I‘m going to need to give you some context to my being motivated to write this post. I was in a discussion here about Macklin’s idiotic claim she could live on $35 a day. I want to make it clear that this post is not about that. Ok?
I joined in the conversation in the comments below that article. Here’s what I wrote:
We’re both on the pension with three kids. We own our house outright, so that makes budgeting a LOT easier. We have some nice things, but we always bargain shop, and we’re always looking at ways we can spend less.
We live rurally, so that cuts down a lot of expenses. My partner was working full time when we had our last child, and I was doing a little work from home from time to time. We have both agreed it would not be fair to bring another child into the family now that we’re on this budget.
We’re also trying to figure out ways to get one or both of us into the workplace in the future. It could be a long road towards that, but for now, we have to focus on getting my partner as well as possible. We dont really know what ‘as well as possible’ means for him yet.
I think most people on benefits are doing the best they can. We always have to look for ways to spend more wisely. My partner and I try to do that, but still try to allow for some joy in life too. It’s not just something we can ‘get off’ in three months, so we do allow for some wants as well as needs, but we just try to be moderate with those.
Now, here’s what sparked today’s blog post. The reply I got:
How is it possible to claim the pension when you own your house outright? Wouldn’t you redraw from your house during difficult times instead? I see so many friends struggling to get into the property market, working long hours etc. It seems unfair that you have paid your house off and are still able to obtain a pension?
Oh deary me, Anonymous, what a shit I’ve been. All this time your friends have been working hard and not owning a home, I’ve been living the high life and just rubbing your noses in it.
As for my partner, well, what can I say? He’s just a selfish prick in the face of you. He really was a dickhead to turn grey, have something resembling a heart attack (tests on that remain inconclusive), and not do a terribly good job of breathing. He really should have tried harder to suck more oxygen into his paint poisoned body so he could continue to spray paint the cars you drive and powdercoat the furniture you use. But no. That bastard instead, had to go to hospital for two weeks, on your tax dollars, mind you, instead of just picking himself up and going back to work. He should not made such a convincing show of looking like he was going to die and leave his missus and three kids behind. Oh boy, I tell you, he had me fooled!
The way he made his skin turn dark grey and his eyes sink into his head was diabolical. But you know what these welfare bludgers are like, always fooling everyone.
Look, I’m with you. I don’t believe he was hallucinating and seeing bugs crawling all over the house. When he coughed and vomitted, I reckon it was fake blood. I don’t think for a minute he left the gas stove on when we lived in Sydney because he lost his sense of smell temporarily, he was just too lazy to turn it off. He wasn’t overeating because he’d lost his sense of taste temporarily and never felt liked he’d eaten, he was just greedy, like all welfare bludgers.
Encephalitis is no excuse to be not working. Neither is mental illness. You’ve got two bloody arms and legs, you should be able to walk out that door and go to work. I’ve tried to tell him I don’t care if you have agoraphobia, but he just doesn’t listen. Bloody centrelink bludgers.
And look, don’t get me started on the injustice of him owning a house because his mum died and left him an inheritance. I know, it’s not fair at all. Why can’t it be your friends’ mothers who get to die? I can understand why you’d wish to be in our shoes, because let’s face it, who doesn’t enjoy grief? I mean, that in itself does wonders for someone mentally ill.
You see, Anonymous, I’m with you. We have a charmed life. It’s not everyone who gets to have all these experiences that lead to them needing a disability pension, and a pension for the person looking after them. There’s plenty of other wonderful things we get to experience too. I feel sorry for you that your kids and yourself have never been screamed at because the kids got to bed at 7:01pm instead of 7pm. My man has this silly idea that seven is his safe number, goodness me, anyone would think he was mentally ill? It’s not fair you don’t have that in your life. And you really haven’t lived until you’ve spent those first two years since your partner got sick, on permanent suicide watch. Woe is you.
And you know something? When he used that inheritance to buy his family a house, I thought he was so stupid. What sort of an arsehole father tries to give his family a roof over their head, just in case he dies and leaves his missus a single mother? I was LOOKING FORWARD TO PAYING $320 A WEEK ON THE SINGLE PARENT PENSION, YOU DICKHEAD!! It would have been character building for me to drag my three kids up, but no. He had to take that away from me. Prick.
I’m telling you now Anonymous, since he didn’t end up dying, I feel like a fool. Being able to pay my electricity bill without panicking just makes me feel like shit knowing friends like yours have to work for it. I was looking forward to scraping money together after paying everything on rent, to be able to clothe my kids and feed them.
I was wrong to envy friends like yours who are able to work. Because I own a house and they don’t. I clearly have it better than they. I like meeting new people and when the question comes up, ‘where do you work?’, because it means I get to rub their noses in it and say, ‘hey, we’re both on a pension,’ because that always impresses new people.
None of my contributions to society are of any use to you good, tax paying folk. Not the taxes we used to pay when we worked, not the GST we pay now. It doesn’t benefit anyone that we’ve moved to the country and buy lots of fresh produce directly from the farmers. Our money doesn’t support these farmers at all, because it’s dirty pension money, and not as good as yours.
Any charities we contribute to are not even worth spitting on. Nothing we do is worthwhile unless we are leaving the house and getting paid to work. When my partner is well enough to test the waters to see if he’s ready to start work again, he’ll probably ease into volunteer work first. And I’m telling you now, that’s not helping bloody anyone. If you’re not getting paid for the work you do, and paying taxes on that work, it means jack shit, and I’m gonna tell him so. See how he likes those apples.
I’m also sorry Anonymous that I’m such a selfish bitch. I really should just leave my mentally ill partner and three kids at home to rot, while I go out to work. Why can’t they just all fend for themselves? I really wish I had that crystal ball to know my partner was going to get sick, because hey! You and I both know, why have kids if you can’t afford them, amirite?
So, I’m sorry life is unfair for you, Anonymous. I’m sorry you have it so tough. I kneel down before you and kiss your feet. Thank you for your tax dollars, and I sincerely apologise that our existence inconveniences you so much. We are nothing but con artists, and no one has even sent your memo to Centrelink to tell them that pensioners aren’t allowed to own homes. I mean, we told them about the inheritance, and about the house we bought, and they didn’t seem to care. I mean, what the fuck? Has no one told Centrelink how you, Anonymous, thinks life should work? What you think the rules should be? Or maybe they have, but it’s just that no one gives a shit what a small minded Anonymous, armchair critic ZERO thinks. Must really suck to be you.
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Bootstraps. Grab them and pull up. Don’t you know that fixes EVERYTHING?
Love this post.
Veronica recently posted..All good, carry on.
Haha, yes! Good ol’ bootstraps!
Sharon recently posted..Can You Get a Pension if You’re a Home Owner?
Oh Sharon, I LOVE your honesty, both about how you feel and where you are in life <3 Only cowards post as anonymous. You keep doing things your way and in the best way you can and all the Anonymous people in the world can just bugger off!!!
Think you might find this blog interesting (if you dont already know about it) http://down—to—earth.blogspot.com.au/ and the forum is great to
Karen recently posted..Secret project revealed
This post was fun to write, Karen:) And OMG, how awesome is Rhonda’s blog?
Sharon recently posted..Can You Get a Pension if You’re a Home Owner?
I know!!! Rhonda’s blog and the forum opened my eyes to what I could do to simplify my family’s life and save money in really interesting ways. Glad you like it
Karen recently posted..Secret project revealed
Gotta love a lady who can talk the talk and walk the walk:)
Sharon recently posted..Can You Get a Pension if You’re a Home Owner?
Some people live in their own little bubble!
We’re in a similar situation to you, both on pensions. Hubby had to give up work before he turned 50, due to illness, me due to depression & anxiety attacks.
We constantly get told how lucky we are to have retired early and living the good life in a coastal fishing village.
Yes, we do live in one of the most beautiful places in QLD but we rarely get the chance to enjoy it when either one or often both of us are too ill to actually leave the house!
PS.. love Rhonda’s blog! Been a follower for a while now.
Robyn, they really do live in their own bubble:) Just think, if you were out enjoying the coast, they’d have plenty to say about it as well!
Sharon recently posted..Can You Get a Pension if You’re a Home Owner?
Oh my this post had me smiling! I even read the entire thing to my husband – who is on a disability pension & he laughed then said that is so right.
made my day & I hope things improve for your hubby (& the rest of your family) *hugs*
We get it all the time because my husband doesn’t actually look disabled (he has nerve damage to his arm, which restricts the type of work he can do then the medications he is on restricts that even more).
Really gets my goat how people who have never had to struggle on Centrelink payments or low income feel it is their right to say what low income earners can & can’t do. Will stop there as I could rant all day
Thanks for sharing
Caroline recently posted..20 days to Organise and Clean your home Challenge – Take 2
It’s good to raise a chuckle now and then, Caroline:)
And I totally get it with the not being able to see the disability side of things. All the physical stuff I mentioned above isn’t happening to my partner anymore thankfully, but I wanted to tell it because that’s how things were when we bought our first house.
And absolutely agree with what you’ve said. I’m tired of arm chair critics who seem to have all the answers as to what we can and can’t do, what we should have or can’t have.
I think what really got Anonymous’s goat is that it’s not supposed to be de rigeur for pensioners or other centrelink recipients to admit to feeling happiness, or having something good happen to them.
I also felt as though Anon was implying that by owning a house and getting a pension, it’s like I’d won the lottery. Sort of like, well if workers can’t have a house (you know, good honest, decent people), then I have to go without too. That we don’t ‘deserve’.
Before we got the inheritance, I was feeling a lot of guilt about the idea of someone dying and us getting a lump sum of money out of it. I ended up listening to Louise Hay’s prosperity audiobook, and it put so much in perspective for me.
It talked about the idea in society that if you don’t work hard enough or struggle enough for good things, then society judges us. But that if the universe has provided for you, and you haven’t lied, cheated or stolen to get it, then let it go! That we are allowed to ‘deserve’ good things to happen to us, no matter what our situation. It helped me so much.
Sharon recently posted..Can You Get a Pension if You’re a Home Owner?
Good post. This post really means to me and understand much better when I have my own house but I understand your situation and I appreciate that you are very honest.
Ashleen Moreen recently posted..Timber Sliding Doors To Make Best Use Of The Space In Your Home
Thank you Ashleen:)
Sharon recently posted..Can You Get a Pension if You’re a Home Owner?
I love a good rant, and this is up there with the best of them! Keep on keepin on!
Ms Midge recently posted..T.G.I.F.F. – A Few (more) Firsts!
Feels so good, doesn’t it?
Sharon recently posted..Can You Get a Pension if You’re a Home Owner?
Oh please, please, PLEASE, post the link to this blog post as a comment to that moron. I came up against so much of this when I was on the sole parents pension, especially on EMC (which did eventually prompt the post I wrote about WHY I was on the pension – which, strangely enough, shut them up, lol). Because, I too loved the 8 weeks where I had to try to feed my kids on the grand sum of $180 a fortnight until I got the pension, because my dickhead of an ex-husband thought playing with little girls (MY little girl) was ok. I loved paying $200 a week in rent and trying to pay all the other expenses with the leftovers. I particularly loved taking my little girl to Monash Medical Centre to have her inside girly bits looked at to see if there was any damage. And frankly, it was just awesome fighting said ex-dickhead for custody of the other two children, because the brilliant court system in Australia said he had every right as a father to have access to them, because there were no allegations of abuse towards them.
Please, PLEASE, post this link as a comment to Anonymous!
I mentioned I wrote a post, wasn’t sure if that was too spammy, lol!
I think, knowing your story, which is a really gutting one, would shut anyone up! I don’t think people realise that people aren’t going on the pension for the fun of it. And if they are, they don’t need it and won’t get it. And are delusional.
Sharon recently posted..Making it More Simple
Your story – just found, while trawling for sensible humane stuff – stood out to me. I’m late 50s, on a disability pension, yet have some inheritance money just like your partner. I’ve been seriously thinking / researching buying my own house again – after being a renter and struggler for 13 years. I know full well that IF I can afford to buy, move, etc etc. that I will have nothing left except the disability pension to live on. Yet my alternative is to continue living ‘as if’ I have stacks of money in the bank. Declining deposit interest rates and rising living costs (and rents) mean that I’ll have to die or be on the streets in about 5-10 years.
.
I’m a great believer (as an old hippie in my twenties) in simple living. A fab idea, yet not as easy to do as back in the 60s-early 80s! Nevertheless, I applaud all of us – including myself! – who are saying to this ‘more is better’ world we live in (in the West, at least): ‘no thanks’.
Your post gives me great hope that I will not be entirely alone if I can manage to do my sums, buy a house and garden for me and my dog probably back in a country town – not my preferred option but we simply can’t afford living in the cities anymore. The one I have my eye on is older style, but has a native garden, solar panels and two water tanks. I”d like to meet the owners, if nothing else, given it’s in a fairly Coalition-minded town
I’ll check out more of your blog Sharon. I may or may not agree with everything I find but hey, bloggers of sound mind keep me sane in my aloneness these days
All power to you, your partner and your kids.
Victoria, I hope you can make it happen! Just make sure you declare it all to centre link, including your new asset, and you’ll be fine. After we declared this to centre link, they deducted about $16 from our fortnightly payments for a few months, so it was no problem at all.
I like the sound of the place you have in mind!
I hope you enjoy the blog, it’s cool if you find things you disagree with, as we’re all different. Conversation is welcome here:)
Sharon recently posted..Making it More Simple
I have just stumbled across your blog and found this post… and can I just say…LMFAO
I am sure some people just don’t engage there brain before they write crap…. that and some people don’t like it that you have more than they did….
Its the poor me routine which frankly just p!ssess me off to no end….
Good on you for putting it out there !!!
Absolutely, Lynnie and thank you!
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