Will/Did you charge your children rent?

absolutely! they need to know that stuff in life is not free and that they need to pay for the luxuries. my daughter is almost 15 and i am hoping that she will get a summer job this week and pay us some money for things she has incurred such as a high cell phone bill (due to texting). she needs to learn that everything comes with a price. (oh, and i was charged rent as well when i was growing up!)

I sure would! I wouldn't use it though. I'd put it in a savings account which I would give to them when they were ready to move out, but I think its a good way of having them learn the true value of a dollar and how hard it is to earn one! I think that financial lessons should be mandatory and maybe it would help people get their credit in check. Good luck to you!

I plan to do the same thing as you. I already do in a way. All the money my kids get for birthday, christmas, what ever they have to put half in the bank and they can spend the rest on what ever. My family normaly sends my kids money AND sends money to be put in there 529 plans. They still have to put half of what they get away. It teaches then the value of a dollar now. My hope is that by the time they are of age to deal with money on there own they will know how to save money.

I think that is a great idea. My son is 18 and working. He has been working since he was 16. and he had to give me 10 bucks a week. what i did with that money was put it into an account so he had money for all the stuff he need for gratduation. which he did. and now that he is out of school and still working i have uped it to 25 per check. same deal into an account for when he moves into his own place

When I was old enough to start work, I started paying rent. I said to myself i'm not going to do that to my children. After they graduate highschool, and is still living with me, then I would expect them to help with things around the house, like food, and water, and such.

i think its ok to charge rent just to show them how to be responsiable and it not rent then they could help out with something like the light bill or cable bill or phone bill. my grandma started me with the phone bill since i was always on it lol then worked up to rent as i got older.you sound like you have a good plan it's like a security deposit that they get back when they move out.

I think its a great idea. My children are 10 & 8 and they are paid an allowance according to the chores that they have to complete. My oldest is paid more because she has more responsibility. When they want something that we don't feel is a necessity they have to spend their money, no exceptions. My daughter has learned to "value shop" because of this. My son is still catching on to the value of money. He believes he's rich if he has twenty bucks! I think the earlier you start the less trouble you'll have in those teenage years when kids seem to think that you owe them everything. At the age of 16 I was paid a hefty allowance of $150 per week for caring for my younger brother. $350 of that was paid back for rent and utilites at the end of every month. With the rest I purchased my own incidentals, special foods, extra shoes, trendy clothes and such. I even managed to have savings. I am grateful to my mom for this because I learned how to be responsible with my money before I had any real world pressures.