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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Annalisa Barbieri

My friends are in debt but won’t rein in their lifestyle. And I feel pressured to keep up

Concerned friend-01

I have a friend who has experienced a truly awful year with her husband. They have been put through it and are now in high levels of medical debt. They have a nice lifestyle which they finance with credit card debt. My partner and I generally have a much easier life than they do, but money has been a little tight for us too recently. I have had to cancel trips and say no to eating out because my partner recently lost his job and we simply don’t have the income right now.

I always feel very awkward about this as our financial situation is undoubtedly easier than theirs, and I am not at all comfortable with taking on debt. When I recently cancelled a trip we had planned with them they made comments like “just put it on a credit card!” and were not very happy. I don’t want to claim our situation is anywhere near theirs and I want to show my love and support for them, but I equally don’t want to take on debt to keep up with activities they want to do. Can you help?

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