Yana pushed the apartment door open and immediately heard voices from the kitchen. Her husband Igor was talking with his mother—Valentina Stepanovna. The woman had arrived in the morning and settled in the kitchen, as usual.
“So what’s going on with the TV?” Igor asked.
“It’s gotten really old,” the mother-in-law complained. “The picture is bad, the sound comes and goes. It should have been replaced long ago.”
Yana took off her shoes and went into the kitchen. Her mother-in-law was sitting at the table with a cup of tea; Igor was fiddling with his phone.
“Ah, Yana’s here,” her husband said happily. “We were just discussing Mom’s TV.”
“What’s wrong with it?” Yana asked tiredly.
“It’s completely broken. We need a new one,” said Valentina Stepanovna.
Igor put down his phone and looked at his wife.
“You always pay for things like this. Buy Mom a TV. We don’t feel like spending our own money.”
Yana froze as she took off her coat. He said it so matter-of-factly, as if he were talking about buying a loaf of bread at the store.
“I don’t feel like it either. And you do?” Yana asked.
“Well, you’ve got a good job, you make decent money,” Igor explained. “And my salary is small.”
Yana frowned and looked at her husband as if checking whether he was serious. He was. Igor’s face radiated complete confidence in the rightness of his words.
“Igor, I’m not a bank,” Yana said slowly.
“Oh, come on,” her husband waved her off. “It’s just one TV.”
Yana sat down at the table and thought back over the past few months. Who paid for the apartment? Yana. Who bought the groceries? Yana. Who paid the utilities? Yana again. And the medicines for Valentina Stepanovna, who constantly complained about her blood pressure and joints. And the credit her mother-in-law had taken out for renovations—she stopped paying it back after three months, and Yana took over that, too.
“Remember something?” Igor asked.
“I remembered who’s been paying for everything in this family for the last two years.”
Valentina Stepanovna stepped into the conversation:
“Yana, you’re the lady of the house; the responsibility falls on you. Is it really so hard to buy Igor’s mother a TV? It’s a purchase for the family.”
“For the family?” Yana repeated. “And where is this family when money needs to be spent?”
“It’s not like we’re not doing anything,” Igor objected. “I work, and Mom helps around the house.”
“What help around the house?” Yana was surprised. “Valentina Stepanovna comes over to have tea and talk about her ailments.”
The mother-in-law took offense.
“What do you mean just to talk? I give you advice on how to run a family properly.”
“Advice about how I’m supposed to support everyone?”
“Well, who else would?” Igor asked in genuine surprise. “You have a steady job and a good income.”
Yana looked closely at her husband. He truly thought it was normal for his wife to carry the entire family financially.
“And what do you do with your money?” Yana asked.
“I save it,” Igor replied. “Just in case.”
“For what case?”
“You never know. A crisis, getting fired. You need a safety cushion.”
“And where’s my safety cushion?”
“You’ve got a reliable job; they won’t fire you.”
Yana said calmly, “Maybe it’s time for you and your mother to decide for yourselves what to buy and with what money.”
Igor smirked. “Why talk like that? You manage money so well. And we already try not to burden you with extra expenses.”
“Not burden me?” Blood rushed to Yana’s face. “Igor, do you seriously think you’re not burdening me?”
“Well, it’s not like we ask you to buy something every day,” his mother defended him. “Only when it’s really needed.”
“Is a TV really needed?”
“Of course! How can you live without a TV? The news, the shows.”
“You can watch everything online.”
“I don’t understand the internet,” the mother-in-law cut her off. “I need a proper TV.”
Yana realized the conversation was going in circles. In their minds, both Valentina Stepanovna and Igor genuinely believed Yana was obligated to provide for everyone and everything—while they pinched every kopeck for themselves.
“All right,” Yana said. “Tell me how much the TV you want costs.”
“Well, you can find a good one for forty thousand,” Igor brightened. “A big one, with internet.”
“Forty thousand rubles,” Yana repeated.
“Yeah. Not that much.”
“Igor, do you know how much I spend on our family every month?”
“Well… a lot, probably.”
“About seventy thousand rubles every month. The apartment, groceries, utilities, your mother’s medicines, her loan.”
Igor shrugged. “It’s family. That’s normal.”
“And how much do you spend on the family?”
“Well… sometimes I buy milk. Bread.”
“Igor, you spend at most five thousand rubles a month on the family,” Yana calculated. “And not even every month.”
“But I’m saving for a rainy day.”
“Whose rainy day? Yours?”
“Ours, of course.”
“Then why is the money sitting in your personal account and not in a joint one?”
Igor fell silent. Valentina Stepanovna quieted down too.
“Yana, you’re saying the wrong things,” the mother-in-law finally ventured. “My son provides for the family.”
“With what?” Yana asked, astonished. “Valentina Stepanovna, the last time Igor bought groceries was six months ago. And only because I was sick and asked him to go to the store.”
“But he works!”
“And I work. Only for some reason my salary goes to everyone, and his goes only to him.”
“That’s just how it’s done,” Igor said uncertainly. “The woman manages the household.”
“Managing the household doesn’t mean carrying everyone on your back,” Yana retorted.
“And what do you suggest?” asked Valentina Stepanovna.
“I suggest everyone support themselves.”
“How’s that supposed to work?” the mother-in-law cried. “What about family?”
“What about family? Family is when everyone contributes equally, not when one person pulls everyone else along.”
Igor looked at his wife in bewilderment. “Yana, that’s a strange way to think. We’re husband and wife, we have a joint budget.”
“Joint?” Yana laughed. “Igor, a joint budget is when both people put money into one pot and spend it together. And what do we have? I put money in, and you keep yours for yourself.”
“Not for myself—I’m saving it.”
“For yourself. Because when money is needed, you’ll spend it on your own needs, not shared ones.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do. Right now your mother needs a TV. You have forty thousand set aside. Will you buy it for her?”
Igor hesitated. “Well… that’s my savings.”
“Exactly. Yours.”
The mother-in-law tried to turn the tide:
“Yana, you shouldn’t talk to your husband like that. A man should feel like the head of the family.”
“And the head of the family should support the family, not live off his wife.”
“Igor does not live off you!” the mother-in-law protested.
“He does. For the past two years I’ve paid for the apartment, food, utilities, your medicines, and your loan. And Igor has been saving money for his personal needs.”
“It’s only temporary,” her husband tried to justify himself. “There’s a crisis, times are tough.”
“Igor, we’ve been in a ‘crisis’ for three years now. And with every month you shift more expenses onto me.”
“I’m not shifting them; I’m asking for help.”
“Help?” Yana let out a short laugh. “Did you pay the rent at any point in the last six months?”
“No, but—”
“Did you buy groceries?”
“Sometimes.”
“Igor, buying milk once a month does not count as buying groceries.”
“Well, okay, I didn’t. But I work and bring money into the family.”
“You bring it in and immediately stash it in your personal account.”
“I’m not hiding it; I’m saving it for the future.”
“For your future.”
The mother-in-law jumped back in:
“Yana, what’s gotten into you? You never used to complain.”
“I used to think it was temporary. That my husband would soon start pulling his weight with family expenses.”
“And now?”
“Now I understand I’m being used like a cash cow.”
“How can you say that!” Igor burst out.
“What else am I supposed to call it when one person supports everyone else and they still demand gifts?”
“What gifts? The TV is something Mom needs!”
“Igor, if your mother needs a TV, then your mother should buy it. Or you can buy it for her out of your savings.”
“But her pension is small!”
“And is my salary made of rubber—stretchable without limit?”
“Well, you can afford it.”
“I can. But I don’t want to.”
Silence fell. Igor and his mother exchanged glances.
“What do you mean you don’t want to?” her husband asked quietly.
“It means I’m tired of supporting the family alone.”
“But we’re a family; we’re supposed to help each other.”
“Exactly. Each other. Not one person helping everyone else.”
Yana stood up from the table. She realized they saw her as a cash machine that should dispense money on demand.
“Where are you going?” Igor asked.
“To take care of things.”
Without another word, Yana took out her phone and opened her banking app right there at the table. Her fingers moved quickly over the screen—she blocked the joint card Igor had access to. Then she went to transfers and began moving all her savings to a new account she’d opened a month earlier, just in case.
“What are you doing?” Igor asked warily.
“Taking care of financial matters,” Yana said curtly.
Her husband tried to peek at her phone, but Yana angled the screen away. Five minutes later, all the money had been moved to her personal account, to which neither her husband nor her mother-in-law had any access.
“Yana, what’s going on?” Igor asked, alarmed.
“What should have happened a long time ago is happening.”
Yana went into the card settings and permanently revoked access for everyone but herself. Igor stared at his wife, bewildered, not grasping the scale of what was happening.
Sensing trouble, Valentina Stepanovna jumped up from her chair.
“What have you done? We’ll be left without money!”
“You’ll be left with the money you earn yourselves,” Yana replied calmly.
“What do you mean, ourselves? What about family? What about the joint budget?” the mother-in-law screamed.
“Valentina Stepanovna, we never had a joint budget. There was only my budget, which everyone fed off.”
“You’ve lost your mind!” the mother-in-law kept shouting. “We’re a family!”
In a steady voice, Yana said clearly:
“From today on, we live separately. I am not obligated to pay for your whims.”
“What whims?” Igor objected. “These are necessary expenses!”
“A forty-thousand-ruble TV is a necessary expense?”
“For Mom, yes!”
“Then let Mom buy it with her pension. Or you buy it with your savings.”
The mother-in-law rushed to her son:
“Why are you keeping quiet? Put her in her place! She’s your wife!”
Igor mumbled something unintelligible, avoiding Yana’s eyes. He knew she was right but wouldn’t admit it out loud.
“Igor,” Yana said quietly, “do you really think I should support your whole family?”
“Well… we’re husband and wife.”
“Husband and wife means a partnership. Not a situation where one person supports all the others.”
“But my salary is smaller!”
“Your salary is smaller, but your savings are bigger—because you don’t spend them on anything but yourself.”
Igor fell silent again. Realizing her son wouldn’t pressure his wife, the mother-in-law decided to act herself:
“Yana, return the money immediately! I’m running out of medicine!”
“Buy it with your own money.”
“My pension is small!”
“Ask your son. He has savings.”
“Igor, give me money for medicine!” the mother-in-law demanded.
Her son faltered. “Mom, I’m saving that for the family.”
“I am the family!” she shouted.
“But those are my savings.”
“You see?” Yana noted. “When it comes to spending, everyone’s money suddenly becomes personal.”
Realizing how serious things were, the mother-in-law changed tactics.
“Yana, let’s talk calmly. You’re a kind woman; you’ve always helped.”
“I helped until I realized I was being used.”
“You’re not being used— you’re appreciated!”
“Appreciated for what? For paying all the bills?”
“For supporting the family.”
“I’m not supporting a family. I’m supporting two adults who can work and earn their own money.”
The next morning Yana went to the bank and opened a separate account in her name. She also printed statements for the last two years to show that all the money had been spent only on her husband and his mother—groceries, rent, utilities, medicines, and the mother-in-law’s loan. It was all on Yana.
When she got home, Yana pulled out a large suitcase and started packing Igor’s things. Shirts, trousers, socks—she folded everything neatly.
“What are you doing?” her husband asked when he came home from work.
“Packing your things.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t live here anymore.”
“What do you mean, I don’t? This is my apartment too!”
“The apartment is in my name. I decide who lives in it.”
“But we’re husband and wife!”
“For now, yes. But not for long.”
Yana rolled the suitcase into the hallway and held out her hand.
“The keys.”
“What keys?”
“To the apartment. All sets.”
“Yana, are you serious?”
“Absolutely.”
Reluctantly, Igor handed over the keys. Yana checked—main set and spare.
“Does your mother have keys?”
“Yes, she comes by sometimes.”
“Call her. Have her return them.”
“Why?”
“Because Valentina Stepanovna no longer has the right to enter my apartment.”
An hour later the mother-in-law arrived. She understood it was serious when she saw the suitcase in the hallway.
“What does this mean?” she asked sternly.
“It means your son is moving out.”
“Moving out where? This is his home!”
“This is my home. And I no longer want to support freeloaders.”
“How dare you!” the mother-in-law exploded.
“I dare. Hand over the keys.”
“What keys?”
“To the apartment. I know you have a duplicate.”
“I won’t give them back!”
“Then I’ll call the police.”
The mother-in-law raised a real ruckus. She screamed that Yana was destroying the family, that you don’t treat relatives like this, that she had always considered her daughter-in-law a good girl.
“The good girl is gone,” Yana said calmly and dialed the police.
“Hello, we need assistance. Former relatives refuse to return the keys to my apartment and to leave the premises.”
Half an hour later, two officers arrived. They clarified the situation and checked the documents for the apartment.
“Ma’am,” they said to the mother-in-law, “return the keys and leave the apartment.”
“But my son lives here!”
“Your son is not the owner and has no right to dispose of the property.”
With witnesses present, the mother-in-law reluctantly took the keys from her purse and threw them on the floor.
“You’ll regret this!” she shouted as she left. “You’ll end up alone!”
“I’ll be alone, but with my own money,” Yana replied.
Igor silently picked up the suitcase and followed his mother out. At the door he turned back.
“Yana, maybe you’ll reconsider?”
“There’s nothing left to reconsider.”
A week later, Yana filed for divorce. There was almost no joint property to divide—the apartment had belonged to Yana from the start, and the car had been bought by Yana with her own money. There was nothing to split.
Igor tried calling, asked to meet and talk. He promised everything would change, that he would pay all the expenses himself.
“Too late,” Yana answered. “Trust doesn’t come back.”
“But I love you!”
“Do you love me—or my wallet?”
“You, of course!”
“Then why did you live off me for three years without a shred of remorse?”
Igor had no answer.
The divorce went through quickly—Igor didn’t contest it, understanding how pointless it was. The court declared the marriage dissolved.
For another month, Valentina Stepanovna kept calling Yana—crying into the phone, then threatening, then asking for money for medicine. Yana listened silently and hung up.
“My blood pressure is up because of you!” her mother-in-law complained.
“Ask your son to treat you; he has savings.”
“He says he’s sorry to spend the money!”
“Wonderful. Now you understand how I felt for three years.”
Six months later Yana ran into Igor at the store. Her ex-husband looked tired; his clothes had lost their former crispness.
“Hi,” Igor greeted her awkwardly.
“Hello.”
“How are you?”
“Great. And you?”
“Fine… I’m living with Mom for now.”
“I see.”
“You know, I realized I was wrong. I really did dump too much on you.”
“You realized?”
“Yes. Now I pay for all of Mom’s expenses myself, and I see how hard it is.”
“But you’ve got savings.”
“I had. I spent them on Mom’s medicine and repairs to her apartment.”
“And? Does it hurt to spend it?”
Igor paused, then answered honestly, “It does. A lot.”
“Now imagine doing that for three years straight.”
“I understand. Forgive me.”
“I already have. But that changes nothing.”
“What if I make it right? Become a different man?”
“Igor, you only ‘became different’ when you were left without my money. That’s not change—that’s being forced by circumstances.”
“But I’ve realized my mistake!”
“You realized it only when you had to pay yourself. If I had kept supporting everyone, you’d never have realized anything.”
Igor nodded. He knew Yana was right.
“I have to go,” Yana said, and headed for the checkout.
At home, Yana brewed tea and sat by the window with a book. The apartment was quiet—no one was demanding money for TVs, medicines, or anything else. The money in her account belonged to Yana alone. No one told her how to spend it.
When she closed the door behind her ex-husband six months earlier, Yana had felt truly light for the first time in a long while. It turned out that freedom from financial parasites was worth more than any family ties. Now every ruble she spent was a conscious choice, not coercion.
Yana never again allowed anyone to climb onto her shoulders. She learned to say “no” and not to feel guilty for refusing to support other adults. Money once again became a tool for realizing her own plans, not a means of survival for the freeloaders around her.
