Abby Connolly
When you move into a place with roommates or start to live with family again, you have a choice as to how you want to approach your groceries.
You and the people you live with could all share your groceries and split the bill; you could share only basic items like bread, milk, and eggs, or you could not share any food at all, and each person has to fend for themselves.
One woman recently moved in with her boyfriend’s family and has been contributing to their grocery bills but feels as though she doesn’t get to eat as much as she should due to his brother’s big appetite.
She and her boyfriend, John, are in their early 30s and working while they’re in graduate school. Because they’re both students and on tight budgets, she and John decided to live with John’s family, which includes his mom and 19-year-old brother, Luke.
She’s been living with John’s family for eight months and sends rent money to his mom. Luke doesn’t work or have a driver’s license, so he spends most of his days at home, doing whatever he wants.
Luke also works out a lot, which means he has quite an appetite and eats a lot of food in the house. However, that’s begun to bother her as she and John share groceries with his family.
“Everything is fair game, including whatever food John and I buy,” she said.
“While we will split the Costco bill with his mom, I still feel like we’re spending more money on food since it feels like we aren’t feeding only ourselves. It feels like I’m spending so much money on food that I’m not able to enjoy [and] I’m not responsible for feeding Luke.”
She thinks she could subtly solve this issue by buying labels and putting them on food she buys for herself so no one touches it. However, John believes it would be better if she spoke up and asked his family to save some more food for her.
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