Last night, Cousin and I are chit-chatting as she makes dinner and she says, "Since I'm moving out in a month, I don't want to buy anything I'll have to move, so I'm going to plan pantry clean-out meals!"
She didn't BUY THAT STUFF!! She says this as she is cooking up sausage that WE BOUGHT. GOD FORBID she buy some stuff and end up leaving it here! I'm convinced she already packed the maple syrup. We had half of a 1 quart jug that she purchased, and I made pancakes one morning and the whole jug was gone. I think she packed it.
The only food she buys is bread, her son's school stuff, and produce. 99% of the meat, cheese, olive oil, baking ingredients, etc, is stuff WE have bought. She just LOVES to throw some of the almond flour I get into her muffins, and that stuff is $10+ a pound! I made a pot of soup this weekend and she's already eaten FOUR BOWLS. (I don't blame her, my soup is awesome and her soup is always nasty.)
Mom and Dad are paying for the food. Dad doesn't care and mom is an enabler. There's no point in me getting all POed about it. So I come complain to you folks!
probably not for long. after all, she'll have to actually pay rent on time (a more realistic rent than she was paying before she decided not to), food for two people, utilities, child care, misc. expenses....reality is gonna bite her hard.
Ophelia, have you started a mental pool of how soon she'll be moving back in?
I honestly do think that once she's out, she's out. She did fine on her own for years - paid rent, bought groceries, etc. Sure, she and her child lived on rice and beans, but she did it.
Mom and I are going to turn that downstairs area into a workout area. Plus we'll have a little bedroom for when my sister needs to sleep over (she's going through a divorce and right her StbEx gets the house every other weekend.) I am mean-spiritedly excited that now she won't be able to afford yearly skiing and Orlando trips.
Just keep chanting to yourself, "Only a few more weeks. Only a few more weeks." I hope your mom likes having a workout room and guest room so much that if (when?) your cousin wants to move back in with you all, your mom will tell her no.
I'd be tempted to keep my expensive specialty ingredients in my clothing closet so cousin can't get to them.
I do have speciality ingredients that I hide. A lot of things I keep in the downstairs fridge or on some shelves downstairs. Of course, that means everytime I want to cook I'm making trips up and down the stairs, b/c GOD FORBID she keep anything of hers in the downstairs fridge that is about 10 feet from her bed!
Speaking of hiding things, we have to hide batteries. A few years ago, Cousin used an entire pack (like 18 or so) of AA batteries to load-up every single one of her son's new Christmas toys.
And this morning, she asked me if we had a Gatorade stash.