How do you kick grown adult children out of the house when they refuse to find work, keep a job, pay their own bills/rent, constantly ask for money, won’t help around the house doing chores, won’t stick to the contract agreement rules, and are disrespectful and verbally abusive towards their parents? Parents, do you have “yuckies” living in your house? Kick ‘em out of the house with a steel toe boot. Enroll in Tough Love 101.

In the U.S., grown adult children living at home with their parents well into their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s are typically called “Millennials” or “boomerang kids” from the Boomerang Generation (also known as the Peter Pan Generation). Problem is, they’re not kids, but full grown adults fully capable of working and taking care of themselves and living on their own.

Reasons to Kick Adult Children Out of the Parents Home

“Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”

Learning how to be an adult does not include believing in the mythical story of Neverland, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, where kids don’t want to grow up and face the reality of becoming mature, self-supporting adults. These are often entitled grown “kidults” who refuse to grow up, unwilling to take on the adult responsibility of being independent and self-sufficient, without regular and routine financial help from their parents. Let the pixie dust twinkle in your grown children’s eyes, but it’s time to wipe it from your own and begin to see clearly what you’ve been dealing with for far too long.

Italians call these grown kids “mammon”, or “mama’s boys”. The Japanese call them “parasaito shinguru”, or “parasite singles”. In the U.K, these grown adults are called “kids in parent’s pockets eroding retirement savings”, which is short for “kippers”. The latest acronym used to describe boomerang kids returning to the family nest is “yuckie”, which stands for “Young Unwitting Costly Kid”, while the newest nickname for the parents is “baby gloomers” instead of baby boomers.

Note: This is not about grown children whose parents are helping without enabling, who allow their adult kids to live in their house temporarily, perhaps right after college graduation, while the kids do everything possible to find some kind of gainful employment to pay their own bills and make ends meet. Temporarily allowing adult kids to move back home, pay rent and help out around the house with clearly established boundaries, can be advantageous for the parents and the kids on a verrry short-term basis.

“If you want your children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.” -Abigail Van Buren

The problem of adult children moving back home with parents, and staying at home longer than absolutely necessary, was the focus of a 60 Minutes segment called “The Millennials Are Coming” (referring to the “Millennium generation,” or those born between 1980-1995). Addressing the growing problems associated with adults who have a sense of entitlement in our society, many young adults believe they have the right to quit their jobs for frivolous reasons and job-hop to their hearts content. On their parents dime.

“Today more than half of college seniors move home after graduation. It’s a safety net, or safety diaper, that allows many kids to quickly opt out of a job they don’t like.”

What’s not to like? Someone else pays the bills, worries about paying the mortgage and taxes, takes care of the yard work, free cooking and maid services – some parents actually doing their grown kids laundry! It’s like these “kids” have a personal butler, housekeeper and a super-rich uncle all rolled into one – you, dear ‘ol mom and dad.

Christine says this about the 60 Minutes episode:

“Living at home gives these kids an opportunity to be choosy about their job choices. If they don’t like the way their boss treats them, they have the luxury of quitting and living with parents until they find their next job. Kids no longer have to settle on a job. It’s no longer uncommon to have several jobs on your resume.

But is that all bad? [...] The Millennials are pushing for change in the workplace. Change I like. Companies are now offering fun and flexibility to attract and keep workers.”

Having been overly-praised and coddled throughout their childhood and teenage years, many young people believe they deserve and fully expect to be rewarded for four years of college education (of course paid for in full by their parents – plus spending money) with a job paying $50,000 immediately after slipping off their graduation cap and gown. Besides the unrealistic expectation of being very well paid right off the bat, the job has to be “fun” and offer a “flexible” schedule too. Or not.

Perhaps these twentysomethings, thirtysomethings and older adult kids have been spending too much time reading and perpetuating Ryan’s Easy Entitlement Excuses for Slackers and moochers advice about adult responsibility and independence, which brought on lots of negative, but well-deserved comments and reactions.

“By moving home after graduation, you have little or no rent which allows for more freedom when searching for a job. There is no need to sell out to an investment bank if your real goal is to work with underprivileged children. Depending on where your parents are located, you are probably missing out on the big city night life and social scene, but you have lots of opportunities to find the perfect job, regardless of pay. If ditching the social scene for career sake doesn’t demonstrate responsibility and independence, I don’t know what does.

Moving home with mom and dad will immediately save you about $700 a month in housing costs. At least there is some extra cash flow. In two years, you can save up enough to move out on your own without worrying about going into credit card debt for basic necessities like fixing your car or buying groceries.”

Read those two paragraphs again, slowly. The first mistake many well-intentioned parents make when grown children move back home is not requiring the kids to pay rent, and I’m not talking about a measly hundred bucks a month either. If your adult children have the idea that living with you in your house means they have lots of time and opportunity “to find the perfect job”, including their numerous excuses, excuses to the contrary, you’re in deep trouble.

“Too often we give our children answers to remember rather than problems to solve.” -Roger Lewin

Parents, if you need good reasons why you should kick out your grown adult children, or your kids are lazy slackers who treat your home like a free bed-and-breakfast or hotel, read Ryan’s ridiculous article and the comments for a real eye-opener. Kick ‘em out. Drop the guilt complex too. You are not a people pleasing doormat for your adult kids to wipe their dirty feet on. If you don’t let go of the guilt nonsense, your grown kids are going to try and use it against you. They know your emotional hot buttons and kids push those buttons until parents give in, or until parents use tough love and make it perfectly clear the manipulation attempts and guilt-tripping won’t work.

Just like this story about Mike and his mom’s attempts to move him out of the house, kids will pull every trick in the book including, ambivalence, dismissal, out of hand rejection of the whole idea, yelling and swearing, anger, declaring that his parents have given up on him or hate him, announcing they will never see him again, enlist the “help” of relatives, etc. Kick ‘em out anyway.

How to Kick Grown Children Out

If your grown kids have basically become a permanent fixture on your couch, or are not fulfilling their part of the contracted arrangement by putting in the time and effort to find a job and move out on their own, the freeloading and mooching stops now. If you have been spending months or years trying your darndest to get a lazy, unmotivated, abusive, disrespectful adult child to move out on their own, implement Tough Love 101.

“In the final analysis it is not what you do for your children but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.” Ann Landers

Close your wallet or checkbook and put up a handmade sign over “their” bedroom door saying the bank of mom and dad is hereby closed for business, effective immediately. Parents should not enable their grown children, keeping them from growing up and becoming independent, by giving them money when they are old enough to earn it for themselves. Doing so deprives and cripples them of the opportunity and need to grow into mentally, emotionally and spiritually mature human beings providing for their own needs and wants. Encourage and motivate, yes. Enable, no.

Decide on a move-out date and circle it in red on the calendar, then place it in a location in plain sight and mark off each day that passes towards the final move date. Have a formal, sit-down conversation with your adult child(ren) and explain the move-out date and that it is nonnegotiable. No extensions are allowed. Whether it’s 30 days, 60 days or 90 days is up to you parents, but the maximum number of days is ninety. Moving out sooner is fine (and preferred), but no compromises to the set date may be made that extends their stay.

Greatly reduce the comfort level of your grown kids home environment in order to force them to leave home, finally. That means stop cooking for them; stop cleaning up after them; stop doing their laundry; stop being their taxi service or chauffeur; stop giving them money for any reason; stop paying their bills; stop buying their favorite foods, drinks, alcohol, snacks and cigarettes on your dime. Do not give handouts of money for food, clothing or entertainment either. Parents are also under no obligation to include adult children to tag along, and pay for expenses, when mom and dad go out for an evening of fun.

Remove the TV and remote from their bedroom, along with other electronic devices and unnecessary luxury items, and implement a “no friends over” rule. Put a padded lock on your bathroom and bedroom doors and hang onto the key, where you can hide or lockup items your grown kids should not have free access to. Shut off and discontinue service to all non-essentials: internet, cable and mobile cell phone services. By this point, your kids will likely have gotten a clue that you mean business and they need to move out. No if, and’s or but’s about it.

If not, then some tough love advocates advise making things disappear around the house. Things like toilet paper in bathrooms other than your own, paper towels, napkins, use of the microwave (hide it away), closet hangars etc. Before I would go so far as to start dismantling beds and hiding away stuff these kids leave around, I would be more inclined to simply ask for the house key, open the front door and escort the kid outside and close the door and lock it. Then change the locks or have a locksmith come and do it.

Understand that many of these suggestions and ideas are intended as a last resort, when you’ve tried everything else to motivate, help without enabling and encourage your grown kids to move out on their own. Where they belong. This is not about being a control freak or controlling the lives of your grown children.

The question of how to throw grown children out of the house is, by far, one of the most frequent questions I have received by parents to date. This is about restoring the peace and tranquility to your home and marriage, and your own financial stability and wellness before you parents and/or grandparents lose your entire savings or retirement accounts to unmotivated, lazy, entitled slackers and moochers who have overstayed their welcome in your house. No more free rides in life. Kick ‘em out once and for all. It’s for their own good, and yours.

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Are parents obligated to pay college tuition for their kids to attend college? Should parents pay for college or should college students be responsible for paying college related expenses including tuition, with or without their parents help? The question of who pays for college continues to be a controversial (sometimes heated) debate between kids planning to attend college, and their parents.

Parents, are you responsible for paying your kids college education or not? If parents are supposed to pay for college, how much should parents pay towards tuition, books, housing costs, transportation, gas, insurance, food, clothing, entertainment and miscellaneous expenses for college? Where do parents draw the line between helping kids attend college and not jeopardizing their savings and retirement accounts? To say that your retirement plans are more important than your children’s college funds is putting it mildly.

The all too common belief some people have that it is somehow a parents obligation to pay for college, as if parents “owe” their kids a paid-for college education, reeks of unrealistic expectations and a sense of entitlement in today’s society. Parents who cannot afford to pay for their kids to attend college, or choose not to pay some or all college expenses for their own personal or financial reasons, are almost made out to be bad parents.

These parents are accused of not loving their kids, not wanting their children to be successful in life, and not worthy of being called parents amongst other things. Loving your children has nothing to do with who is going to pay for college, or a parent’s desire for their kids to become successful, independent adults. In an article entitled “don’t pay your children’s college education”, the writer aptly points out that paying for college is not about love, sacrifice or devotion towards kids. There is much more to it than that.

So, parents have to pay for college if they have the money, right? Wrong. “How am I going to pay for my college education if my parents won’t pay, can’t afford to help, or refuse to fill out the FAFSA?” is a common question.

Who Pays For College?

Opinions on why parents should pay for college vs. parents who should not pay for college vary, as expected. Even “personal finance experts” can’t seem to agree. Words like should, must, have to, obligation, responsibility and similar terms used by college-aged kids expecting their parents to pay for all college expenses with little or no “skin in the game” themselves is ludicrous. I have yet to find a parenting manual that states parents must pay for their child’s college education, whether parents can afford the costs or not.

Don’t get me wrong, education is important. Many parents already do what they can to ensure their kids get a great education until high school graduation. But, parents do not owe their children a college education. Parents paying for college is not a kids “right” to a free ride through college, but is a parents choice to decide whether to pay or not pay for any part of their kids higher education, how much, and on what terms.

You can take loans for college but not for retirement. Even financial expert Suze Orman says it is financially irresponsible and downright dangerous for parents to basically write a blank check from the bank of mom and dad to pay for their kids college education, or take out a second mortgage to pay for college. IF parents can afford to pay for college and choose to do so, then by all means pay for your child to go to college to whatever degree you are financially able to do so, without sacrificing your savings account or retirement account.

How to Pay For College

Planning ahead towards college costs with money set aside in a 529 plan for your kids education is a smart option for parents, if they choose to and can afford it. Parents can also help their children look for scholarships, federal grants, student loans and sources of “free money” for college. For those in Canada, similar to a 529 plan is an RESP, or Registered Education Savings Plan. It’s a tax-free savings account you can open up for your child and contribute money to until he or she attends post-secondary. Anyone can contribute; the lifetime limit is $50,000 per beneficiary.

Do not allow your children, or society in general, to guilt-trip or demand that you pay for your child’s college education if you cannot afford to pay or choose not to pay for your kids to go to college. It is entirely up to you, the parents.

I couldn’t help but laugh when I read this article suggesting the “federal government and the schools consider it the family’s primary responsibility to pay for the child’s education”, wrongly implying that parents are legally required to pay for college. Let the whining and moaning commence. Parents who have college-aged kids have already fulfilled their responsibility to their kids education throughout elementary, middle/intermediate and high school. The article about the federal government even suggests kids who have Christian or religious parents should hurl scripture quotes from the Bible at parents in order to manipulate or coerce parents into paying for college.

Should parents pay for college or should parents make kids find a job and work through college to help themselves get a great education? A parents legal and moral obligation to care and provide for their children ends when kids reach the age of 18 and they are considered to be adults in the U.S. While parents have an obligation to care for minor children and provide them the best education possible, parents are not obligated or responsible for adult children. Unfortunately, many parents continue to pay for and enable their grown kids anyway.

If you are a parent researching information on the advantages and disadvantages of paying for all or some of your kids college education, carefully consider and bookmark these devil’s advocate articles on who should pay for college, and who should not pay and how helping pay for college can lead to trouble. The decision is ultimately yours, so choose wisely, unless you don’t mind eating cat food in your elderly years. The book The Best Way to Save for College-A Complete Guide to 529 Plans by Joseph Hurley comes highly recommended by finance expert Suze Orman.

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Gold diggers have been around for a very long time, with both men and women looking for an easy meal ticket without having to work hard to provide for their own needs, including gold digging wannabe’s looking for lessons on how to be a gold digger in order to live a high-society, high-maintenance lifestyle with someone else’s hard-earned money. Knowing how to spot a gold digger can protect you and your assets from gold digging piranha, who pretend to genuinely care about you and love you, but are only in the relationship to get whatever they feel entitled to receive from you.

If you’re looking for information on how to be a gold digger, you are in the wrong place. Hit the back button and skidaddle, because your “it’s all about me” gold digging attitude is the bane of every woman’s (or man’s) existence. Gold diggers do not believe their attitude and actions are wrong because ‘truth is relative’ to them; they want it therefore it is right, and it is right because they want it.

Recognizing a gold digger, especially when you’re dating, can save you years of heartache as well as money, property and a wide range of assets. Do you know how to spot a gold digger early into a relationship, perhaps even on the first date, or have you already been taken for a ride by a gold digger and are now married to him or her?

What is a gold digger? According to the Urban Dictionary, the definition of a gold digger is “any woman whose primary interest in a relationship is material benefits. A woman who cares more about a man’s bank account than she does about the man. The closest male equivalent is a gigolo or boytoy.” My own definition would be more along the lines of a selfish, egotistical, narcissistic, money-grubbing skank with an extreme sense of entitlement that boggles the minds of those with any sense or moral compass.

Both men and women victims of gold diggers make common mistakes in the early stages of dating such as: buying expensive gifts for him/her, wining and dining at expensive restaurants, giving money to their date to help pay bills etc, usually in an attempt to impress the other person into continuing the new relationship or wanting to take the relationship to the next level before getting to know the real person behind the facade.

10 Things Gold Diggers Want to Know:

1. What do you do for a living?
2. How much money do you make?
3. Where do you live?
4. Do you own your own home?
5. What kind of car do you drive?
6. Do you have a boat? If so, what kind?
7. What kind of restaurants do you frequent?
8. Where do you like to shop for clothes?
9. What kind of watch or jewelry do you wear?
10. Do you have any children? If so, how many?

Gold diggers are a walking, talking, calculator. Every question or conversation that remotely relates to money is being used to calculate the percentage of the money that he/she feels entitled to benefit from, because they “deserve” it. Questions about how many children you have may appear to be harmless conversation, but the gold digger wants to determine how much of your time and money will go to the kids and how much time and money will be spent on him or her.

How to Avoid a Gold Digger

If you are looking to meet your soul mate, someone to spend the rest of your life with, take your time in getting to know the person. Beware of anyone who asks for money to pay bills, or even drops hints that they are struggling financially or can’t pay their own car insurance, because they are hoping you’ll take the hint and offer to give them money. Grown men and women should be able to take care of their own financial needs with hard work and effort, and if they’re not doing so due to poor money management or zero job skills, then you’re better off looking elsewhere.

Don’t be quick to pick up the tab at restaurants. Any self-respecting man or woman would come fully prepared to pay for their own meal (rather than running to the bathroom when the bill arrives), and that old cliche about men always having to pay for meals is ludicrous, especially in the early stages of dating. If your date demands or expects to be taken to the fanciest and most expensive fine dining restaurants in town, regardless of whether you can afford it or not, red flags are flying and this gold digging behavior should be taken as a major sign of trouble to come.

Don’t take your date shopping, especially in the early months of the relationship. If and when you do decide to being shopping with him or her, pay close attention to verbal and non-verbal clues that may indicate the tendency to only want to shop in high-end, expensive stores or boutiques. Gold diggers expect to be pampered, catered to and coddled on your dime, rather than spending their own money on the things they need or want.

Find out the girl or guy’s real values, ethics and morals through meaningful conversation, remembering that “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. Use your God-given intuition and intelligence to choose someone to spend your life with that shares your own moral values, rather than being fooled by the experienced and seasoned gold diggers in this world that are selfishly seeking to extract your money out of your wallet.

Understanding how to spot a gold digger from the get-go will not only save you from being taken financially when dating, but will also save you from marrying a gold digger and possibly losing everything you worked so hard to achieve in life.

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