All in the family

We are not particularly close with our family. Parents aside....we pretty much don't talk to anyone else. No fights, no "problems" per se.....just a non-relationship.

My Mother-In-Law has 2 younger sisters whose family life is about as dysfunctional as it gets. They live 2 doors down from one another, with the son and daughter-in-law of the older of those 2 sisters living in-between in "Grandma's house." The whole hill side is a soap opera. Adultery, addiction....I could go on and on.

Younger sis...I will call Mary.....has a shopping addiction. I can't even tell you what exactly she buys. Tons of little tchochke things. Cars....she loves to get a new car.... But overall, I have not idea what she buys.

She hides the bills. She has a "secret" P.O. box that she has the bills sent to, so her hubby doesn't find out. She keeps the bills in her car. Her hubby has refinanced the house at least twice before when he did find out about her debt and dug her out.

But at this point, she is close to $100,000 in credit card and medical debt. Her doctor fired her as a patient for lack of payment. She keeps asking MIL for money....and she has bailed her out some, but finally said NO.

The other day, Mary took the title to one of her hubby's cars (he has several) and was going to take it to a "cash for title" pawn type place. She was actually going to pawn her husband's car without his knowledge.

So it got me thinking....does debt run in the family? If one member is in debt, will you find that others are too? If we learn our money habits from our parents, wouldn't it follow that all the children would sort of have the same mentalities regarding money?

In this case....the answer is no. MIL is very responsible with her money. The other sister...overall responsible with money (but she has bigger problems than debt....which also stem from their upbringing). And Mary....no idea what will happen to her.

Do you find that you have family that are also struggling with money? Do you every wonder where it all comes from?