Advice needed: My high-earning sister treats me and our Mom like servants because she pays rent.

Need Advice

I (29F) am in a really dark place right now and just need to vent, or maybe get some perspective from people who understand toxic Filipino family dynamics.

For context, my sister and I were raised very traditionally—we live under our parents' roof until we get married or we can live alone but we need to pay our monthly "contributions" in our main rent house. I usually contribute 11,000 to 12,000 pesos per month.

Up until recently, I was working, but my contract ended unexpectedly. I used up all my remaining savings to pay for our house rent and bills during my first three months of unemployment, but now my savings are completely gone.

My sister (37F/ single) is a Project Manager at a top private company here. She makes good money, but she’s drowning in credit card debt because of frequent solo trips abroad and compulsive spending on unnecessary stuff (sacks of plushies, thrift hauls, etc.). To the point from 4 available rooms in our house, we only have 1 left because the majority of her unnecessary stuff are all in those rooms. (NOT EVEN ORGANIZED). Sometimes there are rats in those rooms.

Since my savings ran out, she had to take over paying for the rent and electricity. My mom has very minimal income and I currently have none. But that doesn't stop me for trying to go back and applying jobs and posting online and sell stuff online.

However, now that my sister covers thosethose major bills, she acts like she owns us. She literally treats my mom and me like unpaid servants:

  • Household chores: She expects us to cook for her and wash all her clothes, including her UNDERWEAR AND BRAS. If we forget or miss doing her laundry on the weekend, she will shout at us
  • The dogs: We used to alternate taking our dogs out 3 times a day. She changed it to 4 times a day just so she wouldn't be bothered early in the morning. Even back when I was working on 3–4 hours of sleep, she would wake me up by literally kicking/nudging me with her feet to handle the dogs.
  • Respect: She shows zero respect toward our mom. She doesn't even treat her like a mother anymore.

The verbal abuse is constant and completely unbearable. She hates my guts because I’m unemployed right now and can't split the rent. And also, she wants me to clean the rooms with ALL HER STUFF. STUFF THAT SHE DOESN'T NEED. She wants me to clean all of that. Like it is not enough that we handwash her underwear and bras.

Out of pure desperation, I’ve secretly started keeping audio recordings of her verbal outbursts and taking screenshots of her messages. I know doing this without consent is a grey area, but the gaslighting is so severe that I felt I needed evidence just to protect my own sanity.

Has anyone gone through something similar with a toxic sibling in a shared family setup? How do you survive living under the same roof when you're financially stuck?

Honestly, I just want to block her and runaway...But my concern is my mom. If I leave my mom with her, she will definitely treat her as a maid 100%.

Posted Aug 11, 2026, 10:28 PM UTC

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