I’m turning 27 in a month and I have barely a few hundred dollars to my name. I still live with my parents. My dad’s given up on his marriage, and as soon as I move out they’re getting divorced. My mom, who’s always been able to guilt me and emotionally manipulate me because I love her and I’m terrified of disappointing her, is inventing things I owe her for proportional to my income. This way I’ll never be able to move out and she’ll never get divorced. I’m making around $2000 a month and my antidepressants are like $800 out of that. Rent, car insurance, living expenses and whatever usually add up to like at least $1000 monthly, sometimes it’s whatever I have leftover. I’m terrified I’m just going to end up being 50 and my life already over by the time my parents die and I can accrue any financial base.
I’m rarely able to keep more than $50-$100 of each of my paychecks. I work at retail at a grocery store. My mom has access to my bank account and just takes what she “needs” which is usually whatever I have. My best friend told me I should create my own bank account and switch the direct deposits to that account, but my mom would see that I’m no longer getting my paychecks in that account and know something is up.
I don’t know how to save any money to keep for myself so that I can eventually become financially independent. My best friend is going to grad school soon and offered to let me move in with him, but that’s 950 miles away in a completely different area of the country. I’m considering it, but my family would probably cut me off. I told my mom about it and she said if I do that she’ll call the police and report me as an amber alert, saying my best friend kidnapped me, and that she’ll report my car as stolen since it’s in her name.
I can’t even hide money away from her because she is so entrenched in our finances she can detect any attempts at disentanglement. Is moving out with my best friend and risking a meltdown with my family my only option?
Submitted February 22, 2022 at 09:52PM by TheSurpriseReversed https://ift.tt/g3mNflB
