How would you react if your friend tried to tell you how to spend your money? Would you be open to their advice, or would you be really annoyed and think they don’t understand money?

In this story, one teenage boy is in this situation. He doesn’t have a lot of money, but his parents give him a little spending money. It doesn’t sound like he spends it on anything expensive, but when he saw a pair of jeans he’d been wanting, he decided to get them.

His money was already gone by the time his friends asked him to hang out with them. At that point, he no longer had enough money for a train ticket to visit them. Now, one friend’s comments about his spending habits are really bothering him.

He’s wondering which one of them is being childish, him or his friend. Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AIO. My friend got mad at me for spending money on myself and not a train ticket to see them.

I 17m recently bought a brand new pair of jeans I had been looking for, instead of a train ticket to see my friend 16non-binary.

I’m unemployed and do not earn money myself. I get a few bucks from my parents each month so that I can buy stuff myself. Such as trains tickets (I transport in train 1-3 times a month), clothing, shoes, snacks ect.

I was walking around the mall, looking at stuff I knew I couldn’t afford. But I came across a clothing shop that had the exact pair of jeans I had been looking for, for months. I tired them on, and bought them. They costed me around $30. I was so happy with my purchase.

But then his friends wanted to get together.

A few days later.

My friend who we will call Ash texted in a group chat we have together with a mutual friend 17m who we’ll call Chris. Asking to get together at Ash’ place in this weekend.

Ash lives around 2 hours away in train, which is around $30 due to the late invite.

And for your knowledge, they ask to hang out multiple times a month at THEIR place because they refuse to take the train alone to my place. (They’re afraid of public transport or smt)

And I do NOT have the money for that. (We cannot hang out at Chris’ place, because his mom’ a jerk)

He was honest.

Ash and Chris were all in for the idea.

But I knew I didn’t have the money for that. So in the group chat I say; “I don’t think I can come.” I said that because I didn’t wanna sound ‘poor’ or whatever.

Ash then texted me private. “Why can’t you come?”

I replied with. “I can’t afford it.”

His friend was annoyed and annoying.

Ash; “Why do you never have money, stop spending them all on stuff😭”

Me; “I just bought myself a brand new pair of jeans I’ve been looking for, for a while.”

Ash; “BRO BUY IT IN A THRIFT STORE WRAP IT UP” “STOP WITH ALL THE NEW STUFF”

Me; “I almost always buy from Vinted (thrift app), and I finally found the jeans i wanted, so I brought them?”

He’s pretty annoyed about the situation.

Then Ash sent some stupid reaction picture of a rat, which ticked me off, grow the hell up.

Honestly Ash is reacting like a kid, they’ve got to understand that I cannot afford to buy train tickets to their place ALL THE TIME.

The few times they’ve been at my place, their mom would drive them here. Which btw is $110 in gas money for their mom to bring Ash ti my place, but also drive home.

Oh yeah, Ash’ mom would pick them up again. So it ends up costing Ash’ mother $220, which is A LOT. My parents would never do that, which I understand.

He thinks his friend is being childish.

This situation is ticking me off so bad.

Ash does NOT UNDERSTAND the concept of money. They also hate the concept of moneys and think it’s stupid.

IT’S NOT. Things in this world wouldn’t function if money wasn’t a thing.

Am I acting like the child here, or is Ash acting like the child?

Am I overreacting?

If Ash is so annoyed, Ash can offer to pay for OP’s train ticket. Otherwise, just accept that he can’t afford to go.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who turned down a promotion because they don’t believe the additional money is worth the extra responsibility.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Exactly!

Another person doesn’t think being friends with Ash is worth the drama.

I completely agree with this comment.

This is what I was wondering too. That’s a lot of money for gas.

His friend may have been trying to joke around, but he’s taking the criticism of how he spends his money very seriously. I don’t think $30 is very much for a pair of jeans. He definitely shouldn’t feel guilty about buying them.

He shouldn’t always have to pay to visit his friends. Maybe they could find a midpoint where they could meet up or rotate hanging out at his place. I’d be annoyed if I was the one who was always expected to travel to visit, but my friend criticized how I spent my money.

This “friend” doesn’t sound like a very good friend.