Texted her this morning:
"Doing my accounts and trying to work out how much you owe me (then listed days worked and asked her to confirm). It would help if we could sort this out ASAP otherwise I'm going to be in a fix when I have to pay ds's piano fees next week".
She texted back to say she thought it came to a figure which is £50 less than I make it and that she'll give me a cheque, so I texted her saying 'Actually I make it as XXXX'. And asked for cash. (because the cheque will bounce or it'll be post-dated).
I've agreed that she can pay a proportion of it (a third) next month as she clearly doesn't have the full amount to give me and it's no point insisting if she doesn't have it.
She's told me that she has to move out of her house very soon as she can't afford the rent, and back into a tiny flat her and her DH own which her brother has been living in for the past two months (rent free I think - free-loading clearly runs in the family).
I texted her back saying I hope her DH was sharing all the worry and the burden of this with her. She responded saying 'his condition and personality' means that she has to deal with things like this on her own. More fool her, is my thought. He's a selfish shit and IMO she's got a 'hero' complex - she likes seeing herself as the strong one who carries all the crap. I think - well, that's your choice, but when it starts impacting on your responsibilities to other people then you need to deal with it.
Am dreading her asking me for childcare as I'm going to tell her that I can't do it unless she pays on the day. Hopefully she'll be forced to get her brother to do it for her instead.