Student Loan Debt?

[Tinhack]

I live pretty high on the hog with steak, pork ribs, pulled pork, chicken breast fillets and shrimp. Including various microwavable items for quick meals, I don't spend $1450 a month on food. My bathroom scale will testify I'm not starving. That kid needs a diet.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Anything my son "wants" comes from his work. We will pay $50 for a pair of shoes. He wants $150 shoes? Better pick up a shift. We provide educational opportunities through some summer camps and missionary work, which we fund. But pure "wants"... That's on him. Apple watch? Fancy shoes? $135 cologne? iPhone? He pays for all of that, and he is 14.
We did fund his college education, but he will nearly have an associates degree when he graduates HS at age 16... And those classes were all free to us. So we will fund his last two years only.
It's ok for him to want, as long as he is also willing to work for it. I think a large part of my responsibility as his father is to educate him, to the best of my ability, driving a 2007 Saturn, without making him a slave to debt.
Oh, and if he "wants" to go to a hyper expensive university and exceeds his college savings, that is on him. His wants, are his responsibility. His needs, are mine. And those are two distinctly different things.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I live pretty high on the hog with steak, pork ribs, pulled pork, chicken breast fillets and shrimp. Including various microwavable items for quick meals, I don't spend $1450 a month on food. My bathroom scale will testify I'm not starving. That kid needs a diet.

Our monthly budget for 3, one being a teen boy, is $500.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Adding my son to my car insurance was $300/month.
During the school year he does not get many hours at work.
School lunch is $200/month.
Supplements for him going on dates/out with friends about $100/month.
Food, well that is expensive, he's a teen, so that $1450 does not sound so far fetched.
Add in clothes etc. etc.

Worth every penny, but it does cost with our great current economy.

IF my parents poured out money for me, like you are doing for your son, I would have thought that I had died and went to Heavan!!!

I had to work for what I got and I'm glad I did. because now I know what a dollar is, and how to save it, for what I WANT!

SR

 

[paulsharvey]

Our monthly budget for 3, one being a teen boy, is $500.

Shoot; with 5 of us, we are probably at $300-350/week at the grocery store. Now, that's not 100% groceries, and includes general stuff, like dish soap, toilet paper, laundry stuff, ect.

 

[paulsharvey]

IF my parents poured out money for me, like you are doing for your son, I would have thought that I had died and went to Heavan!!!

I had to work for what I got and I'm glad I did. because now I know what a dollar is, and how to save it, for what I WANT!

SR

Honestly his numbers aren't that extreme at all.

Let's say they have their own car, doesn't matter even if they pay their own insurance, because they live in the household, your insurance will go up atleast $300/month.

$200/month for school lunch, it's about half that around here, but it is what it is

Heck, clothes, even if you say 8 pair of pants and 12 shirts per year, and 1 pair of boots; that works out to be $50/month bare min.

With my son. he worked all year (just had to quit because they wouldn't let him take prom night off, and I don't blame him), he probably bought 70% of his own clothes, paid most of the genetic senior stuff, maybe we ordered his cap/gown, think he paid for a trip to Busch gardens, his year book, we paided for some college applications, think he paid to retake the SAT, he paid for his own homecoming/prom, and his own dates. He owns is truck out right, (we gave him wife's old durnago, he traded that for his 1500HD), and he bought all his own gas, we did pay his insurance, his cell,

 

[paulsharvey]

Now, so, he made like $14,500 working in 2023, and I think he admitted; of that, $60 every 2 days on gas; or between $6250-8000 in gas; about $6/day on energy drinks ($2000), and about $8/day that he worked (5 days per week) on food at work ($40/week; another $2080).

We did have to help him pay for a couple truck repairs, and gifted him 2 tires at 2022 Christmas, and another 2 later for his birthday.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

I always tell young guys at work, if you want to be rich. Stay single and kidless.

 

[ultrarunner]

I always tell young guys at work, if you want to be rich. Stay single and kidless.

A good first marriage is common to many well to do…

No doubt children are expensive but managing low income rentals for years having a kid opens the doors to dozens of programs with Section 8 Housing being very valuable… $2800 rent with Section 8 of which tenant pays $50

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

Or marry a rich spouse