My mom informed me last night that her property tax bill is due Dec. 03 and it's $325. This is up $45 from the June bill! I sort of blame myself for not paying attention to the due dates of past bills and preparing my mom ahead of time for this. She does not have the money to pay the bill - yet again! Granted she doesn't make much money, but I still can't figure out what's she's doing with the money she makes. Spending it on crap she doesn't need to be buying! I "helped" her a year and a half ago and took care of her past taxes and her car loan by doing a balance transfer onto one of my credit cards. Yes, I learned my lesson. It seemed like a foolproof plan at the time and she did make $800.00 in payments to me between May and October 2006. It has been over a year since I've seen a payment on this debt. Her debt is still sitting at 0%, but this is a large chunk of the credit card debt that's hurting me right now.
I recently restructured my finances and I don't know what to tell my mother. Yes, I CAN help her out with the property tax bill, but that will mean less to pay towards debt for me. I don't want to help, but the guilt eats at me. That's an issue I know I have to deal with on my own. I'm doing ok with dealing with finances when it comes to my husband, but I'm still having issues with my mother. I just don't understand how she says she has no money, but is constantly buying things for other people. I re-read an OLD post of mine about my mother's finances and I still agree with something I wrote. My mother's way of dealing with bills is just to ignore them and hope they'll disappear. I need to find a way to teach her how to deal with them like adults are supposed to!
Mom's property tax bill
November 1st, 2007 at 11:36 pm
November 2nd, 2007 at 02:46 am 1193971578
Good luck with what ever you decide
November 2nd, 2007 at 03:15 am 1193973321
My older sister was very bad with money. While she doesn't have debt she also had no savings (she wasted a lot of money on eating out and lottery tickets and other crap), and no way to cover emergency expenses. When a crisis developed with one of her pets, I did "loan" her some money (knowing full well I could probably kiss that money good-bye), and then I gave her Suze Orman's book "Women & Money." She has now started saving up a small EF, and I know she will probably never be great with money, but I do hope she will be able to take care of herself and her animals in the future.
My suggestion is to offer your mom some assistance in setting up a savings plan so she has enough money to cover her property taxes. It's hard to believe she did not know what the amount due would be in advance; doesn't her county send out that information in advance of the bills?
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:27 am 1193999275
November 3rd, 2007 at 02:56 pm 1194101814