Double the Fun

H. continues to look for a job. So he says, anyway.

A couple weeks ago, I put my foot down and said that he will spend 16-20 hours per week working for us and/or looking for a job. The kid goes to school three times a week - T, W & Th evenings. Not a full schedule by any stretch of the imagination. He was sleeping until noonish, getting up, eating, heading out to 'chillax' with friends, going to school. Staying up until the wee hours of the morning and then repeating the same stuff the next day. I told him flat out that this life he is living is NOT an acceptable option for an eighteen year old adult living with his parents. He needs to work. He needs an income. He needs to be way busier than he currently is doing things that are far more productive than chillaxing. Sure, he can and should have a social life...but not 10-12 hours a day of social life.

So now, he works for us. And I work hard coming up with a task list. We pay him $9 an hour - and mostly, we accrue the amount he's earned against the amounts he owes us. Phone, car insurance, gasoline, etc. I give him some cash (limited) now and then. We took away his debit card a month ago 'cuz he kept using it without realizing he had absolutely no money in the account. He never checked his balance - just spent. I had been monitoring and moving money from his savings to his checking but realized that by doing that, he had no concept of how much he was spending. So now, we have the debit card. He has very, very little cash and he works for us.

It sucks for him. I know that. But he keeps busier with stuff around the house. One of his recent chores was cleaning the baseboards in the bathroom - and he did such an amazing job. Used an old toothbrush and scrubbed every inch of them. They look brand new! He works hard and he's very good at anything he does. He realizes that his work for us is paying his monthly 'bills' - so he keeps at it. He doesn't complain, doesn't whine. Gets up reasonably early and gets to work. He also does go out and look - he is hopeful about getting a seasonal job at the pumpkin patch in Lathrop - and hopefully being kept on for their Winter Wonderland, too.

This week, I have him working on the backyard. And in addition to paying him, I'm attempting to find money in our budget to buy stuff for outside. We've been wanting to clean out some of the flower beds, put down the weed guard mesh and then put down bark - realizing that our yard has become incredibly high maintenance and while I have visions of beautiful beds filled with fresh flowers and all kinds of blooms, it's usually weeds and grass and it takes hours and hours of time to keep up. Our gardener's idea of weeding is using the weed whacker and just chopping them back (vs. good old fashioned pulling them out by their roots). So we're using bark to fill in - should be much less maintenance. H. went with me to Orchard Supply and helped load and unload 10 bags of bark. We've started finishing up the weed/grass pulling, putting down the weed guard paper and putting the bark down. Only 8 more bags to go! Progress! (Sort of!).

He is picky about finding a job. He needs to give up his 'dream' job (warehouse work 'behind the scenes' is what he wants to do) and work wherever they are hiring. I'm getting pretty frustrated with him - because there are jobs in town. Kids ARE getting hired. They may be working at jobs they don't particularly enjoy - but they are working. H. needs to do the same. I told him yesterday that one of these days, I will pull the plug on the 'parental work program' and he will be SOL. He won't have any funds for gas; won't be able to pay his car insurance; and that will be that. He'll have to look for other options - or better yet - find any job. ANY JOB.

I know we are making it too easy on him. I know. I want him to be 'self-supporting' as soon as possible. He's got to do something. I'm running out of things for him to do - and the funds to do them with. And I'm running out of patience.