Do you charge your family for IT support?

Most of you tech savvy bloggers probably give out free technical support to your family, friends and neighbours, but have you actually tried charging them?

I had a hunch that most people just didn't know how to set up their computers - let alone fix them. So as an experiment I put up a note in my local newsagent's window offering, for a sum, a helping hand. Surprise surprise, my phone has hardly stopped ringing.

I am in a similar situation. I never charge my grand aunty whenever she gives me an emergency call and I have to make a one hour trip on Bus 83 through the famous traffic-heavy Ealing Road just to fix her computer only to find out that the problem is usually something trivial like 'printer not printing', 'speaker not working' or 'my new testament in Spanish can't play through the CD-ROM'.

I have to admit that I sometimes do wish she pays me. Yeah, my kiasu'ness do get the better of me most of the time but I don't hold any grudge - as long as you feed me dinner then its okay.

See also: IT support for parents