Her Father-In-Law Demanded She Give Her Sister-In-Law A $500 Graduation Gift, But She Can’t Afford It And Is Living Paycheck To Paycheck
This woman’s father-in-law recently demanded that she give her sister-in-law a $500 high school graduation gift.
Her father-in-law told her brother-in-law the same thing, meaning her sister-in-law will get $1,000 from the two of them if they decide to listen.
The issue is that she and her husband are living paycheck to paycheck, and there’s no way they can afford to cough up that amount of cash.
“My husband is acting like this is no big deal, but just last month and the month before, we struggled putting food on the table for our kids and had to run through what little savings we had for bills,” she explained.
She works part-time and is a stay-at-home mom, and the money she earns is meant to be their savings account, but they have been unable to save a dime.
Her husband has a full-time job and makes $4,000 a month. They have a car loan that costs them $1,500 a month, they spent $200 – $300 on utilities, and they have a HELOC loan that they need $500 a month to cover.
Adding to the financial issues they are experiencing, they have a second car that needs to get an inspection and new brakes soon.
“Not to mention summer camp is $200, and I have been hearing ‘we will see with the next paycheck,’ whenever I bring up the garden I want to create,” she added.
“I’m so deeply uncomfortable and taken aback by this whole situation. He says, ‘I know you grew up poor, but in my family this is just what you do’ and ‘if I tell dad no he will give it to her and I’ll just owe him later’ and my favorite ‘siblings give about $500, parents give 2 -3k.'”
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“FIL is rich. We are not. We are a simple military family with an average income. So… I’m just so deeply uncomfortable and frustrated and scared that this will hurt us financially.”
However, if she decides they’re only going to gift her sister-in-law $200 instead of $500, she knows everyone will make her out to be the villain.
While she adores her sister-in-law and would move mountains for this girl, that doesn’t make up for the fact that they are living hand to mouth, have two sons who eat a ton of food, and she’s currently pregnant.
Oh, and in July, she’s going to be attending her brother-in-law’s wedding, and they have to give him $200 for a wedding gift.
So she’s failing to understand why her teen sister-in-law deserves more cash than the couple in the family about to get married.
“My gut is telling me this whole situation is bad news, but I don’t know if it’s my pregnancy hormones or not. My husband talks like I’m the unreasonable and irrational one,” she continued.
“He’s constantly on us about not spending any money, but here we are. IT’S WORTH mentioning, when my brother graduated HS we could only give him $50…it doesn’t seem fair at all.”
What advice do you have for her?
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