We really know now what’s important in life

Our ‘life as the nouveau poor’ columnist explains what the insolvency guidelines mean to her

I ALWAYS said if I won the Lotto I would run down the road naked rejoicing, and that’s what I feel like doing now as the insolvency bill has arrived at last. But after five years of being bust, body grooming had to take a hit so it’s not such a good idea now.

That’s what the insolvency guidelines mean to me, it’s like winning the Lotto. It’s our only hope of hanging on to our homes and halving our mortgages.

The two Brians, Cowen and Lenihan, made a fast and furious decision to bail out the banks and subsequently the Nama boys but now its our turn, but boy, have they kept us waiting.

We, the little people in all of this, have suffered silently for years at a huge cost to our mental health and with the sad loss, in a lot of cases, of lives.

Both my husband and I were self-employed and we lost our businesses within a year of each other. The stark reality hit us very quickly that we had no income, no idea how we would pay our mortgage and feed, clothe, and keep our children warm.

The panic was rife but both our protective instincts as parents kicked in quickly and we became experts at living frugally. Everything had to go, childcare, health insurance, life insurance, Sky, and finally my husband’s car

A smoker since he was 15 years old, he had to either quit or go on rollies. He gagged for the first week but at a saving of €300 per month he had little choice.

“Next you will be buying me a bottle of sherry in a brown paper bag,” he said. “We can't afford sherry,” I told him, “it’s a luxury”. And he laughed as he always did.

BUT it was tough, so tough, and at times we were both so weary from it all. But we never discussed our lowest points as the emotion was just too hard to handle. We had to stay strong to give our girls a good quality of life and maintain our dignity. There was no such thing as after-school activities but there were other advantages.

My girls couldn’t do Irish dancing or ballet, or attend the school of music but they’ve become avid readers, great cooks, talented gardeners and have great imaginary skills through lots of games we played with them. I also feel we grew as human beings and we really know now what’s important in life.

Having said all that of course I would have loved to have legged it to Brown Thomas for a shopping spree. But if I had been given a free five-star holiday to Marbella I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as my mind was in constant turmoil.

I became all consumed with surviving and duly duped everyone that all was well with us and that we were well insulated for the fallout. But the reality was that we were not and lived on our nerves constantly.

I have to give the Government credit for the insolvency bill, albeit too late for the people who could not take it anymore and for them I feel very, very sad.

There is nothing more frightening or degrading than the threat of being kicked out of your home and the constant calls and threats from the bank came hot and heavy.

Now it’s their turn to listen to us and even though I have no problem with accepting their guidelines or accepting a reasonable living allowance, if I can scrape up enough bobs to get a week in the sun I will.

And actually if I met my banker on the flight I would wave to him and tell him its down to him that I’m having this holiday to protect my mental health.

But so what if we have to live frugally? We have been doing it for years anyway and at least now there is going to be a result at the end of it. Bear in mind though that this is not going to be a free for all and I fear a lot of people will be forced to trade down.

Also people who stopped paying their mortgages and those who lived quite nicely off the rental property income wont be tolerated either. And rightly so.

Today though all I feel is massive relief and hope for the future. And for that I will be eternally grateful.