How much board should I take off my kids?

[redstar1987]

I moved back home 3 years ago (I had stayed on in the town I went to University at for an extra 2 years but missed Sheffield - Unfortunately the cost of living in Sheffield is higher than the place I studied so I could not afford my own place).

 

I pay £20 per week (I have only managed to find part time work, and earn approximately £130 per week). However, I buy all my own food, do my own washing (including buying laundry detergent), do most of the chores in the house, and pay £70 per month for pet insurance, and pay all vet bills and pet food costs. I am very grateful to my mum for allowing me to live back at home considering I am 26, and when I get overtime I try to give her extra money.

 

My brother (21 years old) has just started a full time job and earns over £200 per week. He also gives £20 per week. He buys a lot of his own food but not all, but that is all he pays for. Before he got this job he was getting the basic JSA rate and was paying £10 per week..

[cuttsie]

Suppose it depends what you think they'll do with the cash. I was never charged board and wouldn't charge kids it.

 

The reason I got away without was I was saving to pay for uni, a car and eventually a house. I also helped out at home. My wife got charged by her parents and all it did was put her in debt because she couldn't save and needed to borrow money to rent her first flat when she moved to Sheffield. She resents that they her wages literally went up in (their) smoke.

 

It's a lot harder to get on in this world than it ever was for my parents generation many of whom can expect to retire on generous pensions in a few years. This generation has already borrowed against their kids future. Why disadvantage your kids if you don't have to.

A lot harder you are having a laugh.

No cars or phones ,washing machines, central heating, hoovers, T.V's and only the very rich owned thier own house.

As to the generious pension its around £160 for a married couple try and live on that!

[pinky800]

When I got my first job I was only part time, my parents both worked full time. It was worked out that if I did the weekly housework and the ironing as I had more time that was worth more to my parents than what money I could afford on a part time wage.

 

I would have fully accepted having to pay a percentage of a full time wage of around 20%, which I think seems quite reasonable. Either way by pay or by having to work for your board it teaches you that nothing in life is for free and you have to work hard to have a roof over your head.

[cuttsie]

When I got my first job I was only part time, my parents both worked full time. It was worked out that if I did the weekly housework and the ironing as I had more time that was worth more to my parents than what money I could afford on a part time wage.

 

I would have fully accepted having to pay a percentage of a full time wage of around 20%, which I think seems quite reasonable. Either way by pay or by having to work for your board it teaches you that nothing in life is for free and you have to work hard to have a roof over your head.

And that my friend is bang on.

[biotechpete]

A lot harder you are having a laugh.

No cars or phones ,washing machines, central heating, hoovers, T.V's and only the very rich owned thier own house.

As to the generious pension its around £160 for a married couple try and live on that!

 

Don't know where you grew up but relative to wages housing, heating, transport costs are more expensive now. My grand parents had a Hoover and washing machine and car. The basic state pension is a top up to most baby boomers who have proffited hugely from house price rises, free higher education, abundant social housing, free shares in national industries, free health and social care and retirement in their 50s getting paid winter fuel payments while on holiday in the south of France.

 

The cold hard facts are that the baby boomers have sold us down the river. They reaped all the profits and invested nothing back. Their children will be the first generation to suffer worse living standards than their parents and we'll be picking up the tab for decades. I bet there won't even be a state pension by the time I reach retirement. If I can ever afford to.

[teenyweeny]

If you let ur kids live for free, you are not teaching them anything..Some parents can afford to do this others cant.i know a few that have kept their kids and they turned out ok but have a selfish streak..I charged my daughter a tenner a week cos she was in a low paid job,but at least she was contributing and she was grateful..think we need to install values in our kids dont you.

[mafya]

30% of their earnings, if they moan than give them the option of leaving home and fending for themselves to see how hard it is.

[Anna B]

Don't know where you grew up but relative to wages housing, heating, transport costs are more expensive now. My grand parents had a Hoover and washing machine and car. The basic state pension is a top up to most baby boomers who have proffited hugely from house price rises, free higher education, abundant social housing, free shares in national industries, free health and social care and retirement in their 50s getting paid winter fuel payments while on holiday in the south of France.

 

The cold hard facts are that the baby boomers have sold us down the river. They reaped all the profits and invested nothing back. Their children will be the first generation to suffer worse living standards than their parents and we'll be picking up the tab for decades. I bet there won't even be a state pension by the time I reach retirement. If I can ever afford to.

 

Believe it or not paying back debt is nothing new. The baby boomers have spent nearly all their lives paying back the money borrowed by their parents to fight the 2nd world war, to America. We only finished paying it off (plus interest) in about 2004. So we too have been 'burdoned' with debt.

 

You have a very glossy picture of life as a baby boomer fuelled no doubt by things you've heard from politicians, whose only motive is to shift blame. Trust me, life was just as hard for them, and everything had to be fought for just as it is now; equal pay, equal opportunities, safety at work, better living standards, etc, and I don't know where you get the idea we retired at 50. Most worked until 60 and 65, and anyone born after 1954 which includes most baby boomers, have also seen their pension age extended to 66, so they haven't retired yet and will be the first to suffer cuts to their pensions.

 

I think you'll find it was politicians of both political persuasions who have sold this country down the river not the baby boomers. The governance of this country has been terrifyingly bad on many fronts and done in the face of much opposition and all common sense.

[Rand Hobart]

Check out with them, what living independently would cost them, even in digs.

All in, food, gas, elec, water, council tax, phone, broadband, service wash and ironing etc.

I would think a third of their income would be very fair and I would then save it in a BS account without telling them.

Then they would have a good lesson in the world of budgeting and finance and a good nest egg when they leave home.

[Resident]

You should charge them a set figure which is equal. Doing it by percentage of wages is harsh and unfair. Why should the older one pay twice as much for the same benefits?

 

Plus it'll lead to conflict between them when they wish to use something that is shared with the older one taking the stance that he pays more so has priority.