Sons rent

[thevilain]

How much should my 19 year old pay for his keep?

[ethanryan]

id say 50 pound a week, unless he is on a really low income

[pink-kittens]

In our family we always go for a 3rd of their wages.
My eldest whinged and moaned a bout this but paid it - only when she left home did she appreciate the fact that a 3rd of her wages wasn't actually all that much to pay!

ethanryans �50 a week is fine if they are bringing home �150 but �50 out of what my eldest was earning at the time would have been half of her wages

[beanebabe]

My parents made me pay half of my wages to them for my keep when I was working and living at home (based on life in the real world, mortgage approx 1 weeks pay, bills another weeks etc). When I moved out to live with my then BF they gave it all back to me - they had saved it for me secretly. Just as well because I hadn't saved a penny.

[showcatbenga]

Have a look in your local paper & see how much a room in a shared house costs to rent locally. Then divide your bills by the number of people in your house & add the appropriate proportion of your total council tax, water rates, electricity, gas, laundry & food bills. Then pick almost any figure you'd like & it'll still be a lot less than the one you worked out! lol.
Should be fairly easy to convince him then that you're giving him a really good deal & negotiate a regular time & effort contribution to the housework & / or garden upkeep! Then suggest that he puts (at least some of) the difference into a savings account for a deposit for renting or buying his own place in the future.
If you find that it's a lot more money than you'd imagined &/or think you don't need all the amount decided upon, you can always put the surplus in a savings account in his name for the future.
I know it sounds hard but if you don't take a realistic view you are not doing him any favours & he'll just end up in dire straights when he does decide he can live away from home. It's being cruel to be kind - & fair to yourself in the long run.

[edukes]

I charge my daughter �25 pw but she has to buy all her own beauty stuff IE: shampoo, hairspray toothbrushes etc. also she is not allowed free lifts IE: 'please I'm late for work lifts' & 'but i.ve missed the last bus' I charge her a small amount a couple of quid, but it teaches her nothing comes for free now as an adult.
but I also encourge her to save and she does.

[Liza B]

We have 5 children all in their late teens early 20s, so we decided the best way to do it was to add up all the bills, weekly shopping etc ( didn't include the morgage) and divided it between 7. That way everyone pays the same, and no arguements on some- one paying a differnet amount. It seems a fairer way to do it and I don't see why they should pay different amounts
. At the moment hubby and I are working so we don't need the money, so each child has a savings account that only we can get into and the money they pay each week is paid into their account and put aside for when they move out and need help to set up home. If we needed the money then we would use it.

It works for us.

liza

[elaine33]

I am with pink-kittens on this one. Our family did the same, one third was housekeeping, one third went to savings and one third was to live on. It worked well and gave my children good budget sense which has stood them in good stead since they left home.