to do.
😂

Such disrespect for sahm on this thread!
I disagree with the stance the IOs mum has taken but the tone from some posters is that mum is some second class citizen because her contribution to the family hadn't been financial. As if that's the only thing which matters!

I think your title is very misleading… for $100 you should be, and are, able to shower each day… however, 15 (or 30) min showers is a) wasteful of water b) selfish when you don’t live alone as it is likely a shared bathroom and c) it’s unclear what the $100 covers, but it comes across like you think your parents are making a profit from your contribution, but I think if you entered the real world and lived independently, you would quickly find that $100 covers very little.

OP please remember that if you’re one of four children, your mum likely has needed to stay at home to look after you all for a lot of her life, childcare for 4 is extortionate. And once you’ve done that for a while, if your DH is used to having someone else run the household, it’s not that easy to get back into work, for anything more than low level salary (I know plenty of people do but 4 kids is a huge commitment and it’s not uncommon for people to find getting back into work not that easy). Please don’t think she isn’t contributing - its not much of a choice with 4 kids.

OP didn't say anything about the hot water running out.

I can't remember the last time I lived somewhere where there was a finite amount of hot water.

I set the timer on my phone and turn the water off when I don't need it. 10 minutes.

As I said earlier I do take back what I said about my mum, yes my sisters are a lot younger. I thought 15 minutes was an average shower, I've been corrected and I accept that and will take on board that I didn't grasp the cost of running a home.
Thanks to everyone who answered.

If your concerned about the lack of money in the household pay rent at an amount that will cover you being there

Is it an electric shower?

They can be quite expensive to run. I sometimes cringe when I hear our electric meter buzzing around while DD is enjoying a long shower.

I get that it might feel petty to be timed in the shower by your own family but showers are much more "hungry" in resource and cash terms than I think you realise. I've got a family member who likes to luxuriate in the shower for 20 minutes at a time and the costs do add up.

Depending on the size in kW and whether the water's heated by gas boiler or it's fully electric each 15-minute shower could easily cost 70p to £1 for the energy alone.

Then there's the cost of the water if the household's on a water meter. Most shower heads will use 12l per minute, but power showers can be more like 15l. So each 15-minute shower could be using 200 litres of water.

The average person in the UK uses a total of 150 litres of water PER DAY but your shower alone could be using more than that.

For comparison a bath uses 80-100 litres of water and I think with energy costs these days many people would see a daily bath as a bit of a luxury.

And even though you're paying towards the household finances there's no way I could spend that long in the shower every day while knowing that other family members are having to alternate showering and having a strip wash because of money worries.

Eye opening for me. It takes me at least 20 mins to shower and wash my hair. I frequently spend half an hour in the shower. I can't imagine being clean in 5 mins so I think we must be unusual. Mind you I don't usually need to shower every day and I only wash my hair twice a week.

I didn’t know anyone shampooed their hair twice!

Living in a household of 6 people is a collaborative exercise OP, 6 people showering for 15 mins is 1.5 hours: a lot to fit in in the morning when people also need to use the toilet, quick tooth brush before going out etc.

And maybe cast your eye over your parents’ energy bills.

There’s still plenty of households with hot water tanks. My mums being one of them.

I didn’t know anyone shampooed their hair twice!

I shampoo twice but only wash my hair once a week (urgh gross!). I think if you wash your hair every day then shampooing twice is probably unnecessary.

£100 a week with bills included is a bargain. And yes 15 minutes in the shower is far too long - especially if there are other family members and only one bathroom. And its a huge waste of water to have such a long shower everyday. Even a shower every day isnt necessary (unless you are actually sweaty/dirty) Every other day is fine.

If there is only one bathroom people will be waiting to use bath/shower.

It’s a shame that you don’t appreciate the sacrifices your parents have made by your mum staying home to bring you up . I have adult children , one a similar age to you and they are both really happy that I only worked very pt ( 1 night per week ) when they were growing up so they always had a parent at home . At 24 k you are bringing home at least £1.5k and it’s a shame that you begrudge giving your parents £100 per week particularly as they provide an evening meal .

Everyone on here is insane. 15 minutes to shower per day is completely acceptable and £100/week board paid to the people who chose to bring you into the world is more than enough. I’m convinced mumsnet is full of the kind of parents who will be asking themselves in years to come why their children never visit them.

I'm sure there are, but OP didn't say that was the issue here.

Try not to compare. Their situation isnt yours. Your OP did sound entitled and like you have no idea about the cost of things. I'm not trying to be hurtful but you sound very young. I was expecting you to say you were a lot younger then this. If your parents are open to it maybe it would help for you to see what the bills and food actually cost. You'll need a realistic idea about this when you're ready to move out. It is a decent amount of money to pay but its unlikely it's covering your share of household costs. If things were tight I'd feel it was very reasonable to tell my DC 5 minutes in the shower each day and I would expect them to stick to it too.

It sounds like you may have some resentment over your Mum not working and the way this has limited the family finances. It has impacted you undoubtedly, and its ok to feel whatever you do. but gently you dont know what was behind this choice and may never know. There may be very valid reasons your parents made the financial choices they did. Your parents are still supporting you even if not to the extent your friends have. Limiting you to a shower every second day wouldn't be reasonable, but having a 5 minute daily maximum isnt unreasonable.

You just can't get good service at £14.30 a night for board and lodge. That's inflation for you.

You sound really entitled. You clearly have no idea how much it costs to run a house, or how much child care costs, or how much work and time it takes to look after 4 children. Who do you think would have looked after you all if your mum had gone out to work? Are you doing your share of cleaning and cooking? Or is your mum doing it all?

15 min is fine OP!
It includes I presume the time you take undressing & drying off.

MN posters are typically nuts on this point.

What's more the issue is your parents dictating this to you - it's fine for there to be mutually agreed rules but specifying the number of minutes an adult spends in the shower is unacceptable.

I don't think OP sounds entitled. I think she's asking a question.

Calm down.