Sister Wives’ Meri Details Why Family Finances Didn’t Go to Her Child

Janelle asked how Kody handled the family money

Gripped about the family’s inability to pay Coyote Pass, Janelle said Kody claimed to have “all these other debts.” And yet she has seen him refurbish other possessions such as trailers and home decor. “I see all the art on their walls,” she said from Robyn and Kody’s house. “I see all these things. And that’s good, I have money and I spent it on things too.” (For his part, Kody said much of his money went toward buying cars — “Basically had a fleet” — and insurance for the kids.)

And while Janelle admitted she wasn’t sure how Kody and Robyn handled their finances, “I was always surprised at how nice their backyard was. It was completely finished. And there was always, like, stuff at their house. And I was like, ‘Wow.’

Bottom line, she said, “He doesn’t prioritize what I need or what I want.” And that problem eventually wore her down. “I think that after a while I started to look, and my children were born whole angry about it, like my grown children. As of: ‘What the hell, mother?’

Robyn’s take, however, was that she was very careful with her budget after her first marriage fell apart.

“I used to not be that great with money,” she shared on the Sept. 22 episode. “When I was young, I had hard knocks, and then during my divorce I really learned how to budget myself very, very well.” As for her fellow sister, she said, “You just have to have a different priority of where your money would go than I do, that’s all.”