Parents charge rent

DEAR AMY >> I’m in my early 20s and living at home.

I’m paying my parents rent, but the money I pay doesn’t include anything else — just the room.

This doesn’t seem fair to me, and I’d really appreciate hearing what you think of this.

— Renter at Home

DEAR RENTER >> You’ve just described ... rent. When you rent, you pay the owner of the dwelling for the roof over your head. That’s all.

When you’re a child, your parents provide all of the extras, but for adults, food, cooking, cleaning and laundry services are what happens at a hotel.

Once you accept this reality, you should do some research to see if you are able to afford rent and living expenses elsewhere. You may find that — even without the extras — you are benefiting from the lower cost of living at home.

Many young people use this transition period at home as a way to aggressively save money toward the higher cost of living elsewhere.

DEAR AMY >> I was intrigued by the question from “Judgmental Teen,” who is a high school girl very concerned about her harsh assessments of her peers’ clothing.

I was shocked by this line of yours: “The words you use to describe other girls (“slut” and “whore”) are rude and sexist, while the words you use to describe boys are much less offensive. This is an example of how misogyny has permeated our culture .... ”

Thank you for pointing out how we’ve internalized this. It didn’t occur to me until I read it.

— Thankful

DEAR THANKFUL >> No one should be using this language, and I appreciated this teen’s honesty in reporting that she does.