For those of you with older kids at home, what do you do regarding dig money?
I’ve got an 18 year old and the agreement was that as long as he pitches in around the house (bins are his responsibility - emptying into the wheelie bins and putting out whichever one it is that week) and attends his college course then he can keep his money. He’s at college 2.5 days a week and then work for the rest, clearing around £900 a month.
The issue is he is always fucking “forgetting” to put the bins out. Even when I’ve bought him a fucking echo so he can set up reminders etc.
There’s myself, my wife and the 5 kids (10-18) so there’s a fuckton of rubbish. Missing it even once causes massive ballache. Thing is, he’s always forgetting.
Came to a head this morning because, once again, he forgot. This is after messaging me last night 15 minutes before he was due home asking to have someone stay, so I changed all my plans to accommodate. And the shit didn’t put the bins out again.
I feel like I’m going round in circles with him and it’s beginning to really affect me. Stressing to fuck over bins, what even is that!
Only thing I can think of is to start charging him dig money now. I’m sick bending over backwards for him not to pitch in with this one thing.
Does that seem reasonable? Or am I being a crabit bastard? What amounts are people taking from their weans etc here? Was thinking £100 since I easily spend more than that on keeping the lazy shit each month.
Edit to add - Dig Money meaning money he pays towards household expenses :)
Why don’t you give him other responsibilities, like cleaning the floor, dishwasher duty, etc. Something that wouldn’t stress you out if he doesn’t do it.
And if he doesn’t do that one, no money. That was the agreement right?
He’s “served his time” with dishes. He started work as a kitchen porter a few months ago, so we agreed that ge should get a pass on doing the dishes at home. The next oldest two kids have that fun task now!
Due to the time he gets off etc we agreed the bins were the best candidate. Get home; empty bins; stick em out if needed. But apparently it’s too big of an ask.
There’s a couple ways I see it. Make the negative consequence or positive reward enough that he makes the effort to remember on his own.
You could also talk him through what happens when bin night gets missed. Where does he think the trash will go? How often does trash go out and how quickly do the bins fill up? How long does it take to catch up on a missed night? Maybe don’t rescue him when he forgets and make him figure out the answer to those questions.