<prompt> Human: Ive been known to get a bit too descriptive, so Im going to be doing a couple bullets to keep things brief. Father: Partially retired, working part-time to help pay bills. Income: 1000 to 2000month varies on number of shifts he picks up. A few years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer. Quit his job, fought cancer and won, and is back to work but with less hours than before because of the cancer. 60-ish years old. Mother: Working full time. Income: 4300month, never varies. Manages all finances. Is keeping the debt secret from my father. 55 or so? Sister: 27 years old, working full time. Has a baby with boyfriend. They are very strapped for cash dont know income or much about their finances at all, I only know that they say they cant afford to give my mom any money for the car right now. She drives a car that my mother purchased in cash, but hasnt even paid back 10 of what she owes. My mother gives my sister money or other stuff groceries, diapers, baby clothes to help out. She has a student line of credit that is co-signed by my mother, but isnt the greatest at making payments. Mostly pays only the minimum payments. Me: 21 years old. Working full time in the oil sands in Alberta in construction. This job is scheduled to be done at the end of July, and I will be released at that point. I had planned to go to college in September with all the money I should have saved up by then. I make about 4200 per month. I have my own student line of credit that I am paying off. Last February, I had an outstanding balance of 38k. Its now 16k, since most of my income has gone straight into it. Motherss Personal Line of Credit: Balance: 45k. Monthly Minimum Payment: 1900 ish. Taken out to help with expenses while Father was sick, but it was never paid off and she continued to use it, since his income is not what it was before he got cancer.Mother manages all the finances, but isnt the best at it. Before a few days ago, shed never actually tallied up all the bills she pays every month and compared it to what they make together. She was shocked to find out that her net cash flow is around -1500 right now. Shes going to reduce this by stopping her monthly RSP contributions 500 per month until shes out of this mess. Leaving her at about -1000 per month.Heres where I come in. I dont have many bills, since I work most of the time and live at home between rotations of work to save money. The majority of the money I make is going to pay off my personal line of credit. I can easily reduce this, and start sending her 1200 per month, still pay my bills, and pay off 2000 of my student LoC in 6 months. This will cover the shortfall and a tiny bit extra for overages. However, this will throw a wrench into my engine. By the time Im done with work, Ill have given her 9000 instead of saving that for college, which I was planning on attending in September. If I do this, Ill probably be looking for full-time work instead. I dont think Ill see it back for a while. Based on how much debt shes in, it might be years.I dont know if I should do this or not. I dont think I can very easily go off to college and get my education and leave my parents drowning in debt, my conscious would kill me. But Im worried that this is going to stunt my career. If I do this, I might take another job in the oil sands instead of going to school; not getting my education and sticking with lower-paying work for a bit longer.Ive decided to set away the sum of my monthly bills for the next 18 months, but between that, the money Ill be using to help out my mom, and the money I need to pay off my student line of credit, Ill have only a few thousand left over for myself until I find work, or take my next job in Alberta.What do you think, everyone? And if youve gotten this far, thank you very much for reading.Assistant: Why is your mothers debt more important that your debt? At least pay off your own debt before you start giving them any money.Also it sound like your mom does not have a debt problem but a spending problem. Giving her more money to spend will not help anything. Say you give her 10,000 extra and she goes ahead and spends it? How has that improved either of your situations?Your mom need to get her household deficit under control. Once the household spends less per month than it takes in then she will no longer be digging herself deeper into the hole. Giving her money while she is still digging will only temporarily decrease the speed that the hole is dug.Human: Shes overspending right now only because a quarter of her entire expenditure is interest on the loan she has. Shes only taking more out of the loan to pay the interest on the loan. US government, what what!So if shes not taking more out of the loan because shes taking it from me, thats going to stop the interest payments from growing at least, right? And give her time to correct her habits and hopefully be managing everything on her own by the time I cant give her any more.Assistant: Look I have seen this before and what needs to change is her attitude towards spending and household deficits. You cant reduce her expenses for her. Only she can do that.Since you seem convinced that you can help I suggest paying a smaller amount to her every month. Say 600 per month for 6 months. As a condition ask her to reduce her expenses each month by 600. That would add 1200 to her monthly budget. This has the same effect as you sending her 1200 per month.This will cost you a total of 6006 3600. If you send her 1200 for 18 months then that is 21600.The point is that if she has a spending problem then it will only take you 3,600 to find out instead of 21,600. Again if she has a spending problem then sending her more money will not solve the problem.Human: If you send her 1200 for 18 months then that is 21600.Oh shoot, no, the 18 months is my own personal bills. I did not budget for 18 months of giving her 1200 a month. I was only planning giving her 1200 for 7 months.But I really really like the idea of making her meet me halfway. That will force her to work on her spending.  <response>: No. Dont give her money. It bails her out short term, and right now shes only thinking short term. It will NOT help her deal with this situation NOW, and prevent it recurring in the future. 