I’m 24 and my brother is 28. Our parents divorced when we were 12/16 or so and I decided to stay with my dad (61M) and my brother moved out with my mom – we all still saw each other all the time and it worked out fine.

We both STILL live with our parents. I put off going back to college for a few years due to finances and mental health and am currently working from home, making very little money but enough to scrape by as long as I stay with my dad for the time being. I go back to college in January for CS and should graduate in a year and a half. I already have an internship set up and my life is finally looking up a bit. I pay my dad rent, pay my portion of the utilities, buy all the food, pay my own phone, etc…

My brother, on the other hand, makes about $70k a year and pays my mom who is on social security disability NOTHING. He bought a very expensive car with terrible credit and constantly complains that he has no money, and I have no idea HOW. Even if he’s paying a thousand in car payment/insurance every month, he pays no other bills – not even his own phone. My mom pays for that. He pays no rent, no utilities, and his girlfriend pays for all the food with food stamps.

They (brother and his gf who both stay with and use my mom) constantly order DoorDash, and today was the breaking point for me. My mom called me upset because she can’t afford her cable/internet bill. Her bill is only high because my brother asked her to get the highest speed internet for his gaming (that he does on a 15k PC setup that he bought with his accident settlement money instead of idk… putting it down on a house or paying off his car a bit). He said he would pay her the 50 bucks or whatever every month that it would raise the bill, but he hasn’t paid her a cent in the year or so since. She apparently asked him and his girlfriend to help her cover the bill this month, and they said no because “we have Christmas presents to pay for, why would you ask us now” (they have 3 kids, 2 are his and 1 is hers). Like, do they think people who live on their own don’t have to buy their kids presents? They pay my mom NOTHING. And I mean that sincerely. Nilch.

They both have jobs. How do they have NO money? I am genuinely perplexed.

What really sent me over the edge is my mom mentioning that they just ordered DoorDash and asked her if she wanted anything but she has no money and said no, she can’t afford it, and they just shrugged and didn’t order her anything. She has no money because she pays all the bills. They can’t afford a $10 meal for her when they both have jobs and pay NO bills but their cars? What the actual hell? I am close to tears. This is upsetting me so much. My mom is so easy to take advantage of and it hurts me to see her used like this. I’ve tried to talk to my brother and he just shuts it down immediately. This sucks.

My mom also takes care of his kids when he has them, he does nothing. She loves those kids more than anything. She doesn’t feel like she can kick him out because he literally is a terrible father and she’s the one who cares for them basically exclusively when he has them.

Just as a side note, I do visit my mom at least once or twice a week and when she’s broke and we want lunch or something I ALWAYS pay. She’s not just stuck with my moocher brother, I am also in the picture but I don’t live with her.

TL;DR: my brother lives with and mooches off my mom even though he makes more money than anyone in the family and pays no bills besides his car and complains that he has no money and can’t help my mom pay bills.

2 comments
  1. Your mom is an adult and is enabling him. If she wants it to stop, then she should stop letting him take advantage of her. She could start by kicking them out.

  2. Start your mom off with baby steps to build up her confidence in standing up for herself. Have your mom cut him off her phone bill so he can get his own and pay for i himself. And to downgrade her internet or change the password to the WiFi every time the bill is due and only give them the password when they pay up. Also 15k gaming rig?! I’ve built my own PC before. 15k is nuts! It would make sense if he has his own business/freelance to edit videos or do 3D work and needs a really expensive gpu and monitor setup but still smh

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