That sounds very frustrating, jbug. As long as your father manages your money, you will probably have such yucky incidents. Do you have a plan for getting back to managing your own finances? If not, maybe having a graduated plan would help you feel more empowered. Start small? I think it would be very demoralizing to have to "ask" for money. Could you work out a system where you get paid a certain amount by your father once a week, without your having to "ask" for it? You would just get paid automatically every Friday, or something like that. If you have extra, you could put it in the bank for unexpected things like mailing the package.