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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. I really appreciate all the varied responses. They are assuring me that he just needs to tighter things up. 
He did do a summer job but because of the pandemic and because he also had an unpaid internship, it was sporadic and he didn’t make much. He did DoorDash driving and they make a pittance for several hours work 
He went in the evenings for about 3-4 hours a day and would make about $45 a week if that. In short he didn’t make much over the past summer and living in DC that was soon soaked up on Ubers when he went out. I haven’t pushed him to get a job because of COVID but next summer will be different hopefully. I didn’t attend college in the US so the on campus job idea never occurred to me. I will encourage him to get one. 
He does have a bank account but his spending leeches into the credit card every month. 
I think we are giving him more than enough/too much and my instincts were right about him needing to curb his expense. 
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Two more thoughts, OP:

1) Since it’s your money, it’s reasonable to require him to tell you what he’s spending it on. Even to provide receipts, if you want that. If you don’t want to force him to curb his expenses, force him to justify them — and then let him know what you will not be covering in the future when you don’t think his justification reasonable. 
2) This is extra incentive to earn his own money — you won’t have a say over what he does with that.

I wish my parents had done #1 with me. I viewed my credit card as unlimited funds because my parents were so supportive/generous (my card was unlimited, all my job money ore 21 went into a Roth), but I left college with zero practical understanding of how money worked. [/quote]

This is great advice. Thanks. My aim here is to teach him to manage his money well, even if it’s tight, and learn to always save and, as you say, weigh whether an expense is justified or not. Life lessons which are very important. I’ve asked him to send me a dump from his bank account to see what he’s spending on.  I think he views the credit card as unlimited too which is my fault. It’s taken me unawares because he was never one to spend much when he was home when he did effectively have unlimited excess to a credit card so I’m a little surprised
. 
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