Should I have to pay rent?

You know I couldn't help, but notice you throw the fact that you do chores around like it's some kind of get out of jail free card for why you shouldn't have to pay. I pay rent, electric, gas, water, cable/internet, phone, and credit card not to mention insurance and all the other little bills I'm forgetting about. I work from Monday to Saturday and then I have to come home take care of my pets and do chores around my house. Normally I probably have an hour or two for myself before I have to go to bed. And you want to know the best part? I was about your age (maybe 20 I can't remember exactly) when I got my job and moved out of the house.

This has nothing to do with us being 'old fashioned' this has nothing to do with you having "the rest of your life' ahead of you (because believe me you don't) and this defiantly doesn't have anything to do with your parents taking money from you because they're mean. It sounds to me like this is a wake up call that you desperately need on how to be a responsible and functioning adult and I applaud your parents for taking such a practical step in teaching you.

Edit: Just wanted to note in case this comes up that I don't have a horrible life either. I still have fun and find time to enjoy myself and make the most of what little I have because I learned a long time ago how to balance all the stresses in my life as best I can. Yes I do have some lows, but such is the nature of human existence.

2nd Edit: Here's the thing, it's easy to look at it from an outsider perspective and say "Oh well this is so easy." I did as well when I first got out on my own, but when you actually get to the point where you have to be responsible for your own finances it's a lot harder then you might think. The things that come up, the temptations that you face all seem so simple until they're right there and you're forced to deal with them. Why do you think so many adults who should know better are up to their chins in debt? I even faced debt when I first started thanks to poor decisions that I thought I was to smart to fall prey to. You might not be happy about this and you might not feel it's fair, but in the end you're going to be thanking your parents for giving you this experience and giving you this knowledge ahead of time while you still have their home as a safety net should things fall through.

The question you should be asking yourself is as a working adult is there a reason you shouldn't pay rent?

ADDED:

It's not so much "learning" to pay rent. You already know it's something you'll have to do. What you need to learn is that nothing in life is free, and when you earn an income you will experience "outgo" and have to budget your money, set priorities, and all the things that go a long with being an adult.

When I wanted to test out of school at 16, my parents said okay, but if I didn't go to school I had to get a job. So I did. Then they said that if I was working, I should pay rent. So I did. I understand what you issue is except for a nasty case of immaturity. Yeah, I'd like to take time off from being personally responsible and hoard money, too. But that's not how it works.

Look at it from their point of view. Your mum and dad decided to have you and have never expected anything from you. Now that you are working you are bringing in your own money but still living at their home. Despite still doing housework and buying your own food, you now have money which can help towards the electricity and gas you are using. Full time job equals child growing up and that equals to paying rent and bills etc.

Take this as a lesson in life of what is going to come in a couple of years when you move out, just a lot more weekly. After all, £35.00 per week out of £280.00 a week is nothing.

And if you think they are mean, when I got my first part time job and took home £10.98 for a day's work, I had to pay my parents £5.00 rent a week!

KD

You are still young and do not understand life but your parents are trying to teach you to be responsible. You need to give something on rent because nothing in life comes to you free. This is a paying world and it is better that you learn this lesson now than later. $35.00 dollars is not a lot of money to pay and you look at the brighter side, when the job gives you raises, you will be able to keep this extra money and before you know it, you would have re-cooped the money that you have to allot to your parents right?:)

If you don't like the conditions, move.

(Somehow I suspect you couldn't find decent digs with all the amenities you may currently have for 35 pounds a week.)

You're officially an adult now, you have an education and, lucky you, you even have a job. Your parents are no longer obligated to provide for you. Anywhere else and you would be expected to pay.

In my family the rule was, if you're not in school, you pay rent, period. No discussion. No exceptions.

Playing the "it's not my fault I was born" card is really cliche and rather immature.

EDIT There's hardly anything "old fashioned" about taking responsibility for yourself and womaning up, as it were. You are an adult. Act like one.

MAN YOU ARE SOOOO CHEAP

12 years ago I was living on 916.00

a month and I had to pay seven hundred dollars

a month rent

and if you were MY child I would do the very

same thing to you

Yes charge you most of what you own

Could it have been your parents were supporting you and helping put you through college now that you have "completed" college they feel they no longer have that obligation.??

Pay the rent, you are no longer a little adult in high school.