Getting to know you - do you have kids, etc.

[Pat Mustard]

One son, 33yo, still dependent on dear old dad. Thankfully no grandchildren in the foreseeable future.

I must be a horrible mother...when son was 29 he wasn't holding up his end of the bargain living here rent free.  The bargain was that he was to be taking classes and working toward a degree.  He was employed full time and had great benefits.  He also seemed to think I was his personal maid...nope.  He got in a mood one day and said some things he shouldn't have said and I gave him till the end of that year to move out.  He bought a house three months later on the other side of town.  His old bedroom is now my office/sewing room.  Boy, was buying a home and buying his own groceries a wakeup call.

I moved back home about ten years ago, deep in the recession, as I was doing a government funded post graduate and it would save me money, enough to be able to travel to do the post-grad. While unemployed I paid €20 a week did half the cooking and about 75% of the manual labour. After I got gainfully employed the rent went up to €50 (despite me wanting to pay more) and a slight reduction in big labour (less time). I also took over fuelling, taxing and insuring my mother's car in the year between getting my full licence and being able to buy my own car.

Needless to say, all this was a huge bargain compared to renting. I have since moved out because I had to move on promotion.