Not far off.....

badmemory

Whilst it may be a pain not get his share from the ex, there is a bonus to that.  You are no longer dependent in even the remotest sense on him.  It is the final freedom you can get & is a great one.  You will be amazed at how quickly you adapt.  Admittedly this is many years ago, but when my ex supposedly could no longer pay maintenance I went into flap mode because it was well over a quarter of my income.  Then I realised that I was a lot less stressed than I had been & the things I had been buying because of that were no longer necessary.  I felt like Mel Gibson in Braveheart - FREEDOM!!!!!  I hope you can get that feeling too.

Sewn

It's tough when you have different income streams coming in at different times trying to manage your budget, I'm struggling with that since going self employed, previously I had one income on a set date and knew all my outgoings and was never in the red, trying to juggle that being self employed is hard. how do you do it?

AntoMac

It’s good that you’re managing to save Emma, and not making any rash decisions on what to do with your inheritance. Hope you’re getting some kind of interest on it. Good interest rates not easy to find these days.

savingholmes

It does sound like she's taking advantage.

Hope you manage to get some more time off soon.

AntoMac

Sorry to hear that things aren’t good Emma,
I do believe that in time your daughter will understand all the sacrifices you are making to keep her clothed and fed. Keep reminding her WHY you are doing all this extra work. She’s still very young of course and thinking about living in ‘The now’.
As for your Mum, of course she won’t come to awards evening just in case you actually win! Don’t stop trying to be kind and doing the right thing. Your Mum might not be willing to acknowledge your great achievement but the event organisers certainly have. Congratulations, and whether you win an award or not well done for making a success of your business.

savingholmes

Congratulations on being short listed - that's immense.

Commiserations on the rest. Families can be hard. You are doing what you can to provide for your family. It's all you can do.

AntoMac

Sounds like things are a little better than they were at the weekend Emma. Your partner’s daughter should know now that you’re no pushover and be prepared to play by the rules.
I think with your line of work it would be quite likely to drop opp a bit over the school holidays? At least that gives you time to take a breather and catch up on your admin.

Each to their own of course as always but I wouldn’t hold out too much faith in a spiritualist Church. I’m a big fan of my local Church in general, not because I’m a massive Bible-bashed but because I see them do a lot of great work in the community for those that need it. I’m personally VERY sceptical of mediums/spiritualists but like I say it’s never for me to tell others what they should believe in.

That must be a massive support and comfort to your OH that you are prepared to watch over his DD and dog while he goes to see his Mum.

AntoMac

It’s been a while Emma. How are you doing? Have you had your business awards evening yet?

AntoMac

Nice to hear from you Emma. Glad you’re ok. If you’re down to £24k that’s quite a dent you’ve made in the last view months then, especially with taking the kids on holiday and paying for your son’s laptop. Will he be going far away to study?

A lot of the youngsters I know have stayed fairly local. 

You could always tell his dad you’ll take the cost of the laptop out of his CSA money 

savingholmes

Nice to see you back