DEAR ABBY: My husband's sister is always asking us to send his parents money. She's married, their children are grown, her husband receives a pension, and they both work full time. My husband earns a good living and I am a stay-at-home mom. We have three sons, ages 11, 13 and 16. We live out-of-state and every year his parents visit us for a month. Their airline tickets and other expenses are entirely paid by us.
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Our extra money goes toward the children's college education or my husband's 401(k) plan. He doesn't have a pension plan. We've been saving for years and still don't have half the tuition money we will need for our sons' college.
My husband's father also gets a pension. He and his wife both receive Social Security and own their own home. They seem to have enough money to travel other places several times a year.
We have raised our children without any support from his family. They helped his sister financially when her children were small. When the grandmother died recently, his sister got jewelry, crystal and silver. My husband got nothing.
We moved out-of-state five years ago to get away from them. His father still calls him and wants to know when we're visiting because "the chores are piling up." My husband loves his parents, but he feels used and hurt -- and so do I.
I believe our first responsibility is to our children. We have told his family "no" for years, but they still want more and more from us. Any suggestions? -- FED UP IN FLORIDA
DEAR FED UP: Yes. Just keep saying no.