Sacrifice.

I'm starting to feel really old.

I just had a call from a family member asking to borrow money.

Really? Do we seem like we are that well off an established that we can lend money out?

Or are we just that old?

I think some people have a really warped idea of what people in the military make. For some reason Gorilla's relatives that are similiar in age to us think we're super rich or something. Last I checked, Gorilla does not get compensated enough for his long work days, sacrifice to his country, deployments to the sandbox, and total loss of control over his life. We are living virtually paycheck to paycheck right now. We have student loans, mortgage, car payments, credit cards, and virtually no savings to speak of.

And did they forget that despite my many, many job applications, I still have not had ONE interview? My internet surfing and indentations on the couch have not started bringing in income yet. (if you figure out how I can make real money doing it, please let me know)

So now I'm at the awkward point where I have to decide if we can really sacrifice the money that we're stretching out until payday to help out a family member, or if we have to be the bad guys and say no. I know that it took a lot of balls for this person to ask, but I still feel that he/she putus in a very awkward position.

It's not a large amount of money, but it is substantial enough to us that it could buy groceries for the week or pay for a small utility bill. How do I decide if that sacrifice is worth it?