How much Board do your kids pay?

[sparky23]

Can I get some feedback from people on here as to how much board their stay at home working kids are paying?

My son is 20. he spent a couple of years getting his IT diploma and doing various certificates and has just started a traineeship which pays badly for the 12 months of the traineeship, he just got his first pay which after tax was a meagre $352. He is really enjoying the job and yes he could probably do better but will at least see the traineeship through and see how the pay is after that. After all he has been lucky enough to get a job at a time when plenty of people are losing theirs.

So how much board is fair?
Initially I asked him for $80 per week as this is the amount his friend who has been living with us for over 3 years is paying, however he picks up approx $150 per week more. But it now transpires that most of his friends pay NO board at all and the only one that does pays $30 per week and now that he has picked up his first pay and it is so low I feel that $80 is probably too much.

What do you guys think and what do your kids pay?

 

[AVD]

Hi Sparky!

As a rule I was asked to pay 20% but helped out a lot with housework, household shopping and minding younger brother and sisters. I did move out at 15 though so wasnt earning very much because I was still at school. My younger brother was asked to pay the same 20% but mum would be pretty relaxed if he had other expenses. You could always ask him for more and actually put some away for him as a surprise once the funds accumulate. Ask him what he thinks is fair and see what he says? Might surprise you.

Alysha

www.gatherumgoss.com

 

[sparky23]

In this day and age sadly things are very different so what he thinks is fair is to pay nothing as this is what most of his friends do, also he is very lazy and doesn't lift a finger!

 

[wylie]

Hi Sparky. My 20 year old is in third year uni and only earning about $140 per week right now. He did have a second job but even then we battled with him about paying any board at all. He just thinks it doesn't cost us much to keep him .

Anyway, he pays $20 per week. Chicken feed. Until he moves out he will have no idea just what it costs to keep him.

If he stays here after uni and once he has a job, he will be paying a whole lot more .

 

[Rob Williams]

Not sure what the amount should be, but I've always liked the idea of taking something from them, regularly, each pay day. It teaches them to budget and to be responsible with their earnings.
You don't have to actually spend the money. Stick it in a special account and when he's ready to buy his first home or whatever, you can give him the nest egg he saved all those years.
One of my ex's had a sone in his 20's living at home. He could never "afford" to contribute to household expenses. Yet, each pay day there would be $200 sports shoes, a new X Box game, take away pizza and iced coffee all weekend long etc etc. Yet he couldn't afford board and his Mum fully supported this.
I think there is a better way, but that's just my opinion.

 

[rugrat]

$100 was the going rate for my uni friends about 5-10 years ago. Nowdays people just seem to have an expectation that they can get board for free. I would stick to the $80. It is a good way to learn responsibility and he will have to consider carefully what he spends he leftover money on. You are his parent, if something extra creeps up you can always use your discretion to loan or give him some extra money back. Also like someone else said - if you feel bad about taking so much (not really that much to my mind) then put all or some of it aside without letting him know, so you can give it to him or use it for his benefit later on. He may need some savings when he finally does move out - if only for moving costs and bond etc.

 

[sparky23]

I think we are coming at the idea of $60 per week at this stage with a review in 3 months as he will then be 21 so there might be an increase in his award wage plus he will then be using a company vehicle so will lose his petrol costs to and from work, he seems to be fairly agreeable to the notion. I won't be putting the money away for him though as we have already helped him out massively with his car after he bought a Nissan 280ZX bomb that has needed lots of work to keep going.

Instead it will be going on credit card bills!

As for him leaving home I think I might be a very old lady before I see that day. Oops I forgot that will be in about 2 weeks time - eeeeeek!

 

[Piston Broke]

I dont get this whole "paying board" thing at all.
I never paid board or rent.
When there was expenses, we all contributed (more or less)and we paid them.
When bills needed paying, we paid them.
When interest rates were high, we paid them too.
When work needed doing, we did it.
Sometimes there was nothing left, other times only small bills to pay.
And yes, of course I got more than what I gave.
What we had we chipped in. Sometimes more sometimes less, but it was never someone else's responsibility to pay bills, it was everybody's.

What you people are doing is making them live in an artificially contrived world that just doesn't resemble anything that will be encountered in the outside world.
It's no so surprising that many cant handle it.

 

[Aaron Sice]

if he doesnt help out - $80 a week is cheap!!!!

if he did clean and cook and shop then maybe $50 or $30 would be fine....

 

[GIDDO]

My 18 year old is paying $50, but has a low paying job too.

It has taken 2 years for the aggro to end over whether ANY board should be paid.
The penny has just dropped -$50 a week is cheap!

 

[BoatBoy]

As a first year apprentice back in the day, I used to pay $40/week.
I was earning $99.80 gross before overtime.

I didn't b1tch at all


Dave

 

[weg]

This is going back a long long time but when I started working I raised the issue and asked if they would like me to pay board .

I still remember them saying I could help pay some of bills and that's what I did - both the phone and electricity if I recall correctly. I'd say these same bills where much smaller though than they are now.

 

[BayView]

if he doesnt help out - $80 a week is cheap!!!!

if he did clean and cook and shop then maybe $50 or $30 would be fine....

Yeh, this is sort of where my mind was heading on this.

I was thinking that if he is not contributing, then $80 per week is fair.

Why he wouldn't contribute is beyond me; that's selfish. Give him a smack in the ear, Sparks. Actually; give him two, and a kick up the @rse.

Maybe you could negotiate a deal;

$80 for no contribution, or, a series of discounts off that price depending on what household chores were contributed.

One of my best friends lived at home until he was 30.

He did bugger-all around the house, but had the right mindset in terms of what's fair, and offered to pay good board to his parents as compensation.

Unbeknown to him; his parents were putting half the board into term deposits for him, and gave him a very nice cheque on his 21st birthday.

 

[eternit]

I live at home and dont pay any board but contribute by paying for the internet + phone bill which comes out to be like $25 per week.

 

[kissfan]

Hi sparky.

Maybe, instead of paying 'board' your son could be coerced to buy some of his own groceries. Personal toiletries etc. If he's a big eater, perhaps buy his portion of meat.

It's not a lot but it may open his eyes to how expensive the cost of living is these days.

If he can grasp that concept he might just decide that he is on a good thing and decide to pay something.

Regards
Marty

 

[wylie]

I dont get this whole "paying board" thing at all.
I never paid board or rent.
When there was expenses, we all contributed (more or less)and we paid them.
When bills needed paying, we paid them.
When interest rates were high, we paid them too.
When work needed doing, we did it.
Sometimes there was nothing left, other times only small bills to pay.
And yes, of course I got more than what I gave.
What we had we chipped in. Sometimes more sometimes less, but it was never someone else's responsibility to pay bills, it was everybody's.

What you people are doing is making them live in an artificially contrived world that just doesn't resemble anything that will be encountered in the outside world.
It's no so surprising that many cant handle it.

Whilst I think my son is on a pretty good wicket (especially when he had a second job with minimal contact time at uni) I have never heard of anyone when I was growing up, or now, whose children chip in for the household bills, or help with interest rates.

Certainly we chipped in to help with the work and our kids have probably done more painting, demolishing, building and general renovating than most kids, but asking my 13 year old to chip in to help pay the rates or the gas bill just seems quite bizarre to me.

 

[peastman]

This is a bit of a sore point at my place.

My son aged 22 has a good job pretending to be an executive, often flying around Australia doing presentations, complete with expense account.
He has one household chore which often gets "forgotten" and refuses to pay board.

Then the other day he told us most of his friends parents help their kids by giving them the deposit for there own place. To which my wife very quickly replied "They are the ones that pay board. $100 per week for 4 years is about $20k, the board you have not paid is our contribution"

While I am annoyed by his lack of a sense of resposibility towards board, I am pleased he works hard and has a great job. He is also very good at saving money and doesnt often just blow money away. In the long term this ability will help him greatly. When he does finally move out he will get a real lesson in life. Particularly how much it costs to live and all the household chores that just must get done.

 

[wylie]

My 20 year old has been whining for a long time about the environmentally friendly washing powder I have been using for a few years now. He reckons his clothes don't get washed well enough, and his clothes smell after he wears them. I have been standing my ground and have told him time and time again to buy the powder he wants and he can use it for his clothes.

He works one day a week near a Coles so could get it any time. Finally we had another big blow up last week, and I told him he could now do his own washing, using whatever he likes. He has bought some powder and it is now a Mexican stand off. He has not bought up any washing to do, and I am painting a house so I am not home during the day this week, and probably the next week or so after easter.

He will happily tell my friends that he does his own washing. I politely tell them (good friends, they know the score ) that he may have put his clothes in the machine maybe five times in his life, but I take them out, hang them up, bring them in and fold them and deliver them to his room!!!

He is going to get a little taste of what "doing my own washing" really involves. He might just smarten up his attitude a little, but I am not holding my breath.

 

[BayView]

He works one day a week near a Coles so could get it any time. Finally we had another big blow up last week, and I told him he could now do his own washing, using whatever he likes. He has bought some powder and it is now a Mexican stand off. He has not bought up any washing to do, and I am painting a house so I am not home during the day this week, and probably the next week or so after easter.

The thought "rod for own back" comes to mind with these sorts of training issues with kids.

My mother basically told us to do our own washing and ironing when we were about 13 or so if we wanted it done when we needed the clothes.

So, we did. Been doing it even since.

I wonder how many parents do this? I don't reckon many, and if they are like me; you want to help your kids out as much as you can, so you tend to step in and do it for them.

Rod for own back is just around the corner..

Being mindful of this, and the double-edged sword that it is, we try to get our son to do lots of stuff around the house.

It is hard work, and we have to constantly remind him; things like cleaning room, put clothes away, help bring washing in, turning off unused lights, take out garbage on garbage day (yes; he has to wheel the wheely-bin out), but he's only 7 so we don't expect too much yet.

But, if you get 'em trained early, then hopefully they will be self reliant when they are supposedly adults.

 

[rugrat]

But, if you get 'em trained early, then hopefully they will be self reliant when they are supposedly adults.

And hopefully they will be the sort of person who pulls there own weight when they are in a relationship, rather then expecting their partner to do everything for them. I was lucky with my hubby, he was very nicely housetrained when we met - his mum made sure all of her kids had equal responsibilities for things like washing, cleaning etc.