The past few years have been difficult, to say the least. This recession has brought me two redundancies, a stint on the dole and a lot of ways to squeeze a penny.
When you have had a recession and unemployment that lasts over three years, you can not bounce back as quickly as you would like. When you are back in work and your ducks are finally starting to line up then you begin the process of getting back to point zero.
Point zero for me is to have a budget that works without being stifling. We can eat steak again, once in a while. We are paying off the last of the crippling Service Charge bill (only four payments to go) that has taken almost 20% of my monthly wages.
The most exciting part of getting back on track is we can start to live a bit nicer life. We have been able to buy new sheets and have had the joy of throwing out the all the ones with holes and rips. We now have two sets of lovely cotton sheets courtesy of eBay.
The biggest gift we have gotten ourselves is a new set of cushions for our sofa. I bought my Ercol daybed eight years ago when I bought my flat – the cushions, I think were redone in the ’70s and were probably a fire hazard. Now again thanks to eBay, I bought new beautiful cushions and we feel like we have a new sofa.
HINT – the best time to buy furniture on eBay is around Christmas. I got these cushions for £102 where they would normally be about £500. The fabric is £30 per meter and the daybed is 6ft long which means we got the whole set for the price of the fabric.
I love the feeling of getting back to where I want to be. Unfortunately the feelings of failure and struggle from the redundancies and recession still remain in the back of my head. I am cautious to buy anything more than the absolute necessities. I am reluctant to go into stores, as I am afraid that the feeling of lack will make me want more than I can have at the moment.
For the past few years, I have gone by the rule – if you don’t look, you won’t want, and now that I am able to look and I still afraid to. I am so nervous that once I truly get up, I will be knocked down again.
Have you ever felt in a similar position? Please leave me a comment. I am so tired of constantly looking over my shoulder.