What price happiness?

Having just enough money is all I need. Being retired, I have cut costs in so many different ways, so can manage on a smaller income and retirement has freed me up to enjoy life. I was happy and tired when working hard, and now I'm happy and free to do as I like, without needing money to pay for much of what I want to do.

The pressure of deadlines that the author of the blog refers to wouldn't have felt so imposing to me. Deadlines motivated me to focus on the task in hand. I rarely had that Monday morning feeling, either. Work was interesting and stimulating, not a slog. Perhaps the blogger could have arranged her home life differently, so that writing job didn't turn into an albatross round her neck? I guess I would have experienced her situation differently.

I did my first degree with four children playing in the same room much of the time. When I needed to get essays submitted, I'd do them when they were in bed. No crying children wondering where I was, but I grew up in a large family and learned to concentrate with noise around me. Not easy, but it didn't make me unhappy.

I'm not sure about 'As green as grass' - perhaps 'The grass is always greener' might be more apposite.
I can't help wondering whether, if the author had given up her writing to play in the flowerbeds with her little boy, she might not now be blogging about the sacrifices she made.
I worked part-time when DS was little, and on the days I spent with him, felt I never wanted to go to work again. Then on the days I went to work, enjioyed it and wished I could be there every day

I don't know how we are supposed to respond to that blog. Money didn' t bring happiness in that particular situation, but it's not a situation we are likely to find ourselves in!

Money can certainly do a lot to bring happiness. It can't be much fun having to scrape by on just enough.

And anyway, it was the earning of the money that went against the grain with the blogger. Understandably.

Half a page. Once a week. And a gezebo to work in. Wish I'd had that job.

Yes. Was hardly a job was it?

Are we that desperate for "blogs" on here?

"I was writing a piece for a local paper. In a shed. I got fed up with it. I got pregnant. I did n' t write the piece anymore". Wow!

Oh well. Guess it's free advertising for the book.

And now a whole thread must ensue.

Off you go then.

"Available from all good booksellers".

What?! Not Amazon?. Wonder why not.

Really? What a load of tosh. Can't agree more with what micelf has said.

It is available from Amazon (£11.99). Follow the link...

More I think about it the angrier I get. For goodness sake!

It is on Amazon, jingle but a bit pricey. Even the kindle edition is a tenner!

Oh. Gransnet must have given up advertising Amazon.

#smallmercies

Half a page, once a week? For heavens sake, most of us could have done that standing on our heads, baking a cake with one hand, swabbing the floor with the other and feeding the baby at the same time. Get real!

I'm just intrigued by the very first sentence of the guest blog post...

1953?

Blogger must be in her early eighties.

Or the haunted manor house?

What a load of----!
I had to go back to work 6/52 after my first born to look after my patients! No maternity leave then! Half an hour a week!?
My heart bleeds!

Why weep! You are there near your child, can see him..presumably not totally abandoned or tethered like a kid, and can get to him quickly if he really needed his mum!

Money cannot buy happiness and many people could be happier if they were not chasing megabucks. But for those with genuinely very little money and no chance of ' a rented 17th century manor-house –' and an 'idyllic situation' money will at least make life less stressful.

DH and I did do without (holidays, clothes, going out etc so not basic necessities) and I spent 4 years not earning. I had that choice. So many people now do not have a real choice..it is work or you do not pay the rent on a grim 1 bed flat

This crap makes me so angry .

Money does not buy happiness??? (Have you tried living without it?) But it bloody well does buy you a good night sleep, someone to give a helping hand, it pays the mortgage and puts food on the table.

Correction.......... Money does buy you some degree of happiness.

Sorry may not be in the best frame of mind at the minute !

DP has been out of work on and off for two years and we have no savings or anything left now. The whole situation is very stressful and is affecting our relationship. In this situation I do think a bit more money would bring some happiness.

I churned out a weekly 5,000-word piece for a magazine for absolutely ages. (That was in addition to copy editing, proof-reading and occasionally writing books during the rest of the week.) I used to write the article on Monday morning, tidy it up after lunch and make sure the word count was correct, then catch the 5 pm post. Quite frankly, it was money for old rope.

Money probably doesn't bring happiness but, sure as hell, neither does poverty.

What a load of rubbish. 20 minutes once a week is not exactly a job. She was extremely lucky she was paid so much money then for the small amount of work that she churned out.

It is usually people with plenty of money who tell us it can't buy happiness. At least they can be miserable in comfort. Gut-wrenching anxiety about how to feed and clothe your family is not a recipe for bliss. I can't believe this woman does not understand how her blog comes over. Once again, our members don't react as is, presumably, expected of us!

Are we perhaps confusing happiness with security? I agree that it is difficult to be happy if beset with worries but happiness can come in flashes even then. The basic security of a roof over your head and enough money to pay the bills and feed the family make it easier to feel happiness but other anxieties and worries can creep in and bring misery.