in the form of confirmation that housing benefit and child benefit have both been awarded. I was pleased about the child benefit - an extra £20 a week pays most of daughter's food budget for the week - but I cried like a baby and bounced around the room when I opened the housing benefit letter. The council are effectively paying all of our rent meaning that, with the child benefit included, our income increased by 60% in the space of a couple of days.
I'm not a particularly greedy man. I'd love to see my bank accounts bristling with thousands of pounds and feel the comfort of money propping me up, but that's not why I'm so pleased about getting the benefits through. I'm pleased about the housing benefit particularly because the fact that we've been awarded the full amount proves we've been surviving really well on a very low income. We haven't struggled much - occasionally I've managed to save ten or twenty quid a week - but it's incredible to think that now we'll be able to loosen the purse strings a little and save a bit of money.
As both benefits have been back-dated a couple of weeks, there's a small chunk of cash sitting in my account and while a reasonable portion of it will be ploughed into the new business as my contribution toward a bank loan, I've decided to take daughter and I to see her maternal grandparents by the sea in the south for a few days over Easter, by way of celebration and reward. It'll be the one-year anniversary of daughter moving in with me too. They've said we're very welcome which is absolutely lovely - the phrase was actually 'It would make our Easter' which fills me with pride. Not only will we get to the seaside for two or three days but I might get to see a few of my internet chums as part of the trip. I've wanted to go to one of their bashes for a year or two and now it seems I might just get the chance to attend this year's Easter bash. Daughter will get to spend time with her grandparents who absolutely dote on her and I know we'll be warmly welcomed so it seems like too good an opportunity to miss.
The main thing this news has brought is security. Instead of getting to the end of my earnings every week, we'll have some spare cash to do normal things like go to the movies, eat out occasionally, replace school uniform that's worn out, without having to pre-plan and save to make it happen. I suppose being 'normal' is all I want - being super-rich would be nice but I know it's not achievable in the short-term, so it's wonderful to be getting close to 'normal' now, even if it is with a little government help. Having dreamed what a difference this extra money can make, battled with my pride and finally applied for and been awarded the benefits, I now want to get to this level of income off my own back so I can stand on my own two feet and support my daughter with my own earnings. I can imagine how proud that will make me, and now I have more motivation than ever to get the business off the ground.
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