How did i end up living in a place like this you might ask? I suppose it was a combination of bad situations that i found myself in and didn't quite handle in the best possible way at the time and bad choices on my part.


Five years ago i was young(ish) free and single. Having left a very abusive relationship with what i could fit in a van while my ex partner was at work. I was in a pretty poor state emotionally and financially. I'd walked away from a house that my ex partner and i had a joint mortgage on, I a car loan and a loan for home improvements in my name. After a couple of months living with my sister while my possessions were stored in my mums garage i found a nice little flat in the village where I'd grown up. By this time the debts had risen, not having worked for a month as i needed time to sort my head out. I returned to my work as a self employed driving instructor and also had a nice little earner, selling craft supplies on eBay.

So began the mission to rebuild my life and my finances. The money was coming in, but i was very good at spending, fuelled largely by depression, i can now see looking back. But what did that matter when i earned enough to pay the credit card and loan payments and would soon have the settlement from my house to pay things off.



Gradually over about a year i was working less and going out more, enjoying the single life.

Throughout this time my ex partner dragged his heels over the house settlement, and my plan to pay my debts with the cash was looking less likely as time ticked on. When he finally settled, over two years later, I'd missed payments, incurred charges, penalties and extra interest. He'd devalued the house and the settlement was only a third of what i owed. My only options were an IVA or bankruptcy. I scraped through with an IVA and narrowly avoided bankruptcy, which meant i got to keep my possessions and my car.


During this time I'd unintentionally fallen pregnant with twin girls no less. Despite taking the contraceptive pill, rather erratically at times i have to confess. I had a difficult pregnancy, with complications which resulted in me giving birth to my two gorgeous girlie's, Rachel and Rebecca, seven and a half weeks prematurely. All of which had added to my financial problems.



My little flat, which was above a takeaway and a hairdressers and as I'd discovered was freezing during the winter, due to old, inefficient storage heaters wasn't really the place to bring up premature twins. Housing benefit which i would have to rely on as I'd be living completely on benefits for a while wouldn't cover the cost of a house near to my family. So after a year living with my sister, whom i had always known had some form of undiagnosed problem or learning difficulty, which my health visitor suspected was a mild form of autism, having worked with autistic children and adults previously, i accepted a house from the council. It was a private tenancy on a street which was being revamped and all the houses were being refurbished to high standards (laughs hysterically at this point). As i had Bob Hope and no hope of getting a council property anytime soon i accepted it. You see, up until the age of 35 I'd never expected I'd ever need an affordable council property. So had never added my name to any waiting lists.



Anyway, so begins my account of life on Rotherhams answer to The Chatsworth Estate.



Right, time to save and have a coffee.