lots to learn...

There are certain rules to live by when you are sharing someone’s space. Whether it is an apartment, room, house or other.
When you are living with someone and you are sharing the bills, such as rent, electricity and what not. There is an amount of sharing that can go on with food as long as both parties are aware of the situation. I still say “If you didn’t buy it, it’s not yours to help your self to.”
If you are living in someone’s house and you are just there for the room and the roof over your head. You should pay rent or have some other agreement. If there is an agreement then you should make good on your end of the bargain. It’s not like your stuff isn’t still taking up space in the other person’s house while your not there. If you are not sharing in the bills and you are not helping pay for food, it’s not yours to help yourself to.

Please comment on this:
I live in a house. We opened a room in our house to a family member. She doesn’t pay rent. She has to do the dishes to earn her keep. When she first moved in we bought food for her because she didn’t have a job yet and we wanted her to succeed at school. It’s been a year and a half, she has a job, she’s not in school and she helps herself to all the food in the house, including left-over’s. There have been a few times when we have expected to have these left-over’s for dinner and they are no longer there. The bread has been left with the heels the last four times without her taking another loaf out of the freezer. She has drunk the last of the milk, O.J. and the cranberry juice and not even hinted to replacing it, nor did she alert anyone that milk was needed. Something people think of when driving home at night (or am I the only one?). Oh, and the dishes? They are piled high in the sink and on the counter. Counting the days…

Why I feel so strongly about this:
She’s 19. We are not her parents. This is not her parents’ house to offer up food to her friends whenever anyone is hungry.
The food was not bought by her.
There is no respect for the people who did buy the food. Wash the dishes, replace the bread, milk, and juice, and DON’T eat homemade jam that was a gift for someone that is not YOU.
…and NEVER throw away peanut butter that hasn’t been scraped from the bottom of the jar!