Are We Being Tight?

[Brigade77]

<wipes tear> I'd give my left testacle for that feeling we got when holding a fat pay packet with real money inside </wipes tear>

 

[Brigade77]

I was 17 when I bought home my first pay packet bigger than my dads, & me mam said it nearly killed him. He earned £120pw & I pulled £140 that week. IIRC I was paying £20pw board which I used to pay in all the change I got from 80p pints of lager

 

[Takelitterhome]

<wipes tear> I'd give my left testacle for that feeling we got when holding a fat pay packet with real money inside </wipes tear>

Lol....the real tears started when your wages were a few quid short.

 

[Bodd]

We now have all three of our offspring at home.

Eldest lad has had a job for a good few weeks and the middle one starts tomorrow.

Youngest is in L VIth.

They (both the working lads) are resisting (the eldest quite strongly) paying a contribution towards food and utilities.

We are asking £50 per week for the eldest and a bit less for middle son as his take-home is less.

Are we being unreasonable?

Not at all. My mum never took anything off me and that I think was wrong as it never gave me that sense of responsibility with money. Its about preparing then for life as well as anything else........ make em do the house work too.

 

[securespark]

We push them all to do some of that.
They are most reluctant and will be even more so when they have to pay a contribution to the food etc....

 

[JP_]

I guess it depends really. If you are loaded then maybe other ways to encourage them to be responsible, such as using the money they are not spending on rent to go towards a deposit on a home in future.

I expect at least one of my kids to hang around for a while, and if he gets an apprenticeship after school I won't expect him to pay much, maybe enough to cover his xbox, and some food money. And his gym membership! He's only 14, but goes to the gym 2-3 times a week, so hopefully he can pay for that himself soon!

 

[ReganAndCarter]

, but if your total rent income comes to more than £144.23 p/w (7,500pa), you should declare the income for tax purposes.

 

[conny]

Left school and worked in a piano repair shop for 2 weeks. Earned £5 per week, (for 40 hours!), and mum took £2.50 both weeks for housekeeping. The other £2.50 paid my bus fares and lunch. Third week I started my apprenticeship and had to work a week in hand so she subbed me. When I got my first wage packet it contained £12 something but to earn that I had worked a 54 hour week! 5 x 8 hour days plus 2 hours overtime each night and 4 hours on the Saturday morning. She took £6 off me and I thought I was well off with the remainder!

 

[crystal ball]

Left school and worked in a piano repair shop for 2 weeks. Earned £5 per week, (for 40 hours!), and mum took £2.50 both weeks for housekeeping. The other £2.50 paid my bus fares and lunch. Third week I started my apprenticeship and had to work a week in hand so she subbed me. When I got my first wage packet it contained £12 something but to earn that I had worked a 54 hour week! 5 x 8 hour days plus 2 hours overtime each night and 4 hours on the Saturday morning. She took £6 off me and I thought I was well off with the remainder!

You should think yourself lucky, we lived in a cardboard box..... happy days no money no worries

 

[ReganAndCarter]

You should think yourself lucky, we lived in a cardboard box..... happy days no money no worries

You had a cardboard box?? We only had the sports page of The Daily Mirror for shelter.

 

[crystal ball]

You had a cardboard box?? We only had the sports page of The Daily Mirror for shelter.

Luxury

 

[Brigade77]

<wipes tear> That Monty Python sketch would be very funny if some of us didn't actually live that way back then.

One of my bestest mates when I was young came from a BIG family & his dad was disabled & unable to work. I never realised just how important to him our friendship was, he used to come home from school with me & 'me mam' used to feed him.

Years later, I had a brief fling with one of his sister's & something she said really struck home. "We were poor but we were loved, we thought everyone lived like this".

He's still a BIG mate of mine. He owns & runs a popular fast fit tyres & exhaust type garage & I'm his landlord, one of the first & probably the best investments I ever made. </wipes tear>

 

[Smufter]

Started paying my Mum something as soon as I started work.
Couldn't imagine it any other way.
My first weekly wage was about £7.00 if I remember correctly.
I think I used to give her £2.50.