This 29-year-old woman has been in a relationship with her boyfriend for a year, and they have plans to live together soon. As soon as she began working, she has contributed to mortgage payments on her childhood home. They were worried they could lose the house a while ago, but her sister refinanced it.
The house is now in her sister’s name, and she and her two sisters divided the mortgage payments, each contributing $350 monthly. She and only one of her sisters live in the house with their mother, and they each provide their mother with $300 toward utilities, groceries, and other expenses.
Since their mother already retired, she doesn’t contribute to the mortgage. The sister who put their house in her name moved out a long time ago (and is married with a baby) but continues paying her share toward the mortgage.
Each of her sisters makes triple, possibly quadruple, her income. She works freelance, while her sisters are established in their jobs and make impressive salaries. Even though her income is roughly the same each month, it goes up and down at times, and recently, she’s been struggling financially.
Despite her money problems, she’s continued to pay the same amount in rent and utilities and has never asked to contribute less. She, her boyfriend, and her sisters went to dinner recently to celebrate her birthday, and she brought up her plans to move in with her boyfriend.
“When I move out, I can no longer help out with rent or giving money, but I do want to help again as soon as I manage to get a second job. They lost it. The sister I live with told me I’m extremely ungrateful and threatened to cut my phone line,” she said.
She and her sister are on the same phone plan, but she contributes money for her share of the bill each month. Her sister then marched out of the restaurant, and her other sister told her, “‘You don’t know half of what she pays.’” The sister she lives with pays their mother’s portion of the phone bill and their mom’s car insurance.
“My other sister said I HAVE to continue helping. My boyfriend stayed calm and respectful, even though, deep down, he was livid with how I was treated,” she explained.
Later, when she and her boyfriend were alone, he expressed that while she’d lived in this house since her childhood, she shouldn’t be expected to pay rent after moving out.
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