Woman Charges Her Sister For ‘Ridiculous’ Expenses Like Toilet Flushes After Watching Her Daughter For A Weekend
She expected to be paid for the items her niece used in her home.
Yan Krukau / Pexels Being part of a family often means taking on extra responsibilities, with the understanding that you’ll be supported in the future for caring for your family members in need.
While expecting exact reciprocity isn’t entirely realistic, one woman expected her sister to do precisely that after helping her out.
After babysitting her niece, the woman charged her sister for ‘ridiculous' expenses, like toilet flushes and paint.
Jessica Pares shared the text she got from her sister after her daughter spent the weekend in her home, saying, “I guess this is normal. This is an invoice ... requesting $72 because my daughter stayed with her over the weekend because I had to go to work.”
“There was a big event, and I had to go,” she explained. “I had no one to take care of her.”
Almost every parent experiences a childcare emergency at one point or another, which is just to say that Pares shouldn’t feel bad for asking her sister for that favor.
Yet after the weekend ended, her sister sent her an itemized list of everything her niece used over the weekend, noting, “Times are getting hard, and I think it is only fair we charge for stuff that she used while being here.”
“Can’t wait for her to come over again,” she said before breaking down the cost of the little girl’s stay.
Artem Podrez / Pexels
She charged 50 cents for toilet flushes and handwashing and $10 for when her niece had an accident.
According to a report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the current federal standard for toilets requires them to function at 1.6 gallons of water per flush.
While toilets account for 30% of a household’s water use, flushing only costs about 1.3 cents each time.
Flushing costs about $24 per person over the course of a year for a typical toilet.
The aunt charged her niece for more than just water use: She also wanted money for electricity and gas.
The woman charged $7 for the electricity her niece used to play the "My Little Pony" video game for 20 minutes and expected to be paid back for her niece’s Wi-Fi and Netflix use, along with the paint she used for drawing a picture.
The aunt also expected reimbursement for the food and drinks her niece consumed, which came to $1 for a cup of milk, $3 for three bags of chips, $7.50 for three cups of apple juice, and $19 for her dinner from Olive Garden.
She charged her sister for gas money for their trip to the park, which she explained was her niece’s idea.
Ksenia Chernaya / Pexels
At the bottom of the list, her sister wrote, “Please pay $72 by April 30 to avoid interest,” and added a link to an ApplePay request.
“Really?” Pares exclaimed after going through the list. “Really, how ridiculous is she?”
While Pares’ sister isn’t wrong in her assertion that times are hard and money is tight, she isn’t showing the most generous side of herself by asking for reimbursement.
Rising inflation in the U.S. affects everyone. From child care’s astronomical price tag to the high cost of groceries, the mere act of existing is harder now than it used to be.
It’s normal and valid to feel frustrated by how expensive life is, yet it’s less valid to expect other people to pick up the paycheck for you, even if you’re going out of your way to support them when they need help.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture, and all things to do with the entertainment industry.