07-12-2012, 03:15 AM
I really didn't want to post this thread unless I had to, but... it's getting ridiculous.
Anyhow, my living situation is as follows: I live rent-free with my roommates and support myself with my own income. This comes in terms of my writing and pays for my medical bills, my prescriptions, my food, etc. This past month I had a health scare which drained my income, so I've had to rely on government aid in the form of medical assistance/etc., and some family and friends (which aren't my roommates.)
Now... contrary to the title of this post, I MYSELF am not complaining about being poor. It's my roommate.
My roommate, like myself, is a writer, but she makes a substantial amount more than I do. Basically, she's made five-hundred-and-fifty dollars off her writing this month in eleven days. This is from eBook sales only. I don't know how much she's made in paperbacks, but I imagine it' around one-hundred, which makes her total for the eleven days of the month come up to around six-hundred/seven-hundred dollars.
However -- due to a publisher not getting back to her, she's been having to support herself through self-publishing, which she (and I) get paid for at the end of each month. So, they've been having to live 'poorly' for the past few months.
This wouldn't be an issue... if my roommate did not bring up how poor she was a dozen times a day.
I get that she has no money. I know that. She says, 'I wish I had more money,' or, 'I need to sell more books,' or, 'I wish this publisher would get back to me,' those manner of things. That's understandable, because I understand her frustration. BUT, there's a problem here--a double-edged sword, per se.
She and her husband:
- Eat fast food all the time. Not dollar food. Food that costs three or four dollars an item. They also order fries (usually large,) large drinks, etc. This usually comes out to about twenty dollars per purchase for them.
- Eat out all the time. This usually comes to about forty dollars for both of them.
- See movies fairly occasionally. Eight dollars for two of them comes out to sixteen.
- Spend money on stupid shit. She personally spends money on things like handbags, purses, jewelry, overt amounts of makeup, books, video games, that sort of thing. Her husband is also into tabletop gaming and he buys models ALL the time. These range anywhere from twenty, to thirty, forty, fifty, sixty dollars at a time.
- Along with her husband's tabletop gaming habit, he also goes to game every Thursday (and apparently now every Wednesday) night. This involves driving my gas-guzzling vehicle to the gaming place. He also usually goes to eat afterward, which wastes more gas going to eat. Then he spends money there. Then he comes back home, and sometimes he takes friends home.
As a final note, her husband doesn't work.
They've told me that I'm going to have to help them a little bit, and I'm fine with that, because I'll be able to. However -- a few months back, her husband mentioned me giving them my ENTIRE check, which I did not respond to (and which I wouldn't do anyway.)
I have a few problems with this whole 'money situation' of theirs. They claim to be super poor, but they're constantly spending money on stupid shit (eating out, going to movies, buying handbags, models, etc., wasting gas to go game and that sort of thing,) which is only feeding into their 'poverty.' My roommate (the writer) is constantly complaining about this, and whenever she mentions anything to her husband, he goes on a tirade about how the 'full time writer thing isn't working' and then complains about him getting a job himself (which he has a hard time with because he has depression.)
Like I said, I support myself fully with my writing, as I cannot work due to my Bipolar Disorder, and though I do live here for free, I take care of myself. I also do website maintenance, book formatting (print and digital,) promotional work and attend events with this one roommate. I've also been playing her driver because she's been 'too poor to go get her eyes checked' the entire year. I also, since they're both so lazy they don't clean: take out the trash constantly, clean up after them, their animals (their dog pisses and shits everywhere,) run to the store for them, get food for them, that sort of thing.
I, essentially, play houseboy, along with being my roommate's assistant.
Like I said -- there wouldn't be an issue with this if they were REALLY poor. The fact of the matter is, they spend money recklessly and without abandon (making themselves poor,) her husband doesn't work and whenever she complains about it, he freaks out, goes into 'depressive phases' where he just lays in bed and does nothing all day, that sort of thing. I don't mean to trivilize their problems or maximize my own, but I've been living at the below-poverty level for two years. I've gone months even this year (when my income has picked up) where I've only had twenty-five dollars the whole month.
Anyhow.... I guess my question is: what should I do/how should I respond to this? And what should I say if they try to take my check?
The most straightforward and simple thing to do would be to move out, but I can't because I don't make enough to live alone/I have no one else to live with. I also do not have social security as of now, so I can't depend on that.
Do you guys have any advice?
Sorry for the long post. I thought I'd explain my situation in full. I'm getting tired of her whole 'I'm poor' game when they spend money constantly. I MYSELF am the one who is poor and I MYSELF do not complain like she does. I barely even mention it at all to anyone.
Anyhow, my living situation is as follows: I live rent-free with my roommates and support myself with my own income. This comes in terms of my writing and pays for my medical bills, my prescriptions, my food, etc. This past month I had a health scare which drained my income, so I've had to rely on government aid in the form of medical assistance/etc., and some family and friends (which aren't my roommates.)
Now... contrary to the title of this post, I MYSELF am not complaining about being poor. It's my roommate.
My roommate, like myself, is a writer, but she makes a substantial amount more than I do. Basically, she's made five-hundred-and-fifty dollars off her writing this month in eleven days. This is from eBook sales only. I don't know how much she's made in paperbacks, but I imagine it' around one-hundred, which makes her total for the eleven days of the month come up to around six-hundred/seven-hundred dollars.
However -- due to a publisher not getting back to her, she's been having to support herself through self-publishing, which she (and I) get paid for at the end of each month. So, they've been having to live 'poorly' for the past few months.
This wouldn't be an issue... if my roommate did not bring up how poor she was a dozen times a day.
I get that she has no money. I know that. She says, 'I wish I had more money,' or, 'I need to sell more books,' or, 'I wish this publisher would get back to me,' those manner of things. That's understandable, because I understand her frustration. BUT, there's a problem here--a double-edged sword, per se.
She and her husband:
- Eat fast food all the time. Not dollar food. Food that costs three or four dollars an item. They also order fries (usually large,) large drinks, etc. This usually comes out to about twenty dollars per purchase for them.
- Eat out all the time. This usually comes to about forty dollars for both of them.
- See movies fairly occasionally. Eight dollars for two of them comes out to sixteen.
- Spend money on stupid shit. She personally spends money on things like handbags, purses, jewelry, overt amounts of makeup, books, video games, that sort of thing. Her husband is also into tabletop gaming and he buys models ALL the time. These range anywhere from twenty, to thirty, forty, fifty, sixty dollars at a time.
- Along with her husband's tabletop gaming habit, he also goes to game every Thursday (and apparently now every Wednesday) night. This involves driving my gas-guzzling vehicle to the gaming place. He also usually goes to eat afterward, which wastes more gas going to eat. Then he spends money there. Then he comes back home, and sometimes he takes friends home.
As a final note, her husband doesn't work.
They've told me that I'm going to have to help them a little bit, and I'm fine with that, because I'll be able to. However -- a few months back, her husband mentioned me giving them my ENTIRE check, which I did not respond to (and which I wouldn't do anyway.)
I have a few problems with this whole 'money situation' of theirs. They claim to be super poor, but they're constantly spending money on stupid shit (eating out, going to movies, buying handbags, models, etc., wasting gas to go game and that sort of thing,) which is only feeding into their 'poverty.' My roommate (the writer) is constantly complaining about this, and whenever she mentions anything to her husband, he goes on a tirade about how the 'full time writer thing isn't working' and then complains about him getting a job himself (which he has a hard time with because he has depression.)
Like I said, I support myself fully with my writing, as I cannot work due to my Bipolar Disorder, and though I do live here for free, I take care of myself. I also do website maintenance, book formatting (print and digital,) promotional work and attend events with this one roommate. I've also been playing her driver because she's been 'too poor to go get her eyes checked' the entire year. I also, since they're both so lazy they don't clean: take out the trash constantly, clean up after them, their animals (their dog pisses and shits everywhere,) run to the store for them, get food for them, that sort of thing.
I, essentially, play houseboy, along with being my roommate's assistant.
Like I said -- there wouldn't be an issue with this if they were REALLY poor. The fact of the matter is, they spend money recklessly and without abandon (making themselves poor,) her husband doesn't work and whenever she complains about it, he freaks out, goes into 'depressive phases' where he just lays in bed and does nothing all day, that sort of thing. I don't mean to trivilize their problems or maximize my own, but I've been living at the below-poverty level for two years. I've gone months even this year (when my income has picked up) where I've only had twenty-five dollars the whole month.
Anyhow.... I guess my question is: what should I do/how should I respond to this? And what should I say if they try to take my check?
The most straightforward and simple thing to do would be to move out, but I can't because I don't make enough to live alone/I have no one else to live with. I also do not have social security as of now, so I can't depend on that.
Do you guys have any advice?
Sorry for the long post. I thought I'd explain my situation in full. I'm getting tired of her whole 'I'm poor' game when they spend money constantly. I MYSELF am the one who is poor and I MYSELF do not complain like she does. I barely even mention it at all to anyone.
![[-]](https://gayspeak.com/images/duende_v3_local/collapse.png)
