Sunday Express Skeleton 3Rd November
Crosswords1 min ago
...well...I say kids, one is 24 years old and the other 22. They are both graduating next week and the eldest one has already started work as a graduate trainee earning 16k a year. My youngest daughter is graduating as an illustrator (and very good she is too)and looking to make her fortune as a freelance. So she is sitting in our loft office all day 'creating' on the computer. She says she will be doing a bit of part time bar work soon, won't claim job seekers allowance but still seems to be able to go to town and buy yet another handbag!
So - how much board do I charge them?
Is it right to work on a percentage of take home pay (I wonder if 20% seems reasonable)...they both look at me gone out when I mention it! Funnily enough, they just don't seem interested that when I tell them that when I started work in the NHS as a cadet nurse I earned about �9 a fortnight and gave my mother �3 a fortnight.
Being less flippant...my eldest daughter desperately wants to save up to buy a house with her boyfriend so I don't want to take too much..my youngest won't actually earn much until she can establish herself etc...and she thinks her boyfriend will look after her next year when he graduates!
Actually, I don't want a fortune but I do need to instill some sense of the real world....
No best answer has yet been selected by knowall. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I paid my parents �150 a month from i started working until i moved out, at which point they gave me back all the money that I had paid over the 3 years to add to my deposit for a house.
I didnt know in advance I was getting this back and was saving for the house anyway but it was a major help to me and it meant I was actually "saving" an extra �150 a month that i didnt know about!
My friend's mum charged her rent while she was working between college and uni, and if she took a summer holiday job in sixth form. At the time my mate was well peed off about it and called her mum all names under the sun behind her back.
But... when my friend started uni her mum gave her a bank book with all the "keep" money in it as an emergency nest egg. My friend was really grateful (and guilty!). This was back in the days of grants, but it still came in very handy and my friend was very careful not to take advantage of the money as she was on a 5 year med school course.
From this process, my friend had learned to budget so she could pay rent etc out of a weekly or monthly pay packet and still have enough left over to fund a car and nights out (these skills are still not taught at school or college). And what's more she ended up with enough for a deposit on a small flat when she graduated once she combined the money with some premium bonds and other bonds bought for her when she was born.
My own parents didn't do anything like this. The moment I started earning I was expected to pay one third of all household bills as there were three wage earners in the house.
I know which situation I would have chosen to be in!
I'm in my 20s and still living at home. I work in the public sector so am impoverished (!) and desperately want to put some money by for a deposit. So, my mum doesn't charge my rent, but I pay for my food and my share of the household bills. I obviously also do all my cooking and housework etc. So, this means that I'm not a financial drain on my mum, but I can save 'cause I'm not paying as much as other people my age.
I think it depends on what your child is like to be honest. My mum is happy with the above arrangment 'cause I am very good with money and she can see that I'm saving as much as I can every month. My cousin on the other hand p****s all his money away so my aunt charges him full rent as she doesn't see why she should support his ******** lifestyle.
I warned my sons while still at school that when they becale earners I would charge them rent - it is just not realistic to continue to support them when they are adults.
They get charged the cost of a local bedsit, which is obviously much cheaper for them as they still get the TV licence paid, the electricity bill paid, etc, etc, but not a totally free ride.