Teens paying rent

[CamColt]

I went right from HS to full time work. I remained at home until I got married at 23. I never had to pay rent, as my parents said(and still do) its my house too. With that said, I was responsible with money, saved quite a bit which eventually helped DH & I to buy our dream house, and went to work every day. As long as I was working and not loafing around the house, taking advantage of the free room my parents were happy. Im sure I will be the same way with DSs, provided they are good responsible kids and dont give me trouble.

 

[CdnDisneyNut]

I did not have a part time job (worked weekends) until I was in college. I did have summer jobs while I was in high school (age 16 and up)
I did pay rent (I think something like $25 a month) during the summer months.
Once I graduated and still left at home I started to pay rent full time.

 

[goodstarr]

The money I paid my mom was not needed to pay the rent, although we were not rich, the bills were taken care of. She just always said no matter what I made, I should give her some (and later, when I was in college and came home summers and worked full-time, she considered the money to be for rent). I agree with those that say that it is my job to feed, house and clothe my child until she's out of college. I would ask her to put half of her money into savings and expect her to pay for her gas and help with car insurance if she owned her own car, though.

 

[Disney Doll]

My parents made my brother do this, because he wasn't a very good saver, but when he got married, they gave him the bank account with all the money he thought he was paying for "rent" in it.

I was a good saver, so they didn't make me do this.

 

[luvdisney81]

I had a friend who was required to pay rent when she began working. She paid for her own clothes, toiletries, school supplies, gas and so forth. She was required to take her siblings everywhere, still no gas money from the parents and she maintained much of the chores. Her siblings when they started working did not have to pay rent. She had since moved on to college. This is wrong in my opinion.

I began working at 16 when i was given my first car. Wasn't great but it worked. I was given 1 month of free maintenance by my parents. I was then required to pay all maintenance whether big or small, gas, insurance, taxes and so forth. I bought most of my own clothes, special toiletries and makeup, special foods, entertainment and so forth. My paretns still paid us an allowance for doing chores. When I graduated I was told I could go to college and live in the dorms and they would pay for it, meal plan and all. Anything other than that I forked up for. Or I could live at home rent free as always as long as I was a full time student. If I chose to move into my own place I had to pay for it all except tuition if I continued to be a full time student.

I think my parents have been very fair and they do help out when I need some $$ on occasion. But I must pay them back in full and maintain good grades. Anything less than a C- I pay back the tuition to them. I've learned my lesson on that one.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I don't agree with high school students paying rent, though I feel that they should be paying for some things... such as their social activities, clothes, car insurance, gas, etc. I bought a car at 17 and paid my own gas, maintenance, and payments - my dad paid the insurance on it.

Once they are graduated, I suppose there is nothing wrong with paying rent! I never had to, but I willingly did because my parents divorced and I lived with my mom who struggled financially. I gave her money often for rent and groceries and such.

 

[helenabear]

As a few others have also said, school was *my job* and anything other was a bonus. I was not allowed to work on school nights as well so that limited the amount I could work. My dad only charged rent after a small grace period (about 6 months or so) after college graduation. My dad figured that as long as we were in school, it was his responsibility to take care of us so we could finish school w/o worries.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My dh started working when he was 8 believe it or not. A man on his street owned a bike shop and gave dh a job "trueing wheels" and other stuff. He said he made $100 a week.

Yep it went to the house. They were poor. It wasn't "rent" but he did buy food and clothes.

My parents were poor money managers and at one point 3 of kids were working to support my fathers bad decisions. My brother was about 14 & my sis was 16 and was 20, around 1985. I had to drop out college.

Again it wasn't "rent" but well we had to eat and have heat.

FYI....my folks have since spent ALL OF THEIR money and are living in an apartment living paycheck to paycheck. Its sad.

 

[Planogirl]

I paid my Dad a small amount whenever I had a summer job. He applied it to auto insurance and maintenance though and covered the rest. It became my first bill and was a good teaching tool IMO.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Uh, no. I never paid rent from the time I was born until I moved out on my 18th birthday.

 

[cats mom]

I had to start paying rent as soon as I graduated fron high school - didn't really stay long after that anyway.
I was always responsible for my own car insurance, gas ,etc.
I started working at 15 and bought an old clunker to drive at 16

 

[Keli]

Ash doesn't work during the school year (she's a freshman in college) because her dad and I strongly discourage her. She has a difficult major and needs to maintain a 3.5 gpa to get into the grad school she's looking at so we pay her bills (she only has cell phone and insurance and gas). She works in the summer and makes enough money to cover incidentals. I don't know how long she'll be willing to keep this arrangement but I really hope it's a long time because I believe that it's giving her a good start on her future to get her through undergrad with a high gpa.

 

[zurgswife]

I worked from about 15 on....never paid a cent in "rent"...wow didn't realize parents did that..guess I was lucky....also moved back after college for a short time and never paid rent then either...doubly lucky I guess...

 

[my3kids]

I never paid rent as a high school or college student and I would NEVER ask for such from my children. I feel like my children are blessings, not tenants. I am lucky to have them; I wouldn't charge them for staying in our home.

 

[believe]

I personally think it depends on the child. If my DDs are unappreciative of me providing a home for them once they turn 18, even if they are in college...I will be charging rent. I will not have DDs taking it for granted. If they help around the house and don't try to take advantage of DH or I then I probably will not have them pay rent. It all depends on the life lessons they need to be taught. Until I get to that point I can not say what I will do.

 

[mudnuri]

both my brother and I had to pay for our own car insurance once we got jobs..we never had a 'family' car we always had our own. We also had to pay for our own gas etc..

We never had to pay rent, but we were expected to use our money wisely, and save for school clothes etc... which we both did. I think we also ended up buying our own toiletries, razors, shampoo etc...

We basically paid for everything that wasn't consumed as a family...ie. food/cable/lights etc..

I wont charge my kids to live with me, thats a bit odd I think...but if they want a certain shampoo that I dont buy- they can buy it...they also will be paying for their own car insurance and gas.....we will buy their car for them though

Brandy

 

[CyranoJones]

I would never have expected my daughter to pay rent in high school. She is now in college, and except for earning spending cash from selling her artwork and jewelry, and doing an occasional photography gig, we still support her. She is on full academic scholarship and that is worth a lot more than she could ever earn at a job that would put her GPA at risk. I know there are people who think that's wrong, but it's working fine for us.

 

[CEDmom]

My brothers and I were never expected to pay rent while in HS or college. All of us had various jobs during the summers and perhaps after school, but school always came first. During college we were expected to have summer jobs and use that money for books and entertainment. If we didn't get a job we had to work for mom doing chores. Believe me getting a job was a whole lot easier.

After college if we chose to live at home and were working then we had to pay rent. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I remember working with a guy who lived at home but didn't pay anything. He had a great car and went on nice vacations etc. I know for a fact his parents weren't able to do/have these things. That to me is wrong.

 

[peg2001]

Maybe rent is the wrong word. However, I really do believe that anyone in the family who is earning money should contribute to the family expenses. Here is what I am considering for my DD's:

Percent of take home pay:
10% - donate to charity
10% - contribute towards family expenses
30% - save for college/future
50% - discretionary spending, including all personal expenses

Peggy

 

[Auggietina]

My parents required me to pay rent when I was out of high school and did not return to college. When I moved out they gave me back 1/2 of it as a little something to get me started. It was a easy way to make me save, since I was not doing such a great job of it on my own.