more, please...

And my mom is at her wits end. (my dad basically has control of the checkbook) She tries to warn my dad that he cannot rely on what he hears over the phone because of pending transactions, but it just pisses him off. I've offered to hold a crash course on money management for both my dad & my brother to teach them how Josh & I have handled our finances for the last seven to eight years or so (just estimating, I can't remember exactly how long). And frankly, when I do that, I will warn them right then and there:

I WILL be watching your accounts after this. If I see it go negative even ONCE after this, I will have no choice but to take away your debit cards and devise a way to restrict the money you spend, even if I have to put money into envelopes and put them into a safe where only mom knows the combination to and each morning she will open the safe & give each of you your individual envelopes with the money for that day, and if you spend all your money that day, then tough shit. And as for bills, I will set up each one to be paid by automatic payment so that you don't even have to worry about mailing them in. And because I will be controlling your money, as long as the automatic deposits continue (my dad gets social security deposited monthly, my brother gets VA deposited monthly), then the bills will most assuredly get paid.

If something doesn't get done, my parents will be right back in the same situation they are now (they've filed bankruptcy for the second time in their lives, and are being evicted from their home of 18 years and moving to Prescott to try to start over), and will be on their asses with no place to live, with my brother riding on their tailcoats because he's no smarter with money than my dad.

The only way they managed as long as they did was because my mom commuted to Las Vegas on a weekly basis, working as a "house mother" in the dressing room of a topless joint. The pay was good (base salary plus tip money from the dancers), but she got laid off. She held a couple of other odd jobs locally after that (in call centers) but for health reasons had to quit.

My dad works, but it is not steady work.. he is basically a self-employed auto-body worker. When the work comes in, the pay is damn good, but unfortunately it isn't very consistent.

Coupled with the fact that my youngest brother (not the same one I referred to earlier) was still living with them up until this eviction, and hardly worked at all, yet slept in their house, ate their food (as did his on-again/off-again girlfriend & two kids, although at least she cleaned around the house), and did jack shit around the house. Oh, and not to mention the drugs he does (mostly pot, but some hard drugs).

Plus, my sister, who is a smaller shadow of my brother, except that she would occasionally work and would give my parents half her paycheck. And yes, she smokes pot, too.

But, on a lighter note about my sister, it seems she has surprised my parents and claims she will quit smoking pot so she can live with them in Prescott. She also claims she will get a job at the college my brother (the first one mentioned) attends there, Embry-Riddle, working in the computer lab (easy-cheesey work, checking people in & out of the computer lab, making sure no one makes off with a computer). Now, whether her decision to quit pot is a semi-result of my ultimatum (see part one and part two), I don't really know... but it could be due in part that she may not have been able to find someone here in town to live with and possibly leech off of... since I don't know whether or not she has a job down here.

Anyway, I guess I've rambled enough about my dysfunctional family.. boy they really frustrate me!
That's all, folks...