I’m 28 and my husband is 35. He owned a small electronics store when we started dating, but he later had to close it because he couldn’t compete with other, bigger competitors .
Since then he has been working in a logistics company, which in my opinion gives him no chance of advancing in his career. He also works as a rider for a ride-sharing app after his office hours until 1-2 a.m.
However, his total monthly income is only between 18 and 20 million VND (738 to 820 US dollars).
I am an office worker with a monthly salary of 10 million VND. I tried to start an online business but failed. Our current income is just enough to cover our expenses and does not allow us to save much.
My husband’s mother died a long time ago, while his father passed away earlier this year, leaving him with two younger siblings to care for.
The thing is, my husband’s siblings are both in their 20s. However, they don’t seem to have any intention of finding a job. I offered them jobs several times which they all refused.
All they want to do is spend the money they inherited from my father-in-law, which only amounts to tens of millions of dong, and rely on the allowances my husband sometimes sends them.
I told my husband that we can’t support them financially forever and that stopping sending them welfare would be better for them. But my husband doesn’t agree. Every time I talk about it, he asks me to show understanding, saying that they are orphans.
Since my husband’s income has recently declined due to the sluggish economy, I feel like I can’t support him anymore. He suggested that we could borrow money from others and use the 100 million dong in savings we have to buy a car, so he could become a taxi driver for a ride-sharing app. But I don’t think that’s an option, given the current fierce competition between VTC drivers. I don’t like having debt either.
He then suggested we use our savings to start a bakery. I also refused, because I thought 100 million VND was not enough to start a bakery. Not to mention that if it doesn’t work well, we will lose everything.
Thinking seriously about how to improve our financial situation every day exhausts me. And I don’t want to carry my step-siblings for the rest of my life. So, I often think about divorce.
On the other hand, I have to admit that my husband is a good man. He doesn’t drink alcohol, doesn’t smoke and always shares household chores with me.
What should I do?
