WIBTAH if I temporarily go no/low contact with my parents.
I (22m) am backpacking in south east asia right now. My budget is tight but I make it work. For a part of my budget, I have some planned income I was expecting to get later on in the trip from my dad, for who I did a job in exchange, with quite a few hours put into it. Now that the budget is stretching out, I asked him about my payment for the project, which isn't entirely done, but at least my part is, he has to fill in the final details.
On top of that, I wanted to get a job to make more money for my trip, but my mom stressed that I shouldn't work and just focus on school, they'd give me some extra money if thats what it took so that I wouldn't take on a job.
I asked about this offer again since they hadnt mentioned it, and I was met with a bombardment of questions on where im going, what my plan is, and what my budget is. They want an entire itinerary we have to discuss together, and they implied theyre otherwise not helping me finance. The thing is I know a good estimate of how much I'll spend since I have a date im going back, but for the rest i love going with the flow, seeing where I'll end up, I like to plan max a week into advance. I cant and also don't want to give them an exact outline of where I'll be each week. It sounds irresponsible but I take care of my budget everyday super tightly and never overspend my daily budget, Im even under it most of the time. On top of that, I am 22, and don't want to run my travel plans by my parents.
I know since its their money they can do what they want with it, but if id known they would have such strict conditions I would have gotten a job and worked. I also know telling them no will bring up a strong reaction, and a really big fight, because them going back on promises have been an issue in the past (I know I shouldnt have trusted the promise in the first place, but that also wouldve caused a fight), and they are somewhat controlling in a way aswell, so feeling like they cant control the situation will stress them out quite a lot. I feel like going low contact for a while is the best solution to figure things out and not make myself depend on them anymore like I've tried to do. WIBTAH?
Posted Apr 4, 2026, 1:18 PM UTC · locked