Time to cut off mooching brother

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This article was published 23/07/2019 (2600 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: Our cabin is on the way home from my brother’s cabin and he likes to stop in for a beer. What he means is he’s expecting to drink a case of my beer shared between him, his wife and their grown son, with one or two left for my family.

How do I get this stopped? He’s an older brother and not the kind of guy to whom you can say, “Bring your own beer, you sponger!”

I realize he’s done a lot for me in my life, but I don’t feel like I should have to host his driving-home-drunk parties with my beer, not to mention all the snacks that go with it, and sometimes he lets me know they “have time” to stay for supper, too. How can I get him to stop coming and sponging at the end of every weekend? We are not a pit stop here!

— Fed Up Bro, Lake Winnipeg

Dear Fed Up Bro: Your older brother shouldn’t be drinking and driving drunk all the way home on the highway from your cabin every week! So, save his life and make yourself richer with an unpopular move.

Hide the beer. Tell him you are off the booze yourself this summer, and offer him and his party soft drinks or coffee. Emphasize you’re on a fitness kick and then try to enlist him in joining you on Sunday runs when he drops in — “Could be a weekly thing for us, Bro!”

Also, suggest a bet to lose 20 pounds of beer belly fat in the next few months. Don’t worry. He will not be interested. He may run out and buy his own beer to drink at your place if he’s desperate, but my guess is he’ll eat your food and take off home. Make sure the food isn’t too interesting. Chips, veggies and a healthy dip would do the trick.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: My grandmother just died, and left me a nice pile of money — $5,000.

I’m 22 and very excited about this. I’d like to share the money with my boyfriend, and told my mother about that. Then she said she wouldn’t release any of the money grandma left in her charge for me, if I was so stupid and immature I’d share it with a “party boy” and not buy something for myself.

Grandma left enough money to buy a second-hand car! What is wrong with my mother’s head? It’s my money to spend how I want! And what’s wrong with loving my boyfriend enough to share with him too?

— Spend It Any Way I Want, Selkirk

Dear Spend: Sorry, but your mother is right. Boyfriends can come and go and this money was given from your grandmother’s loving heart to you. If you buy yourself a second-hand car and register it in your own name, you can take the boyfriends on lots of rides.

You sound very young for your age, and boyfriends come and go until you mature a little.

You might not be feeling so happy about sharing your inheritance with this particular guy six months from now.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I’m scared of bears and my boyfriend’s parents’ cabin is in bear country. It says so right on the signs. I often have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and I’m scared to go out there alone, so I have to wake up my boyfriend and make him get the flashlight and go with me. He hates this, as he’s a deep sleeper. Any suggestions?

— Scaredy Cat, Lake of the Woods

Dear Scaredy: Phone antique stores in the city and look for a “potty” (the best ones have a lid) for under the bed and you won’t have to leave the safety of the cottage in the middle of the night. You can leave the clean potty as your gift for the cottage.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6.

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

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