$895 Loan

So……

I loaned my cousin $895 to pay her rent.

I know, I know! Don’t loan people money, esp this big chunk of money? Esp family because it gets messy.

I guess I have my reasons. My cousin is 27, single mother of two boys. Well, technically she is married but she is separating or reconciling with her husband. I never know which one it is. Our family is crazy, essentially. Most of the people in the fam are broke, didn’t go or didn’t finish college, the leadership in our fam (mothers, aunts) are unemployed with no forseeable employment. And they all kind of act like crabs in a barrell. This is kind of where I inherited my issues with money, but I am fighting to get on a better playing field. My cousin is as well. We both chose to live very far away from the rest of the family due to the toxicity of their nature. My cousin and I are pretty much the only people in the fam who broke away and tried to do things  on our own without the help of our irresponsible and undependable family. My cousin married young and had children young. Worked two jobs and went to college to get her degree. She isn’t finished with school, but she’s been paying for school all by herself (which is insane! I need to help her with some FAFSA…). She married this guy but he’s kind of like….not upwardly mobile. He’s a carpet cleaner and he wants to make beats for a living. Not to knock his choices, but you get the idea of how my cousins life is. My cousin wants more for herself and for her sons. Everything is in her name, she bought two new cars over two years ago because she needed them for the fam.

Anyway, my cousin lives in San Diego, and she had to evacuate because of the fires. She came back after she was allowed back to her apartment and found an eviction notice on the door. She would have to pay up or get evicted in three days. So, she called me for help. My cousin has borrowed money from me before, the largest amount which was 300 bucks, and she paid me back like 5 days later. Here she was calling me and asking for money, very hopeful of course, but understanding if I didn’t have it. She said I was pretty much the only person she could ask for help because any other family member (the crazy ones) would just yell at her for not moving two states away to where they are and live with them. I totally understand her plight. When things go wrong, the peanut gallery fam wants you to move out into their desolate home state so you can sit there and be miserable with them. Usually their plans include staying with them or lettin them watch your kids. However, they’re all so unstable, trying to start drama, kick you out at a moments notice, not holding up to their end of agreements because they woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day. Just nuts.

So, I lent it to her. $895 for a two bedroom apartment ain’t bad at all! Her neighborhood and apartment isn’t even bad. She’s not living above her needs at all in that department. I don’t know, I just think she has had it bad these past few months with her husband moving out. He hasn’t paid any childsupport, not to mention her younger brother moved in and isn’t paying any rent. She just started a new job as a bank teller, so now she can afford easier childcare. She has a lot going on trying to reorgnize her life these past few months. I definitely don’t think I could have made it this far.

Hmm.  I had $2500 bucks sitting in my savings account, so I figured I could lend it and not feel any real impact right now. My cousin has a lot of pride and she and I are like sisters (the kind who love each other lol). I don’t think she would turn on me or not pay me back for those reasons exactly. I’m just worried that her paying me back won’t take away from her ongoing problems.  Someone told me to draw up some contract…I thought about it, but figured I trusted my cousin enough to stay on top of paying me back in her own time. I think if I don’t hear anything back by 2 months, I’ll pipe up.