She may be a Mumsnetter and if she is and read this, it may just do the trick!! But here's the dilemma. A couple of weeks ago my neighbour asked me if she could borrow my hoover as hers was broken. I like her and her Partner so was happy to help them out. The following week it happened again.. and again.. I've now loaned it to them about four times. She's said something about her Parents moving house and when they do she's getting a hoover off them, but so far this hasn't happened.
The thing is, I really NEED my hoover as I have three messy kids, a cat and two dogs, one of whom moults profusely, so I'm hoovering every day, sometimes twice, so if it breaks, I'm well and truly stuffed. As it is, I've had two hoovers pack up on me in the last couple of months, the one that I (and my neighbour) am using at the moment, I bought off my Sister for a tenner, she bought it second hand from someone else, so it's probably not going to last much longer as it is.
So what do I do? As I said, I like the woman so don't want to cause any awkwardness but I don't see why she can't just buy one, even a cheapie model. There's only her and her Partner and one child at home, they live in a flat and have no pets so they wouldn't need an all singing all dancing model. I'm beginning to think that as long as I keep loaning it to my neighbour, she's going to have no incentive to replace her own hoover. Do I tell her straight that I don't want to keep this up or just say that it's broken or something, the next time she asks, and hope she gets the hint? (Sorry for long-windedness.)