Parents of boomerang kids paying £3,600 a year extra

The average child is not leaving home till they are 26 and older children who are still at home past the age of 23 cost parents around  £3,600 a year, according to a survey. 

The average child is not leaving home till they are 26 and older children who are still at home past the age of 23 cost parents around  £3,600 a year, according to a survey. 

A study carried out by Market Harborough Building Society of 477 parents of grown-up children aged 23 to 40, shows ‘boomerang children’ – kids who don’t permanently leave home – cost their parents an extra £300 a month in food, utility bills, nights out and ‘treats’.

Parents in this position will pay on average £29.90 on food shopping each week, as well as £12.78 on extra treats such as snacks and drinks they know their children like, according to the survey. Parents estimate they spend an additional £20.97 each month on utility bills, while they can expect phone bills to go up by £6.53.

Parents give their grown-up children an average of £21.52 a month towards nights out, and spend around £16.48 on getting in supplies when their children’s friends come round. Other costs include £25.11 towards a meal out with the family, pocket money to the tune of £5.56 and the odd tenner towards a shopping trip. Parents even feel they should pay for their adult children’s costs if the family takes a weekend away together, forking out on average £110.36 a year. And 42 per cent of ‘boomerang kids’ remain under their parent’s roof completely rent-free. 

A  third of all parents with children living at home have no savings left for their own future.

The report shows parents also help out with the day to day general care of their children – with 77 per cent doing all their washing and 29 per cent helping tidy their room. Seven in 10 mums think nothing of cooking an evening meal for their adult children each evening, and 62 per cent go on to wash the dishes for them after.

A quarter of dads get used to ferrying them about everywhere in the car, just as when they were children, and 21 per cent pick them up late from town in the evenings. Having their clothes ironed, having someone to confide in about relationships and advice about money are also other benefits of living at home with the parents.


Comments [1]

  • Victor Houghton says:

    This doesn’t sound right. "The average child is not leaving home till they are 26", and yet only the parents of children of 23 and over were polled. That average must be wrong – children between 18-22 will still be leaving home and yet they’re excluded from the survey.


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