My Crazy Mom and the $50 Allowance

My mom only gave me a $50 monthly allowance for college.

And on top of that, I was supposed to save whatever was left over to give to my little brother.

I didn't get angry, I got resourceful. And with my online side hustle, I was pulling in over $1,000 a month. But after three months, I single-handedly drove my mom completely nuts.

1.

The day I left for my freshman year, my mom divided up our monthly allowances.

I got $50.

My brother, Josh, got $500.

Luckily, I'd worked my butt off all summer and had enough saved to pay for my tuition. But that left me with practically nothing for new clothes and all the other stuff I needed for my dorm room.

"Mom," I pleaded, "Fifty bucks a month? That's not gonna cut it. Can't you bump it up a little?"

My mom just shrugged. "Honey, you gotta learn to budget. I've already figured everything out."

She whipped out a pen and paper and meticulously planned out my entire

50 budget.

“

50budget.“

3 a day for food, $15 a month for snacks. If you really need to, skip the snacks. They aren't even healthy for you anyway.”

Now, you’re probably wondering, "What about the other $2?"

My mom said with a totally straight face, "Whatever is left over, you can share with your brother, be a good sister."

That was it. I snapped.

With my extrovert, social butterfly energy maxed out, I went full-on crazy.

On my first day of school, I posted a video in our family group chat of me walking barefoot across the campus quad.

Aunts, uncles, and random cousins flooded the chat: “Ashley, honey, where are your shoes? Does it hurt to walk like that?”

I choked back fake sobs and used the voice-to-text feature, “I gotta save money for the family, you know. I need to help put aside money so Josh can get hitched one day.”

Cue the drama. “That’s just ridiculous!” said one of my cousins.

2.

Josh and I are twins, born only ten minutes apart. But because I'm the older sister, I was always expected to give way to my brother.

Our family wasn't hurting for cash. My dad is an engineer, and makes pretty good money. My mom is a stay-at-home mom.

But I never thought of our family as well-off.

Because my mom was always saying, “Girls need to be thrifty and well-behaved.”

But for Josh, it was always, “Boys need to be invested in, they need opportunities.”

Honestly, if she treated both of us equally, I wouldn't mind going without so much.

But the thing is, my mom’s not just biased.

Deep down, I think she never wanted me.

3.

“We thought twins meant two boys. Then, BAM, the first one out was a girl."

“Girls will just try to take our power away as women.”

These are things that I heard with my own ears, after I was old enough to understand them. And it was my own mom saying these things.

The messed-up thing was that my dad always liked me more.

If my mom held something back, my dad would always make sure I got it somehow.

But every time my mom found out, she would go ballistic.

She'd scream, “I knew it! I'm always the one in the wrong! Ashley is your precious pri...