How much to charge for board?

[mcmich]

My 19yr old step daughter is about to move home with us. She will be in the granny flat.
I was wondering what the going rate for board is and what does it include?
I think I charged my son $60 a couple of years ago when he was living at home.
She works at a local real estate agent and is going to taffe so I think she only earns a basic wage.

[cookie1]

Will she be eating with you Michele? Will she be doing her own washing and ironing?
I guess the best thing would be to sit down with her and discuss it.

[mcmich]

She will be doing her own washing and ironing, there is a laundry space in the granny flat with a washer and dryer. Buying her own toiletries and doing for the most part her own cooking. Although as she loves to cook and DH works evenings, I thought we could cook together and she will be company.

[cookie1]

That sounds nice, and sensible too.

[judydawn]

We always paid 1/3 of our wage but that included food and washing etc and besides that, it was way back in the dim, dark ages almost 50 years ago when I started off on a wage of 5 pound 1 shilling a week  I'm sure things have changed.  I have completely forgotten how much my girls paid when they were at home which would have been a better figure to quote but still over 20 years ago. You will get much better answers from those on here with teenage children Michele and hopefully both you and SD will be happy with it.

[Yvette]

I used to charge mine $50 but they ate with us.

[mcmich]

Thanks ladies. So what I want is to make her have a taste of reality, be responsible and pay her way without crippling her financially.
My son and his girlfriend pay Sydney prices to rent a studio/granny flat. Our granny flat is very spacious in comparison.
So will take Cookies advice and have a chat to her with DH present (so I don't end up being too much of the wicked stepmother) and see what each of our expections are?

[CreamPuff63]

DD24 lives with us and has a job. She pays for her personal toiletries and bills and pays rent of $50 per week. I think I would have put it up to $100 if she hadn't bought herself an apartment earlier this year.  She is moving out for 6 months as part of the 1st home buyers and may or may not move back depending on how she can manage financially with the mortgage and little incoming rent proceeds. It's good to charge them a reasonable rate even tho it wont cover the cost of having them home, otherwise they will get a huge shock when they move out and you want to instil some sort of budgeting skills so they can cope.

[mcmich]

Exactly CP. I want Kate to have the responsibility of paying her own way but she isn't earning a lot. Doesn't matter where you live you need to pay your way and there are rules. I remember talking to your DD on retreat and she was saying how she had a foot in the market. So good. My DD and SIL bought their first home on the same scheme. All a learning curve for them.

[Kimmyh]

I paid $40 but that was 10yrs ago. It was put in place purely as a responsibility thing and helped me learn to budget and save. My DH's mum charged 1/3 of wages.  She banked this and gave it back to him as a house deposit when we got engaged.

[snappy]

I think $50 is reasonable mcmich.  Especially if she is doing her own washing and buying all her own toiletries.  You want to give her the opportunity to save a bit whilst she is living with you so that later she has the money for a rental bond later.

[obbie]

Michelle, you are so good to your step daughter.

Its cheap compared to the real world of renting, electricity, insurance, food, ect.

[gertbysea]

I would charge her at least $70 a week. When she goes I would give her a gift of $20 X however many weeks . Then she will learn how much a saving of $20 a week can be. 5 cups of coffee at a takeaway can be    $20 a week .  Discuss it with her dad before hand and see if he agrees.  She will grateful for the money and the lesson believe me. Definitely do not tell her you are doing it.

Gert

[consumerate]

My older siblings were never reliable enough to actually pay board so in the end they were allocated bills to pay. I think one paid electricity and the other paid the phone bill. I lived in mum and dad's house for three years while they were interstate. I paid all of the bills for the house but didn't pay any rent. I was at uni at the time. So I suppose, there are all manner of ways you could do it. Just try and figure out what will work best for everyone.

[kt2]

When I got my first job at 14 or 15, I started paying board but in the same way consumerate did with electricity, gas and my phone usage. I remember they all had cards which you could put money on to at the post office and then when the bill was due the amount I had paid was taken off the account. It worked really well as some weeks you could pay more on to these cards than others. Gosh, it's amazing to think how far technology has come since then.... Paying bills at the post office was a weekly task, now there's Internet banking etc. (oh dear, I sound like my mother speaking!  )