This Mom Found a Clever Way to Teach Her Millennial Son About Money

How much does it cost parents to support adult children living at home?

One Toronto mom decided to find out — and prove a point to her “unappreciative” son.

The son, known only as Chalipo, posted the story to Reddit, saying “Mom gave me an invoice for supporting me for 13 months. Charged me $1,000 for being an unappreciative ass****.”

He shared a photo of the invoice, which detailed 14 lines of products and services his mother said she has “delivered free of charge for the last 13 months ALONE,” plus one line for five years of tuition amounting to $23,550.

What Were the Charges?

“We got into a discussion that it doesn’t cost a lot for him to live here,” Chalipo’s mom, told ABC News.

He didn’t seem to get it.

She was fed up, and in a moment of motherly frustration, she drew up the invoice to show him just how much it cost her to support him.

The invoice’s grand total was $39,254.17.

If we remove the five years of tuition, the $1,000 ass**** charge and sales tax (yes, she included that), 13 months of living expenses for the 23-year-old add up to $11,838.20.

That’s $910.63 per month.

It’s hard to see those charges adding up when you don’t pay the bills each month. But, as Chalipo admitted, the invoice was a wake-up call.

“This was a very effective parenting technique and it has helped me to realize what an entitled little sh*t I have been,” Chalipo said in response to comments.

Mom Gets the Last Word

As they’re wont to do, Redditors tore apart the invoice in the comments.

Their questions demanded an explanation for the invoice they were never meant to see.

To their surprise, Mom was there to defend herself!

Warned by her son that the invoice was going online, she created an account on the site as momknowsbest64. Well played.

“Oh my goodness,” she replied to the scrutiny. “I was mad. Do you think I really meant to send this and have 3,000 [sic] people scrutinize the format? It was to make a point.”

We think her point’s been heard — loud and clear.

Your Turn: Are you an adult living at home with your parents? Or are you a parent with an adult child living at home?

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).