Never A Borrower Of A Lender Be

Yesterday my sister in law rang me up out of the blue. Now this is unusual as she never calls me unless she wants something and sure enough she did. " Hi Terry how are you?" she starts out. "Fine" I reply on the cautious side. She then proceeds to ask me where I am and I told her I was at home. " I need to ask you a favour." she says and by now alarm bells are going off in my head cause when ever my husbands family calls me and asks for a favour, it usually involves money. " Well I answer, as I usually do, depends on what it is." I have learned over the years not to automatically say yes. " I need to borrow $2000.00" she says. This is not a small amount, some people don't even earn that much salary. So I informed her that I could not lend her money as I had recently lost my my job. "It's only for 1 week" she says and I think to myself yeah I heard that one before. After my husband died my brother in law got into the habit of borrowing money from me always telling me he'd pay me back in two weeks. Six months later I still hadn't gotten it back. After a while I put my foot down and refused to lend any more. I have always worked since my husband died and I have always been able to take care of my own family with out ever having to go to them for money. So why is it that these people who are single and don't have any responsibilities in the world, especially my sister in law, feel that it is OK to borrow money from me. My sister in law is a selfish person who has never thought of anyone but herself. She has not worked since 1998 and prefers a life of leisure. She spends her time gambling and so this is probably why she needs to borrow money. The night her father died she went on an over night cruise instead of canceling out and was one of the ones complaining she didn't get what was rightfully hers. Well I agree with her there nobody got what was rightfully theirs, but your penniless state is not my problem. Not to say I want to be mean, if I had the money to lend her I would, but I don't. Besides why doesn't she go to her brothers and sisters and ask them, why me. I've always been a bit funny when it comes to money I don't like to ask for it and I don't like to borrow. Probably due to my up bringing. My family never had money and so when I was growing up my sisters and I where terrified to ask our parents for money, cause if you did you either got raked over the coals or had to suffer the look that would kill, and believe me my mothers looks could kill you. I've never been a big spender and have always been on the thrifty side. That's not to say I am cheap cause if I have money I willing give to the kids. I give to charity and beggars. She on the other hand lived the life of O'Reilly never having to worry because her daddy was was always there to pamper and spoil her, and now he's not.