Mummy Mummy! The postman is here! Amy cries at the top of her lungs.
When I was a kid, the postman didn’t come. We lived up a great hill and there was no door to door postal service, so unless we were staying at a friend’s house, I didn’t get to check the mailbox. Instead, we had a post box at the local post office and it would get checked every few days, whenever someone drove past and remembered to call in.
Amy though, Amy has every right to be excited about the postman coming. Because of my partnership with Nuffnang and their clients, we get things in the mail more often than not. Which, even though I’m all grown up, I still find terribly exciting. As well as Nuffnang, Sharon, my lovely commenter from Western Australia, previously the UK, she let Mum and I know about The Book Depository a while ago.
And um, I think I’m a touch addicted.
Just a little.
If the 8 or so books that arrived in the mail today are anything to go by, then yes, addicted.
You see, they’re incredible cheap. AND they offer free shipping.
Finally though, they made me an affiliate, so now, I get to earn a (very) few pence for anyone I refer over who buys books.
But that isn’t really what this post is about. It’s about the excitement of getting new books in the mail and finally, FINALLY, buying something for myself, to make me happy.
***
When I was working full time, a very long time ago in another life, I was earning good money. Nathan was earning okay money too and with no major expenses except for rent, our money was our own to do with what we will.
We went shopping, often. New clothes and books, as well as computer games for the both of us was the order of the day. My work was gruelling and intense, I was working split shifts and we’d generally spend the 2 hours between my shifts wandering around a shopping centre. Either that or we’d head straight home and crash, fast asleep for 90 minutes.
I was a little exhausted, all the time.
The work was good fun though and the amazing fun we had balanced out the fact that I would spend hours turning carrots into a perfect julienne and hours prepping stirfry mix.
(Note: if you order a stirfry in a restaurant, there is a very VERY good chance that all the vegies have been presliced and popped into water to sit in a fridge until it’s needed. Of course, stirfry mix isn’t likely to give you salmonella. Maybe another time I’ll talk about the chicken that made me vomit as I cleaned it off and was still told to cook and serve it anyway.)
Eventually I quit my job, due to health problems, at the time I had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. I know now that it was EDS. There were also some issues with the new head chef. I hear the kitchen lost me and a few waitresses walked out that same week, as well as another chef and just wow. He was bad.
Anyway.
We went down to a mostly one income family then. Nathan was working and because I studied from home (Open Learning) I was getting government assistance.
We barely made ends meet.
And then I got pregnant and Nathan changed jobs and it was all okay again.
Except there was no luxury items on the menu, ever. We paid our rent and bills, we ate and that was it.
No new clothes, no new books, nothing.
Nada.
And I got used to it. Because I didn’t smoke or drink though, and Nathan did, I slowly ended up getting more resentful of the fact that he was spending money on himself (money that he had earned and that was left over after we’d paid everything, but STILL!) and I was getting nothing.
I’d ended up at the point where I’d forgotten how to spend money on anything that wasn’t a necessity.
Which okay, that’s a good way to live. And I lived like that for 3 and a half years, a little resentfully maybe and with the occasional large splurge (SLR camera anyone?) on my credit card, but that was it.
It all came to a head recently, when my belt snapped and I wasn’t sure how I was going to juggle to budget to buy a new one. $10. A measly $10 and I wasn’t able to spend it on myself, despite knowing that it would be fine.
Because $10?
It’s a fortnight’s worth of cheese.
Or meat for part of the week.
It’s a bag of potatoes.
Or half of my fruit and vegetable budget.
I couldn’t do it.
And I realised that I’d completely forgotten how to buy myself anything. I was so wrapped up in the kids and what they needed and what Nathan needed, that I was ignoring myself and getting steadily grumpier when each fortnight, we’d budget enough to buy Nathan his luxury item, beer.
Which is stupid really.
So, when Sharon let me know about the book depository and I saw how cheap their books were, I started buying a book for myself every now and again, which made me happy.
Then I discovered Rivers Online (for the second time) and found, that if I wait for specials, I can actually buy myself winter clothes, without breaking the budget, or looking at the money in my hand and wondering how much food it would buy, or whether we should instead, set it aside for wood and water.
This all coincides with my blog starting to make a little bit of extra money, enough to pay for a book every now and again. Or even a few of them.
I feel better about things. Less resentful of my partner and family for getting what they want and not me.
So, when the postman comes, I get excited too. Because often, there is something in the post for me.
And that feels good.
***
Heh, this started as a post to let you all know why I’d been a little vacant lately, that I’ve been spending all my time conserving energy, curled in a chair with a good book and it sort of snowballed! Some posts, I suppose they just brew up.
ANYWAY!
In the mail this morning we got a bunch of stuff, books for the kid, stickers, and books for me. Tomorrow, I expect we’ll get some more.
So on my reading list for this week (yes, these are affiliate links, but they’re only to books I’m planning to read and they make me happy. Stop judging me!)
The Secret Garden
Confessions of a Shopaholic
The Golden Compass
The Little Friend
The White Mountains
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
The Winter of our Discontent
The Various.
There are worse addictions to have. And I’m slowly working my way through all the books I’ve ever wanted to read, or own and buying them too. Things for the kids when they’re older, like Enid Blyton and such. It’s good fun.
Also, in case you have a burning desire to read what I’m reading, I did pick the very cheapest copy of the book I could find to link to.
