Abby Connolly
When you’ve got to tighten your budget and cost of living, trying to help a struggling loved one gets complicated.
One man recently told his wife that she will have to get a second job or work more hours to support her struggling sister because he doesn’t think they can afford to give her money every month.
He’s 37-years-old and has three young kids with his wife. They both work full-time jobs and, although they make a decent amount of money, have a lot of expenses due to their kids, especially as their younger ones have been in daycare over the summer.
“With the cost of literally everything going up more and more often, our budget is getting tighter,” he explained.
“We still live comfortably within our means, but we are saving much less and are being more conscious of our discretionary spending. Our youngest is starting kindergarten this fall, so that will help because we aren’t spending on daycare anymore. But our oldest kids are now in more sport and extracurricular activities, which pretty much offset any saving we would be doing on childcare.”
His wife has a 30-year-old sister named Jen, who has two kids with two different dads. While one of those fathers is involved in one of her kids’ life, the other has been totally absent and doesn’t pay child support.
Now, Jen is six months pregnant with her third baby and recently called up his wife crying because the father of that baby left her. Freaking out, Jen asked his wife if there was any way she could help her out by giving her a place to stay or some money.
Because their parents have passed away, Jen and his wife only have each other, so she feels obligated to help.
“Obviously, my wife wants to do whatever we can to help, but we don’t have the space to house them and don’t have a lot of extra money to give them either,” he said.
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