Rent/house keeping

[Bushwoolie]

My eldest is just starting work and will bring home approx 1600p/m (take home)

I have always said that once any of the kids are earning, they should pay "keep". This isn't a post asking whether people believe it's right or not. I know it generally divides the masses.

I am just asking those who do charge their adult children, how much do you charge?

He has other outgoings he'll be taking over from me. Car payment/insurance (335) and phone bill (38). I have been paying those the last year (phone longer).
He will be putting 300 into an ISA each month and 200 into a regular savings account to cover any large expenses (if the car breaks down etc).

My aim is to put half of what he pays to one side and gift that to him when he moves out. The remaining will probably just go towards our food shop 😂

Thanks!

£200/month. I won't be giving him any back when he does finally move out. He's a grown up and needs to manage his own savings.

I will, however, be generous and not charge him for the skip we will need to get rid of the accumulated crap of ages from his room.

Because he has payment responsibilities and is saving a good chunk I'd be charging him £200 pcm but I'd be asking him to step up and do more jobs around the house. That's what I did with my DS when he was saving with a deposit. He was earning more but I told him he could pay less and do a few more jobs (he did several jobs already) or pay more. He chose to do extra chores including cooking for family twice a week as he is an excellent cook and enjoy trying out new recipes. He's bought his own place now. We helped him with his deposit because he was saving hard.

I’d say £50 a week as a contribution to bills plus buy own food. If you’re cooking dinner for everyone that’s fine but I reckon 15yo costs me a solid 30-40 quid a week in snacks, always in the fridge eating cooked chicken, sliced meats, olives, cheese, peanut butter etc. I’m forever buying extra bits for lunches as my cupboards are bare. So buying in own packed lunch stuff, snacks etc.

I’d also ask them to cook one night a week if you are doing the rest.

Dd 19 earns £2400/month. She asked how much the house costs to run per month and decided 10% would be her contribution, so £300. She saves £1000 and the rest is for whatever she wants.

I only take £120 pm from my 3 DC. DS1 is 22 & a recent graduate & trainee solicitor. He is saving like crazy for a house deposit. The younger 2 are a student nurse & apprentice so not on a lot of money. They cover their own personal costs, phone travel etc. I won’t be saving the money for them as they are getting a good deal already! We would still be living in the same house if they weren’t here & they are all out a lot so apart from food I don’t think our bills would reduce that significantly if they weren’t here. So I don’t feel the need to charge them more at the moment. If they still live here earning more we will think again.

Sounds like a good way to do it! Does that include your mortgage/rent or just food, utilities etc ?

Was about to post the same! 5 adults in our house & DH is disabled & always home so tv heating etc on during the day. We pay £200 dual fuel & have significant credit.

I think £100 for saving is enough to start with so that he doesn't feel like he is doing too much. My opinion. Let him enjoy a bit of shopping and other good stuff as he is already contributing to the car and those things mentioned above

Thanks everyone!

I was going to charge 1/3 as he'll be the 3rd adult.
However it just seemed like a lot of money. I want him to know responsibility but to still allow him a bit of freedom.

We're in no major rush that he moves out, he's saving for his future and to get a new car as he's got a little run around at the moment.

So I dropped the amount to 400. If he goes full time or has a wage increase/decrease I'll look at it again but at least I feel happy that what we've decided isn't far from the norm.

The general rule of thumb is that people can afford to spend about 30% of their income on rent. That doesn’t include things like food. That would be 480 a month for your son. I think it helps to have that figure in mind when people talk about what is fair.

How you actually break that down given you will be feeding him and you want him to save depends on his personality. Charge less if you trust him to save diligently. Charge more if you need to guarantee he is putting money away.

he will never have another opportunity like this to save money. Letting him squander it would be bad parenting. So you will get no criticism from me about charging him rent and putting aside what you don’t need to cover actual expenses.

Food and bills I think parents are responsible for paying there rent ,but paying food and bill it helps them to save for there own flat , and for there furniture,

There there, kaltchison.

This is a great idea!