Wednesday 27 July 2016

Love can save it all

Round 16: November 2026


Janie Greene is 32, Danny Cooper is 30, Bridget Greene-Cooper is 8, Lucas is 7 and Molly is 5.


Narrated by Danny.

We'd been struggling financially ever since we moved into the house in Exmoor. No matter what we did, we just couldn't seem to pay off much of our huge mortgage and the situation started to take its toll on everything - our relationship, our kids, our work, everything.

It felt like we were heading towards a break-up because we were both so stressed out. I ended up sleeping on the sofa more nights that I care to think about because I just didn't want to go upstairs in case Janie was still awake and we'd end up fighting. We finally sat down and had a talk and came to the conclusion that we have to find a cheaper place to live.

It took a lot of looking and especially going through our finances to see what we could and could not afford. Moving out of Exmoor turned out to be the most sensible thing because we just couldn't find anything suitable there in our price range. We finally closed deal on a smaller house in Allerdale which still has room for everything even though the girls now have to share a room.

We got good money from our old house so we've been able to pay off about half of the mortgage we had. The kids love the new house and in all honesty I don't really care where we live as long as we're all happy and together. I know Janie would have wanted to stay in Exmoor but being an expert in finances she knew we didn't really have a choice.

The kids love the new house because there's so much space to play outside and the street is much quieter than the one we lived on in Exmoor. Most of the kids' friends live in either Allerdale or Wellington so they get to see them more often now. Even Janie has admitted that she likes the house.

Soon after we had moved I finally got a job in a design studio. It's a relatively new company and besides my boss I'm the only employee but the business has really taken off and we have plenty of work to do.

I've become friends with my boss which is great because it would be awful to work in such a small work environment if we didn't get along. He's single and he always teases me because I rush out of the office to the elevators to catch the earliest possible bus to get back home. The commute isn't that awful but it still takes me almost an hour to get home.

Lucas is thrilled because moving to Allerdale meant that he could join the school's sports team. It probably would have been possible even if we stayed in Exmoor but now he can invite his friends over to play basketball. It's not a very serious sports team, I don't think they have matches or anything, basically they just play football or basketball and have fun.

The girls on the other hand are more indoorsy types so they usually go up to their room to play with toys after school or just talk if they have friends over. None of our kids are shy so they make friends pretty fast and it seems that even the older kids in their school like their company.

Janie and I both work regular hours from Monday to Friday and have the weekends off so we get to spend more time together - which is great now that we've stopped fighting every time we see each other. We even get home at the same time most days so we get to sit down for dinner together.

It's sort of my tradition with the kids to watch cartoons on Sunday morning. Bridget always forgets her glasses upstairs and then complains for five minutes that she can't see properly before going back to get them. Molly on the other hand always insists sitting on the floor.

I usually try to get some work done during the weekend if I have a deadline coming up. That way I don't have to stay at work very late during the week. The kids know by now that our home office is off limits if the door is closed so it's easy to be productive.

Notes:

  • Title reference: Love can save it all by Andra.
  • So this happened: Janie and Danny had €45,000 of mortgage when I loaded their house and about €300 in cash. I just knew it couldn't continue like that. I built them a new house in Allerdale which was very affordable (thanks to my rule of different property values for different areas) and they sold the house in Exmoor. They have a lot less of mortgage now, about €20,000 so they can breathe more easily.
  • The building where Danny works has been sitting unfinished in Exmoor for ages. It was initially going to be the career lot of business career but in the end I decided to make it the "Design House" so it is now the career lot for Architecture and Graphic Design, probably other design careers as well. The graphic design floor is the only thing decorated at the moment though.
  • Only a few updates left before I'm done with Round 16, yay!

4 comments:

  1. They were really struggling. I find it hard to make my sims struggle since they tend to get handouts and chance cards correct a lot. Plus since they don't have access to buying cars-which are some of the more expensive things and I have them living in 1x2 homes, their bills are never really that big. I love how you worked that into the story.

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    1. The smallest lot I use for residential buildings is 2x2 (except for apartments) although I don't think a 2x2 lot is a lot more expensive than 1x2. My sims don't get any handouts ie. if they move out all they get is their own money, no automatic 20k. It's not necessarily the bills that are the problem, it's mortgages and student loans etc. Anyway, I like having my sims struggle but I also like them overcoming those problems.

      I like how things turned out for them. It's like IRL, you have to make hard decisions sometimes to make ends meet.

      Thanks for your comment. :)

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  2. Wow, yeah, that was a big mortgage! Without a really lucky chance card, it would have only got worse, so I think moving was a good idea. Oddly though, reading about Danny and Janie's struggles and then seeing them able to pull themselves out of it, made me miss playing struggling sims! I do have a couple of families like that who I'm yet to play though, so now I'm really looking forward to it. :) It's very satisfying, to be able to get them on the right financial footing again and the sims seem to appreciate everything more as well. :)

    And the kids don't seem to mind the new house. Sounds like it's actually working out really well for them, in fact. It's good to see the whole family still together and happy.

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    1. It is kind of fun to play a family that struggles financially because it feels so good when they are finally able to overcome their problems one way or the other.

      As much as I liked the house they lived in before I think everything turned out fine for them and the new house is fine too. I had actually planned to do a trial separation for them but when I went to play them they were all over each other all the time so I just couldn't, LOL.

      Thanks for your comment. :)

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