Glory box/hope chest, anyone still doing them?

[toomanyshoes]

I remember mum started one for me when I was pre teen but she ended up using everything herself

Anyway....

Does anyone still do them? What do you think of them?

I think it's a good idea to help kids/young adults start up when they first move out of home.

[DaintreeDream]

I am years away from it but I think it is a great idea although I never did get one myself. I did buy quiet alot whilst living 'at home' with my parents so I suppose they didn't feel the need to.

[Traveller]

In my final year of school my mum built up a sort of "new home start" kit with things like sheets, towels, cutlery, salt and pepper grinders, recipe book, etc. I guess that is a sort of hope chest, but I think all she was hoping was that I would leave home soon!

[Mother Goose]

My Dad gave me an old Army trunk and a set of knives. I filled it with other stuff (and then some) in my preperation to leave home. When I left, I had pretty much everything I needed. All I had to buy was fridge, washer, and a couch.

I will def start one for DD. DH and I are also thinking of keeping any board she pays and giving it back to her when she moves out.

[Lisa]

How funny that you posted this! About an hour ago I was having this discussion with my DS1 and we're going to start one for him this weekend. The first thing he wants are recipe books and he has begun to raid mine!

[AngelPants]

my mum her her side of the family did one for me and gave it to me for my 18th birthday.i still use everything i got given and i now have a beautiful blanket box as well. they were going to do one for my sis but she didnt want one (until i got one lol) and now shes at the stage of wanting to move out and has nothing to start out with so i personally think its a fantastic idea but not for everyone

[~Kim~]

My mum did that MG.
From about 16 often one of our birthday/christmas gifts with something to 'put away'. My board money became my bond for the RE when I moved out.

I will start one for both kids when they're a bit older....provided we have room to store stuff. Otherwise I will start an account for the purpose.

[DaintreeDream]

DH and I are also thinking of keeping any board she pays and giving it back to her when she moves out.

A friend of mines parents did this and it was given to them upon the purchase of their first house. I think it is a great idea if you can afford to do so.

We started by putting away $1 a day for each child when they were born, it is managable and with interest it might help them out a little. We also put any money they receive for birthdays etc into their accounts as they get more than enough gifts and are to young to understand. We also have a money box that any spare change is put into, this is then divided into the girls accounts, it all adds up but without putting any strain on our finances.

[SunnyRain]

Astrid makes a very good point about the chances of children moving further away, interstate or overseas (both my dh and I have done so), the cost of moving all that stuff is prohibitive, better to set up a trust fund if you can afford it.

Also, what you buy now might be obsolete or seriously daggy in years to come.

I hadn't ever thought of it. It's not something I'd bother with because storage space is limited in our house and I only own the bare minimum of all that jazz.

But I also wouldn't charge my kids board either, they're my chickens and I'll take care of them as long as they need me to. Although, charging something you will ultimately give back with interest is a clever idea, one I might entertain.

Come on lilac, you're 5 weeks old, time to start earning your keep!

Sent from my Desire HD

[Mother Goose]

But I also wouldn't charge my kids board either, they're my chickens and I'll take care of them as long as they need me to. Although, charging something you will ultimately give back with interest is a clever idea, one I might entertain.

You make it sound like charging older children board is a negative thing - as though it is done to benefit the parents or shirk responsibility. But I don't perceive it this way. My Dad had me pay a nominal amount of my weekly wages to him for board. It was a fixed percentage of my income (which changed from week to week as I was full time casual with penalties for various shifts) - so I always had money to do as I saw fit. My Dad was a single parent and struggling to pay off massive debts incurred by my Mother so I wouldn't have begrudged him asking me to contribute to the house as a full time working adult. It taught me independence, financial responsibility, and budgeting - much easier with a Dad who would say "Ok, you can't pay me your board this week because you stuffed up. But you have to make it up - lets work out a payment plan" instead of a landlord knocking on the door with an eviction notice because I couldn't pay rent. I believe that adult children who are working should stand on their own two feet. If my DD gets a job whilst in school, I won't expect her to pay board - but I would expect her to purchase some of the "optional extra's" she wants (like magazines, movie tickets, those outrages pants her Dad would have a heart attack if he saw on her and so forth). I feel that paying board (whether they get it back or not) is helping them to learn financial responsibility - an essential life skill.

[Cranky Kitten]

I'm another that didn't really have a "glory box" as such, more raided my mum's holiday house for a few bits and pieces to help with setting up my first place and spent a couple of weekends trawling garage sales (gold mine for fitting out a house on a shoestring budget) to get my first lot of furniture and so on.

The things she and my aunt between them taught me were far more valuable than any monetary/material assistance - namely how to manage a home, cook, clean and look after myself. I've never forgotten my mother's advice when I first rented an apartment on my own to never ever ever get behind in the rent, and always pay the power bill on time. Anything else can be sacrificed if it gets bad enough but those were the essentials.

[briggsy's girl]

i got myself through uni (living on campus) and into my first house not having to buy anything as mum had essentially set me up with a glory box. some of it was useless trinkety stuff that is still in boxes (only kept because i am sentimental and they come from my Nan!), but old mugs, the dinner set they got when they married etc - they were still fine for me to use when i went to uni!! they bought a kitchen set (pots etc) that we were still using until we moved last year (donated to a family in need cos we don't have enough room to store them for E at this stage). there was some awesome tupperware in there too - but also some real crappy old stuff from my Nan that had picked up sort of a napthalene smell that i've not been able to get out in 10 years lol

we will eventually start one for E - cutlery, crockery, utensils etc. so much of what we use every day is from DH's mum and is still in fantastic condition (cake making stuff etc) that one day i'm sure it will still be fine to hand on to her. wish stuff now wasn't so "disposable"!

ETA - not sure i'd do anything with material unless i knew it was good storage - just in case moths or vermin got in.

[Floweryfields]

I did one - was only talking about this yesterday - I used to layby a pile of 'homey' stuff regularly and when I moved out, I had pretty much everything I needed for my home.