My SO makes a decent pay check that would see us through the month. For myself, I work part time so I make one third of what he does. I attend college and I will finish this May. Our baby is due March 19th.
We manage fine. We have been living together for over two years and we had savings but we wanted to buy a second handed car cash so we used our savings to do so. Now we are supposed to start our savings afresh but we are having a difficult time doing this.
We own our own apartment, however the buidling is a family apartment so his three sisters occupy one apartment, his brother and a cousin occupy two separate ones and his father occupies another. When we just started living here most of those apartments were unoccupied but since then his siblings who wanted to start out on their home has moved in there.
They are not managing well at all. Their apartments are much smaller and none has a kitchen except ours and his fathers. My boyfriend and his father doesn't get along really well. He's selfish and expects my bf to dish out his pay check every month. My bf refuses to do so especially as it was his grandmother who raised him as both parents ignored him. His father chose to attend the graduation ceremony of his girlfriend's child which was the same day as my bf. He never forgot that and he also never forgot the day we didn't have any ready cash and I had to go to exam and he borrowed $5 from his father's girlfriend who is not so bad until he dropped me off on campus and would get to go to the bank. When I came home my bf told me that his father embarrassed him and quarreled about him borrowing the money. (This was while his father owed HIM $100 which my bf wasn't impressing on him to pay.)
Anyway, now his father has fallen on hard times. He had a business which he gambled into the ground and his job is seasonal so he isn't working now. His gas is finished and he cannot afford to buy it back so every morning he comes to use our kitchen to make breakfast. He has a daughter 13 years old and cannot send her to school so my bf has to take up the responsibility. His older 22 year old sister also uses our stove as she doesn't own one. His cousin at 17 years old is doing final year at high school and he asks us for transportation fee every morning. (His father kicked him out and that's how he ended up occupying one of the apartments temporarily.) We have to feed them so our groceries cannot last.
We are losing so much money and we can't save because of it. Today he met in a car accident and we have the car to fix and no funds to do so, I can't help thinking we would have something set aside if we weren't doing so much for everyone.
My initial plan is to go back to work full time after my maternity leave ends in May and then I can afford to rent a house. I truly believe it will be worth it in the long run but my bf doesn't see it that the rent we'll be paying is equal to what we lose monthly because we have to take care of his family. I also feel badly because I have little to send to my own mom after taking care of his family. My family asks for nothing of us even though they are not rich. Last year I can count the two times my mom asked me for money in order to get a dress for New Year's Day and a wedding and that was it.
I don't know how to approach the whole situation but I am financially drained and since I am the one who always have to try to make our resources tide us over, I am also emotionally drained because I am always worried about something unexpected happening. We have a child on the way. We already have everything for her but we need to put something aside in case of emergencies. I don't know what to do.