He Told His Wife She Has To Get A Second Job Or Work More In Order To Support Her Struggling Sister, As He Can’t Afford To Give Her More Money Every Month
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.
Dmitry Tsvetkov – stock.adobe.com- illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
“My wife wants to give Jen a few hundred dollars every month and to start watching her two older kids so Jen can keep working. Personally, I think that idea is short-sighted because Jen won’t be able to work after the new baby comes.”
He thinks that rather than giving Jen hundreds of dollars, which would only end up being a temporary solution to her troubles, he’d rather him and his wife use their shared finances to hire a lawyer for Jen that would force her kids’ fathers to pay her the proper child support she needs.
In his eyes, it would be like biting a bigger bullet. However, his wife told him that solution wouldn’t put food on the table for her kids every week, unlike the consistent money they’d send her.
He then had to sit down with his wife, review their entire budget, and ask her how she thought she could support her sister financially because he couldn’t understand how.
“She got mad at me and called me heartless for not wanting to help,” he recalled.
“It turned into a fight, and I ended up telling her that if she wants to support her sister like this, then she is going to need to work more or get a second job because I’m not compromising our family budget long-term.”
Now, his wife is still angry with him and thinks they should still send her sister money without having to work more.
Is he acting cruel for not wanting to send his wife’s sister money, or is he being smart?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe
He Dumped His Girlfriend Because He Proposed To Her Twice, And Each Time She Said No
He’s On The Verge of Breaking Up With His Girlfriend Over The Engagement Ring She Expects Him To Buy
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:Relationships