My older sister lives with me, and my life is becoming increasingly overwhelming

This is purely a rant because I need to vent and get things off my chest.
I'm going through an extremely packed and complex period of my life, borderline burnout (if I’m not already there).

I work full-time from 9 AM to 6 PM, but with commuting, I leave the house at 8 and come back around 7 PM. Then I eat something quickly, because when I get home, I stream on Twitch three days a week from 9 PM to 11:30 PM. I also prepare vertical videos for social media — at least four videos every week.
On weekends, I “treat myself” to a DnD session with friends for half an afternoon. But since I’m the campaign's DM, I need another half afternoon to prep the session (i love it). On top of all this, I’m also working on a video game project with some friends, which takes up the rest of my time.
During the week, I wake up at 6 AM and go to bed, if I’m lucky, at midnight or 1 AM.
On weekends, I try to recover and usually give myself some personal time on Saturday night to go out or play games.

So where does my sister fit into all this?
First, let me say: I take streaming, video creation, and game development seriously. I treat them like a job — not in a negative way, but with professionalism, because I love doing it that way.
Obviously, with all this going on, I don’t have much time to take care of the house, but I try to be efficient and keep it clean.

That would be manageable… if it weren’t for the fact that my older sister lives with me — in MY house (I own it, with a mortgage in my name).
She works part-time from home, four hours a day, which doesn’t earn her enough to live on her own. She didn’t want to move back with our mom because she didn’t want to “lose her independence.”
Knowing this, I invited her to live with me on the condition that she would help in some way — maybe with video editing, content ideas, or even just helping around the house. I didn’t expect all three — even one would’ve been enough — especially since I don’t ask her for any money: no bills, no rent.
She has full independence — I have a fairly big house and she lives upstairs. I even installed an AC unit for her in a room where I personally wouldn’t have cared to have one.

There was a time when she said, “I’ll take care of cleaning the house.” So I let myself relax a bit and “save” time — for example, leaving dishes in the sink.
Within a month, the house became a mess — to the point I was ashamed to live in it. And I’m not just talking dishes — I’m talking bathroom, floors, surfaces... nothing got done.
So I went back to handling the cleaning myself, and on top of that, she now leaves stuff around, and I’m the one picking it up to keep the house clean.

This costs me sleep. More than once, I’ve found myself loading the dishwasher at midnight, cleaning up after her dinner — plastic bags, napkins, plates.
Now she’s changed jobs: still part-time (30 hours a week), with 1 hour total of commuting. She gets paid a little more, but still not enough to live alone. I asked her to at least split the bills, and she agreed. But now suddenly, that’s her only contribution in the house.

The other day she even complained that I wasn’t being kind enough to her — just because I invited some friends over and let her know that morning.
She said I should’ve asked for permission — not told her “Hey, just so you know, friends are coming over tonight,” but “Would it be okay if some friends came over tonight?”
Apparently, it was about “being respectful.” I refused, of course — it’s my home. But the attitude really rubbed me the wrong way.

Also, she streams too — using my setup, even during times when I’m home and could be at my PC.
When I bring up the cleaning situation, she says she’s “tired after work.” That drives me insane — I’m tired too, yet I still manage to do what needs to be done.

I already tried talking to her about how I wish she believed in herself more, but she replied:
"I'm happy right now, and I don't want to think about the future anymore — otherwise I’ll just end up hurting myself. I want to enjoy this happiness."

When I expressed my disappointment — mainly because she doesn’t earn enough to be truly independent — she said:
"I already know I’ll live with mom forever. And if you achieve success, I’ll smile and be happy for you. I don’t care if, when you turn around, all you see is a failed sister — I’ll still be happy for you."

I’m 25 years old. I’ve got a lot on my plate and I’m trying to build a better future for myself.
Even though I enjoy my day job (IT), I don’t want to do it forever. I want to entertain people. I want to tell stories.
I’m much more of a creative person, but that takes a lot of energy — and I feel like I’m slowly running out of it.
It’s hard to be at your best every single day, and this situation doesn’t help.
I keep thinking maybe I should tell her to move back in with our mom, but then I feel like a selfish brother.

I ask myself: why am I doing all this? Why am I bothered by it?
After all, she’s my sister — I should help her if she needs it, and not expect anything in return.
But maybe… I just wish she believed in herself more. That she developed her passions into something more — not just settle for working at Subway. Not because it’s a bad job, but just because of how little it pays.
Right now, she’s not even trying to look for something else.
She only streams — and she knows damn well that streaming alone won’t get her anywhere. She needs to make videos for other platforms too.

And meanwhile, I’m the one burning out. Who knows how long I’ll last.

I'm also trying to follow a healthy diet, because stress makes me eat like a kangaroo (I don’t even know if they eat a lot, but I sure do), and I’m overweight.
Not dangerously so — I’m still healthy based on my lab tests — but if I don’t watch myself, I could get worse. And even that takes a lot of effort.

If you’ve read this far, thank you so much for listening.
Take care — and always fight for your future.

Posted Aug 4, 2025, 11:16 AM UTC

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