We've had to make do and mend over the last 2 years.
Health problems have stopped my income, again. Noting I am back on my little ol' feet and have [literally] just begun to shop around for work. Not fussed what I do and in the next week or two will be in Aldi, or similar I hope, humping boxes
for a bit of cash
Had there not been increases in various bills we would be surviving (not thriving) on my good ladies salary alone which isn't huge. She has a job she loves, and we have relied on my income to give us nice things in the past. We have a daughter who's 16. She gets a very reasonable monthly allowance. No feedback please, we only have one child
. She never asks for money past what she is given and at the end of each year usually hands back about £5-600 to be put in her JISA.
Our monthly costs have risen. We need about £500 per month to cover our bills over and above my good ladies net income. We could put some of our pensions which are in stocks into a bond to cover this, but I'm hoping to get into work and it's a decision for tomorrow as future events unfold. We aren't buying clothes or going on holiday, and we aren't buying Kellogg’s Chocolate Pops for £2.50. Tesco's own are 89p and taste just the same. Try some
We've made ends meet as we had some "rainy day money".
We run two cars (no debt on them) and have still managed to put £9K in our daughters JISA last year, although this year we aren't able to do so. We’ve also had to fork out for private health care to obtain a diagnosis for me (ADHD). We are spending £300 per month currently just to obtain my prescriptions. That will finish in about 2 months. I think we’ve spent over £3K to get this far with the process. However, I am not being disingenuous. I am in a better place because of my diagnosis and the medication.
We have lost about £200K in lost income and drain on our rainy-day money in the last 2 years. Whilst we didn’t plan for me to be out of work for such a long period we have survived, and we are still keeping our heads above water.
I have a healthy income when I’m working, and I drive a [very affordable 7-year-old] white. We have lived below our means for decades. We were working towards building up a pension pot which would allow us to retire a little earlier and have a little comfort when we do. The last 2 years haven’t helped.
We couldn’t survive on £11K per year. But we do have a 16-year-old daughter and she is always our first and last priority. I think we would be able to make ends meet, nothing else, on about £12-13K.
We are approaching the second anniversary of my Mum’s passing. She died on the 1st December 2021. She was 80. It’s been tough. I’ve not been able to grieve because of my own health problems. Recently I’ve been able to raise a smile or two and remembered some happy times with her. Mum left a property and a small amount of cash. Her Will left the property to me and the cash to my sister who has lived abroad, far away for 35 years now. The property wasn’t left to me to sell and acquire the money. It was left to me as Mum trusted me to protect it from my sister. My cousin, who is two years older than me, has resided with Mum for 30 years before she died. Mum treated him like a son. She wanted (wants), and rightly so, his home to remain there for him. She suggested he pay a small amount of rent each month which should go into our daughters JISA. So, and I am not complaining, hell no, I get nothing. I have no truck with this as what my Mum had was hers. She worked hard and like many of us she made ends meet. She was shrewd with her money and despite having so little was a generous person. As we anticipated my sister (think Mrs Greedy) isn’t happy with this and has solicitors acting for her. I’ve spent the last month preparing documents to carry out my Mum’s wishes. It’s my cousin’s home. It’s not an opportunity for me to “smash and grab” and get my hands on £90K. It has been a worry for the last 2 years, made worse by my ill health. We are coming to the end of the turmoil I hope. We genuinely could have “done without this”. But, with the correct diagnosis and me new medication, I’m able to give my Mum’s wishes my very best attention. I hope it’s enough and I hope we are able to protect her kindness towards my cousin. It's important to us. In fairness it's far more important than that.
Thank you for listening. Sorry to impose some slightly off-topic bits on the thread. My Mum spent a life time living below her means. She struggled. She was a consummate "living below your means" person. She would genuinely have been on the gold medal podium. She managed to live on about £12K per year, although her income was slightly more than that. She was generous to a fault, kind and [obviously] is missed. The "irritation" regarding her Will will go away soon. It’s sad that her daughter cannot accept Mum’s wishes though. When it ends we'll pop round to collect my cousin and take him out for a little pub meal. He lives alone, with my Mum's 5-year-old dog. We went down to Nottingham to collect her when she was four months old. A gift for Mum's birthday. I collect her every day and she spends the day, yapping
, with me and our two dogs. As you would expect from a Yorky she window guards vehemently. Thanks Mum
Take care Fools
AiY(D)
[Continuing with] LBYM & [now] Happy