I have a weird arrangement with my neighbour.
I give him all of my wages, he pays the bills for me and gives me back what's left.
he says we're both better off that way, economies of scale and all that, I've seen its cheaper to buy in bulk so he must be right.
except recently I've started questioning the arrangement. it's hard to tell but I don't seem to be getting the best deal.
(even harder to tell because he has all the receipts and doesn't share the info with me).
he's got the bigger house and car, fair enough he earns a bit more than me, but people with the same wage as I have (who don't have this arrangement) all seem to be much better off.
from what i can gather, I'm getting a fair bit less back than what I'm giving out. he says I'm wrong, and keeps telling me I'm a scrounger living off his handouts.
he's taken control of most of the official stuff, last year he "reassigned" a fair part of my back garden to become his back garden now, and tried to keep quiet about it.
he's also decided that his gas boiler is a bit dangerous, so that gets kept outside my bedroom window, where it would destroy the majority of my house should there be an accident, but leave his intact. I did ask him to move it back since I don't even want gas heating, but he said it would be too dangerous keeping it next to his house.
he's also pitting in a new high speed driveway, and says I get to share in the cost, even though it doesn't actually touch my land at all, and it's bloody expensive!
we share a common budget, so any major works that are done are shared, fair enough, but all the major work gets done on his house, which ain't so fair. even if improving his house devalues mine, I still get to contribute to improving his house.
so I've been thinking about scrapping this arrangement and going it alone. it's a little scary to be honest, exciting but scary. going out and being my own man, doing my own thing with my own money, I'm a little worried I won't always get it right, but I'm hopeful things will improve. I'll be able to start spending my money on what I need, rather than ask him and hope he needs it too, or won't mind giving me some of my money back for it.
but now he's started scaring me even more. for example, he told me my shopping would get more expensive if i went to Asda myself, but I asked the manager there and she said he's talking nonsense again.
he's being going round the other neighbours trying to get them to convince me it's a bad idea, even using some of my money to bribe some of them into saying so! (Boris across the road stuck him in).
he says I won't be allowed back on the neighbourhood committee either. I've been to every meeting since it started, albeit as a partnership, I was there before all the other neighbours, and they all like me and want me there, but he says they won't let me back. they're not allowed to officially declare anything yet, the committee is kinda beareaucratic they way, since it's currently his name on my paperwork, he's the only one allowed to ask, but won't.
he never usually comes to visit, but this last week I can't get rid of him, he's all over my house telling me it's gonna be too expensive to redecorate, that the plants in the garden will all wither and die, and the burglars will all suddenly flock to Rob me. it all sounds a bit ridiculous to be honest, and it's not the first time I've caught him lying to me.
on the bright side, after telling me for years it's just a stupid idea, this past week he's decided I might be onto something, and has offered offered a "mystery prize" if I decide to stay. ooh mystery prize! exciting! he won't hint how big a prize though...
