flutterby
Fly away!
easy child and his girlfriend live here. My income dropped dramatically in July...and it was a pittance before.
They run the washer and dryer *every day*. An extra person means extra showers, etc. However, girlfriend does a lot of stuff around the house and really helps me out.
That said, the electric bill was $100 more this month than it's ever been. I don't know yet what water will be because this month was estimated (they only read every other month). They buy their own groceries. What I meant for them when I said they need to buy their own groceries, is snack food items and drinks (no one else here drinks what they do). I buy the main stuff - meat, bread, fruits and veggies, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. easy child pays for $110 of his car insurance per month; my mom pays the other $80 (on my policy). girlfriend will be added to my car insurance next month as her mom said she is going to drop her. easy child also pays for their cell phone plan which is $130/mo. They can cut some things on their bill, like internet access via the cell phone. It's really not necessary.
I have told them that I need them to pay 1/3 of water and electric. I also told them if they want to keep HBO and Cinemax, then they need to pay the $30 a month for it. Neither difficult child nor I watch those channels. I think it's only fair. They are both working - although girlfriend is only working 12-16 hours a week. easy child is working a lot more hours and is getting paid well for his age. He is netting approx $500 a pay - and he's only working part time.
In addition, my mom gave easy child $40 to give to me to help buy difficult child's school supplies. She gave him this money on Tuesday and I have yet to see it. I have bought the rest of difficult child's school supplies. I asked him tonight if he had the money, he said yes, and that was it. They then used part of that money last night (I told them to) to buy toilet paper. by the way, easy child is the biggest user of toilet paper in the house by far. But, I didn't get the change.
He has made no effort to find out how much money he owes me for utilities. I have asked them several times if they want to keep HBO and Cinemax and have received no answer.
I *hate* tracking them down for money. Insurance is drafted from my bank account on the 19th of every month. It never changes. And, yet, I have to remind him every month.
Plus, the alarm clock going off every morning at 8am and easy child just keeps hitting snooze. He's not going to get up til at least 10am. I'm up, however.
How do you think I should handle this. I've already talked about it - a few times. I hate having to nag about it. Shouldn't they be making the effort since I've told them - repeatedly - what is going to need to happen. Am I being unfair?
I know he's going to cry poor, but he just bought 2 mini fridges. They decided the first one was too small and sold it to a friend for $40 less than they paid for it. They'd had it less than a month. Then turned around and bought a bigger one for more money. easy child said he bought it because I ate one of his lunchables he bought. I didn't. And it really ticked me off that he used that for an excuse to spend more money when he needs to be spending it elsewhere. There is plenty of room in our fridge for everything. I know what I've bought vs what they've bought.
I'm really frustrated and I'm becoming really cranky about the whole thing. Then I feel bad because girlfriend does so much around here to help out with the upkeep of the house. The bottom line, though, is that I simply don't have the cash to pay for these extra expenses.
ARGH!!!
They run the washer and dryer *every day*. An extra person means extra showers, etc. However, girlfriend does a lot of stuff around the house and really helps me out.
That said, the electric bill was $100 more this month than it's ever been. I don't know yet what water will be because this month was estimated (they only read every other month). They buy their own groceries. What I meant for them when I said they need to buy their own groceries, is snack food items and drinks (no one else here drinks what they do). I buy the main stuff - meat, bread, fruits and veggies, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. easy child pays for $110 of his car insurance per month; my mom pays the other $80 (on my policy). girlfriend will be added to my car insurance next month as her mom said she is going to drop her. easy child also pays for their cell phone plan which is $130/mo. They can cut some things on their bill, like internet access via the cell phone. It's really not necessary.
I have told them that I need them to pay 1/3 of water and electric. I also told them if they want to keep HBO and Cinemax, then they need to pay the $30 a month for it. Neither difficult child nor I watch those channels. I think it's only fair. They are both working - although girlfriend is only working 12-16 hours a week. easy child is working a lot more hours and is getting paid well for his age. He is netting approx $500 a pay - and he's only working part time.
In addition, my mom gave easy child $40 to give to me to help buy difficult child's school supplies. She gave him this money on Tuesday and I have yet to see it. I have bought the rest of difficult child's school supplies. I asked him tonight if he had the money, he said yes, and that was it. They then used part of that money last night (I told them to) to buy toilet paper. by the way, easy child is the biggest user of toilet paper in the house by far. But, I didn't get the change.
He has made no effort to find out how much money he owes me for utilities. I have asked them several times if they want to keep HBO and Cinemax and have received no answer.
I *hate* tracking them down for money. Insurance is drafted from my bank account on the 19th of every month. It never changes. And, yet, I have to remind him every month.
Plus, the alarm clock going off every morning at 8am and easy child just keeps hitting snooze. He's not going to get up til at least 10am. I'm up, however.
How do you think I should handle this. I've already talked about it - a few times. I hate having to nag about it. Shouldn't they be making the effort since I've told them - repeatedly - what is going to need to happen. Am I being unfair?
I know he's going to cry poor, but he just bought 2 mini fridges. They decided the first one was too small and sold it to a friend for $40 less than they paid for it. They'd had it less than a month. Then turned around and bought a bigger one for more money. easy child said he bought it because I ate one of his lunchables he bought. I didn't. And it really ticked me off that he used that for an excuse to spend more money when he needs to be spending it elsewhere. There is plenty of room in our fridge for everything. I know what I've bought vs what they've bought.
I'm really frustrated and I'm becoming really cranky about the whole thing. Then I feel bad because girlfriend does so much around here to help out with the upkeep of the house. The bottom line, though, is that I simply don't have the cash to pay for these extra expenses.
ARGH!!!