Back OT from the healthcare chatter: My future SIL, OMG. I love her, but sometimes I just want to shake her. She's a teacher in a LCOL state, so doesn't have a high income. She's chosen to live by herself for the last three years instead of having a roommate, so she's been putting 50% of her salary towards rent every single month. She uses shopping as entertainment, has like three closets full of clothing, and goes to Marshalls/TJ Maxx every. single. week. She has virtually no savings and could only go on the family vacay this summer because the future in-laws subsidized her flight, which they did not have to do for anyone else, including the brother who's generally accepted to be a wayward fuckup and who only started holding down a full-time job a year ago.
She's moving today and keeps sending me texts about "oh no, I can't believe how much stuff I have to move, this is the worstttt," and she can't afford movers or to rent a truck so she's having to drive her compact car back and forth between her old city and her new city with all of her crap. Hmm, maybe EVERYTHING would be better if you bought less stuff at TJ Maxx?
Props to her, she is moving in with a roommate in her new city. We talked about how cutting her rent by so much would let her start saving, which I was thrilled about. But then she told me the reason why she wants to save: so she can get a place by herself after the school year :( It's just so frustrating. She tells me she's stressed out about money and I wish I could help, but I feel like I've just started making progress with my SO after three years of dating and a full year of cohabitation. I love my future in-laws, but they did not raise their kids with a lot of financial literacy. I don't understand how that happened, since they're so on top of their own finances. My SO says they just never talked about money and that if there was something they wanted, they would just get it. Sigh.