How much should an u/e adult child pay into the household?

I know, it's a bit of a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string question. But son is now unemployed and living back at home. I'd no problem supporting him during the long drawn out process of claiming unemployment, especially as (being under 25) he's assessed on my means. An extremely unpleasantly intrusive process. Anyway, he's now getting €188 per week, and is willing to contribute to the household. There's only the 2 of us. My gross income is c 41K, and my mortgage is 1600 pm.


When working, he was paying €100 per week out of a 21K income. We are skirting around the issue, no figures mentioned so far

What would be a fair amount? Thanks!



Oooops! Just saw the other thread on this - but the offspring were working and finished college. Mine is/was trying to save for college, having I hope overcome his spendthrift ways. But Mods, do merge if you feel it's warrented.

If you apportion it on the basis of what you were taking from the 21k wage, then it would be like this...

5,200/21,000 = 25% of his working wage he was handing up

25% of 188 dole per week = 47 per week to hand up leaving him with 141 per week.

Will 47 per week be any good for you though?

What is your net take home pay in relation to your 1,600 mortgage payment?

You could let him contribute n save the money for him without telling him if u can afford it...if he supposed to be saving having a tight budget no harm...

What Sandals said, (if you don't need the cash).

I have asked one third of what they earn. It's reasonable and it shows them what to expect when they are paying rent and utilities in the real world.
If you wish to put that money aside for his (hopefully) future education that is up to you.
Personally, with my grown up family, I found that a little financial discomfort was a wonderful encouragement for applying for a job or a college place and for them to have a reality check about who was going to support them for the rest of their life!

Thanks all. I don't know what my net take-home pay is due to being self employed, it varies month to month. It used be a lot more! So I do need the contribution. I'd love to be able to save it for him, but it's just impossible at the moment. (I'm paying more on the mortgage than strictly necessary, but I need to get ahead on it in case the income drops any more.)

If I can possibly add to this which seem appropriate. My Granddaughter is living with use and she pays €50 a week, it does not take care of all cost but pays for food.
Just a small point you may think about, she has a part time job and is applying for a Medical Card, on the form it requires what she pays out, she called it rent and I said no its not there is no rent book and that the Tax will be after use, its just keep (no capital gains)

Gordanus said:

Thanks all. I don't know what my net take-home pay is due to being self employed, it varies month to month. It used be a lot more! So I do need the contribution. I'd love to be able to save it for him, but it's just impossible at the moment. (I'm paying more on the mortgage than strictly necessary, but I need to get ahead on it in case the income drops any more.)

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@Gordanus:- Make sure your mortgage agreement allows for this. Some don't i.e they don't really care about overpayments in the past if you default in the present!

@Roker:- The taxman will not be after you as you can claim/should be claiming claim Rent-a-room relief. The fact that there is no rent-book does not mean its not rent either. To be exact, some proportion of what is being paid is for rent and the rest for food.