The Student Room Group

If you still live at home, do you have to pay 'housekeeping'?

just wondering how many people have to pay their parents 'housekeeping' money per month. my parents ask for £250 a month at the moment, and eventhough i know it's not as bad as some people may have to pay, it really annoys me. i work full time, but i've just started a new job. this month, for 3 weeks i got £730, but already i only have £480 due to housekeeping. out of a £730 paycheque, meh..
included in this £250 is food (which most of the time i don't have because i eat at my bfs' house), clothes washing (which can't come to much) and my insurance for my car, which is £100 a month.
i can't see how that would tally up to £250 but still.
you know, i get that they are my parents and they have given me a home/food/clothes etc for 18 years, but i've worked it out and i'd be better off moving in with my boyfriend because it's cheaper!


so anyway yes, down to the point; how many of you lot have to pay housekeeping?

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Reply 1
I moved in with my nan when I was 14 and pay her £100 a month since, and I also give her any extra money I get. That covers food and bills, but I still worry it's not enough.
Reply 2
while i'm at uni and living at home i pay 130 a month.
My parents don't want anything as I'm only home in the Uni Break. I did offer to pay rent or housekeeping, but they didn't want it.

I do other things to help out, like when I'm not working (I work 9-5 every weekday so its hard :p:) I tidy up the house, take the dog out, do my own and sometimes my parents/sisters washing/ironing, feed pets, generally help out if I can, so its not like I'm just mucking around waiting for them to feed me lol.
i dont live at my parents - but if i did - i would pay rent - i think it would be rude of me not to.
Reply 5
I'd have to pay board if I didn't go to college, or if I wasn't going to university. My brother isn't planning on going to college and he'll have to pay board once he's finished his GCSEs. Not sure how much though.
pay board. is that some kind of regional dialect . . .or am i just dumb??? . . .
Reply 7
I am only at home in uni holidays, and don't have to pay houeskeeping for that time. I think I could understand if my parents wanted me to though. I think once I graduate and am working full time they'll make me pay, which is totally fair enough. Currently I rarely eat here but when I do I often do the cooking, have done my own washing since I was 14 or so, and am still learning to drive but pay for all my own driving lessons and insurance. Not really sure what the standard rate is for people to pay but considering your insurance is £100 of that amount it doesn't seem tooooo bad.
I had to pay housekeeping when I was just working full-time. Now that I'm needing to save everything I can to get through University, they won't touch any of it.
Reply 9
I had too before, but now my parents want me to put that money into uni savings, except now it's my drink money :frown:
I don't pay anything (I'm only at home during the holidays), and neither does my brother (22 and lives at home full-time while at uni).
At the moment i don't have to but once i've started uni and have a part time job in the holidays my parents wil probably make me give them some money.
whoa no way and I think parents are cruel to do that and you'd be better off out of there!
I don't pay and I shouldn't have to, geez they had me, they can look after my 'needs' and pay for whatever :p:
note, I do buy personal stuff, just not essentials especially not board!
Reply 13
During the holidays, I'll be paying about the same rent as I pay at Uni. The accomodation is worth more on the open market, but since it wouldn't be let out otherwise, apparently standard Uni accomodation fees will be fine. It would be ridiculous to ask for rent-free accomodation once you're over 18 and out of College.
Reply 14
Nah, I'd only have to pay if I was living at home and had a full-time job.
Dionysus
It would be ridiculous to ask for rent-free accomodation once you're over 18 and out of College.


Why?

Why do your parents need to ask for their children to help them pay their bills? How did they manage for the past 18 years without your financial support?
Reply 16
more adventurous
Why?

Why do your parents need to ask for their children to help them pay their bills? How did they manage for the past 18 years without your financial support?


Because you're no longer a kid, and since it isn't your house, you can't really expect to be given free accomodation. If you're made homeless or something, that's a different matter, but when you're perfectly capable of paying, it's hardly unreasonable.
Dionysus
Because you're no longer a kid, and since it isn't your house, you can't really expect to be given free accomodation. If you're made homeless or something, that's a different matter, but when you're perfectly capable of paying, it's hardly unreasonable.


It sort of is your house. Not technically, no, but for all intents and purposes, it's where you've lived for the past 18 years - therefore, it's your house. I can't imagine the type of parent that would say "Oh look, Happy Birthday, this ain't your house anymore."

If your parents were able to live comfortably for the first 18 years of your life and suddenly ask you to start paying rent, then the money is obviously just going to fund your parents' clothes and other luxuries. What kind of parent would ask their own children to fund their luxurious purchases? It's awful. Obviously it's different if they have actual financial need - but I suspect that's not the case for most of you.

Furthermore, why live at home if you have to pay the same amount that it would cost you to rent elsewhere? :confused:
Ah, my parents sound so generous. I don't have to pay anything but it depends on your situation. Personally, i have to retake anatomy, so i have to revise for that, plus i've got 5 weeks of work experience to get on top, so i simply have no time to get a job. My parents see that forcing me to get a job isn't practical and it would actually harm my studies and future, so they support me.

My friends who aren't doing anything/bumming around generally get charged board and lodging for staying at home. To be honest, having a 3 month holidays between uni years, what else are you going to do? Sure, you could go on holiday for say a month, socialise with friends for a while, but i know i'd soon run out of money and get bored.

The other alternative is actually helping out around the house, you have to do it at uni, why not at home. Cleaning and cooking isn't particularly difficult, or am i mentally and physically superiour? Surely helping out would reduce your board and lodging cost? Or is it too difficult? Am i really mentally and physically superiour?

Plus, i have a friend whose parents charged him board and lodging while he was living at home after school. He thought it was a bum deal but when it came to him looking for a house to buy, his parents handed him a lump sum of about £10k. While he was paying lodging fees, his dad had invested it into a high interest savings account for him to use as a deposit on a future house. If his dad hadn't done that he'd probably have spent it on getting drunk and still be nowhere.

And paying £250 a month is a good deal. At uni i pay £3k a year tuition fees. £3-4k a year on accommodation and about another £3k on living expenses, socialising, books, materials, etc (and in later years that can only go up). I'd love to have £500 a month to spend on whatever i want, not food, laundry, rent, transport, etc.
Reply 19
I pay £250 a month to my mum, even when I am away.