I posted a while ago about my in-laws' financial situation. Father died, lost his income. Rather than cutting back, getting new skills and looking for jobs to replace his income, the two workers in the family stayed at their old jobs, blew through the life insurance fixing up the house in less than a year, and are trying to refinance the loan to free up money to pay bills.
One other person is on disability but they have just started having her contribute to groceries and bills. She blows her money on games, movies, and craft things. Though she does pay some of her own medical bills.
Multiple people have mental health issues which makes it hard to get them out of the house and into jobs.
Rather than use the life insurance for education or budget it out $X/month replacing what Dad brought in, they decided that granite counter tops, a totally remodeled bathroom in stone tile and corian. Did I mention the new windows and siding? Then, Mom decided to buy a new bed (necessary). Then she decided to remodel her bedroom, repaint, and buy an completely new bedroom set. Then the expensive pedigreed dog needed to be put down. They have a habit of buying pedigreed. So they ended up with a new $400 dog. Some of this also came from an inheritance from Dad's mom who had died earlier. (Dad had a stroke that ended up putting him on disability and it took him out of the equation for making financial decisions.) Oh yeah, new electronics, several new computers, several new game systems, Ipods, etc.
Rather than trying to refinance at the beginning of all this, they waited until the money was all gone. Rather than trying to improve their skills and job situation (there could be some of the mental instability in play in all of this, including fear of change) they just stayed put.
Not all the family is like this. But we are watching this train wreck in progress and we know we CANNOT help. We have tried to offer advice, but it is rebuffed. "You should have a budget" "We know where our money is going". When they get all the way to rock bottom, we won't be able to offer financial help. We have no room to offer shelter. They are going to be in a world of hurt and we can see it coming.
One other person is on disability but they have just started having her contribute to groceries and bills. She blows her money on games, movies, and craft things. Though she does pay some of her own medical bills.
Multiple people have mental health issues which makes it hard to get them out of the house and into jobs.
Rather than use the life insurance for education or budget it out $X/month replacing what Dad brought in, they decided that granite counter tops, a totally remodeled bathroom in stone tile and corian. Did I mention the new windows and siding? Then, Mom decided to buy a new bed (necessary). Then she decided to remodel her bedroom, repaint, and buy an completely new bedroom set. Then the expensive pedigreed dog needed to be put down. They have a habit of buying pedigreed. So they ended up with a new $400 dog. Some of this also came from an inheritance from Dad's mom who had died earlier. (Dad had a stroke that ended up putting him on disability and it took him out of the equation for making financial decisions.) Oh yeah, new electronics, several new computers, several new game systems, Ipods, etc.
Rather than trying to refinance at the beginning of all this, they waited until the money was all gone. Rather than trying to improve their skills and job situation (there could be some of the mental instability in play in all of this, including fear of change) they just stayed put.
Not all the family is like this. But we are watching this train wreck in progress and we know we CANNOT help. We have tried to offer advice, but it is rebuffed. "You should have a budget" "We know where our money is going". When they get all the way to rock bottom, we won't be able to offer financial help. We have no room to offer shelter. They are going to be in a world of hurt and we can see it coming.