JCG posted:He's not alone. My elder, non-baseball son is at UCSB and it's amazing to see how poorly and expensively most kids there eat. Putting ours on a tight budget and forcing him to learn how to shop, cook, and eat healthy may be the best parenting decision we ever made. I think he's pretty proud of it too.
Not to pick at a scab but $230 x 7 = $1,610.When we left NoCal (Bay area suburb - cost very comparable to LA area) our utilities for a family of 4 in an approx 2,000 sq ft house were:
Gas & electric: $250 on the coldest month of the year. Otherwise more like $175.
Water/sewer: $150 (w pool and irrigation)
Internet + Cable: $200 (fairly high end package)
Trash: $100
So $700 tops. I'm assuming cell phone is on your plan and there would be no gardener or pool service.
Yeah, but I would assume this month's bill is for October or November which should be lower on electricity at least. They do have a pool, btw and he made the argument to me that they pay for pool cleaning. However, I looked at his rental contract and it specifically included that the landlord pays for that. The only thing I can think of is that these kids are stupid, have a water pipe leaking or broken and are simply paying the bill without questioning why it's so high...or someone's scamming six other kids who don't have the life skills to question the bill.