Help! Moral Issue

MustStopSpending

I have been offered the opportunity to earn some extra money by 'babysitting' a family who have been repossessed whilst they clear their home. I really need the money and if I don't do it they offer it to someone else, who I know doesn't need the money like I do, and who won't be as understanding as me!

Is this 'dirty' money?!

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Sorry what is the moral issue ?

Have I missed something but baby sitting is not illegal or unethical ?

wigginsmum

Not sure what the problem is here - what do you mean by babysitting? Do you mean observing while they clear the house? If so, as long as they don't try and take anything they're not supposed to, I don't see that you'd have a problem.

msmicawber

Only if it's your fault their home was re-possessed!

Seriously, though, I take it this money is just rent in repayment for the inconvenience of having a family camped in your house and to cover the extra bills etc. - if so, they're just paying guests, so I don't see how this could be 'dirty money'. They're going through a dreadful time, but I don't think you should feel guilty about helping them on a paid basis while they sort out a new home for themselves. If I were in their position, I would feel better about paying you to help me, rather than just accepting charity from you.

Don't beat yourself up.

MustStopSpending

Just feel like I'm on the side of the repo company as the amount I get paid goes on top of their outstanding debt!

LittleL_4

I babysit my nephew every Monday and my sister pays me £80 pcm. I sometimes feel guilty taking the money but at the end of the day I need it, she needs me and all is well.

Do you feel guilty coz their losing their home? As you say, if you don't take it they will give the money to someone else.

I would go ahead
L
x

msmicawber

Could you negotiate a private cash back deal with the family (i.e. a 75:25 split or something) so that you both benefit? Would that ease your conscience? Wherever they live, even if it's emergency Council B&B, they would have to pay, so why not pay you?

Broken_hearted

It's a job like any other job. If you don't do it someone else will.

rog2

Why feel guilty when you have probably shown them more understanding and given more help than anyone else. If you had not looked after them, they would have had to go into temporary accommadation (B+B?) where not only would they have had to pay, they would not have been among friends.
Take the money - it will not affect your friendship.

hostie

I don't know what your relationship is to the family concerned and I don't know exactly what it is that you have to do, whether it is putting them up in your house or something else. Whatever the situation is, my opinion is that if you know the family at all, you are in a position to help them by doing whatever it is for free OR for charging for it and then giving the money back to the family. If you are in a position to do whatever it is for free then I think, yes, there is an ethical issue here and the right thing to do would be to help them at their time of need. Yours might come along some day in one shape or form and it is the people who go out of their way to help, often at a cost to themselves, who are the true friends in life.

If, on the other hand, you don't know the family then this is just a job and someone has to do it.

Hope that helps. I know that when a member of my family was sick, people came and gave us help in any way they could: lending us their car, bringing food, offering to put people up, moral support, sending things in the post, the list is endless. It is when things are tough that you really notice the people who are truly generous. Truly generous people give things that actually cost them, whether it is costing them time that they don't have, another inconvenience, or money.

Take care,