Page 4 | Imagine if Betty lived near you

OptimisticMermaid · 08/09/2023 19:34

I actually am Betty. Same age, name and salary.
Large detached new build near the sea. No mortgage.
Second European home.
250k in savings.
I am not sure how that’s happened.

jays · 08/09/2023 19:34

She’s 37. She called herself Betty instead of Elizabeth because it makes people feel uncomfortable. She wears cheap shoes and expensive perfume, loves plants, pays double the going rate for a private rental in a gentrified council house area. She works in a record shop but she feels too old for it. She writes love notes for people to win back their exs on the side, that’s how she makes her cash. She plays guitar and sings, she thinks she has no talent but would reduce an audience to tears. She has a love of her life and she’s never told him. She smokes on a Sunday. She misses her mum and she watches out for the baby pigeons across the street to make sure they’re ok. She has no pension. She wears her gran’s sunglasses and she cries for people she doesn’t know. She’s had. Her cheese plant for 20 years. It was all she took when she left home

Original poster

Aserena · 08/09/2023 19:35

DaisyWaldron · 08/09/2023 19:30

She lives in a very nicely decorated Victorian terrace a short walk from the City centre and railway station. The smallest bedroom is a study with a sofa bed for when nice's and nephews visit. She has a nice spare room which is in frequent use when friends come for the weekend. She has a solid group of friends who she sees often - they cook for each other on a fairly regular basis. She sings in a choir, and is part of a pub quiz team in the sort of pub where many of the regulars have a PhD. She does an evening class in something interesting, a different thing each year. She goes out a lot at weekends, either to local cultural activities, to visit friends in other parts of the country, for trips to London and for fair weather country walks. She has at least one cat.

She enjoys cooking, but doesn't have a lot of free time on weeknights so often has a meal delivery. She has several godchildren who she takes out for meals and treats and who think she has all the wisdom their parents tragically lack. She pays one if them to catsit.

She thinks she ought to do yoga, but really can't be arsed. She has a bottle of very expensive whiskey in her kitchen, and very expensive perfume in her bedroom, but uses cheap skincare.

She's worried about her aging parents, and suspects that she will be the one who ends up organising care stuff, but she's seen other friends going through this already, so is being quite proactive about talking to them about the future and finding out about wishes and finances and paperwork.

I'm now very emotionally invested in fictional Betty and her life.

Me too! I would love to hang out with your Betty and her brainy pals in the pub.

OP posts:

caringcarer · 08/09/2023 19:36

newnamethanks · 08/09/2023 18:38

Bah! I was hoping it was Betty of the famous cake shop. Bring on the fondant fancies.

I thought a post about Betty's tea shop too.

ScroogeMcDuckling · 08/09/2023 19:38

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Original poster

Aserena · 08/09/2023 19:38

listsandbudgets · 08/09/2023 19:30

I'd like to know how Betty earns her £50k as it will have a bearing on my answer. Is she an engineer, a mechanic, a drug dealer, a lawyer, a head teacher, a prostitute??

Pick the most likely career, for a roughly middle aged person in your neighbourhood earning £50k?

OP posts:

ScroogeMcDuckling · 08/09/2023 19:39

And always complaining everyone is better off than she is

LittleGreenHearts · 08/09/2023 19:40

Where I live Betty would be in a 1/2 bedroom flat and mortgaged up to the nips.

she would go on the odd holiday and have a reasonably nice house, but would be pretty bland and do lots of crafts.

soz Betty

Original poster

Aserena · 08/09/2023 19:41

OptimisticMermaid · 08/09/2023 19:34

I actually am Betty. Same age, name and salary.
Large detached new build near the sea. No mortgage.
Second European home.
250k in savings.
I am not sure how that’s happened.

Congratulations! Judging by some of the comments here you are definitely living your best life!!

OP posts:

Original poster

Aserena · 08/09/2023 19:43

jays · 08/09/2023 19:34

She’s 37. She called herself Betty instead of Elizabeth because it makes people feel uncomfortable. She wears cheap shoes and expensive perfume, loves plants, pays double the going rate for a private rental in a gentrified council house area. She works in a record shop but she feels too old for it. She writes love notes for people to win back their exs on the side, that’s how she makes her cash. She plays guitar and sings, she thinks she has no talent but would reduce an audience to tears. She has a love of her life and she’s never told him. She smokes on a Sunday. She misses her mum and she watches out for the baby pigeons across the street to make sure they’re ok. She has no pension. She wears her gran’s sunglasses and she cries for people she doesn’t know. She’s had. Her cheese plant for 20 years. It was all she took when she left home

Another Betty that definitely needs a novel written about her. I’d read it!

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Fallingthroughclouds · 08/09/2023 19:43

Fieldofbrokenpromises · 08/09/2023 18:42

What the fucking fuck are these fucking threads about?

I second this. What a load of crap.

Original poster

Aserena · 08/09/2023 19:44

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😂😂

OP posts:

shiningstar2 · 08/09/2023 19:46

Betty never allows anyone to call her that. She is Liz at work ...Lizzy to old friends. She lives in North East England and is considered relatively well off.
On £50000 pa she has around £40000 after tax, NI and pension
Possibly a little less depending on pension. She has a two bed apartment with balcony looking over the river. She can walk into the centre of the city where she works and enjoys after work drinks/dinners with friends. After her mortgage is paid she can afford a holiday abroad every year and likes Italy with a bit of culture and a bit of rest and relaxation
She has around 3 short breaks, one of which is with family so she can have quality time with her parents and married sister and kids. She is thinking of moving Futher out of town so she can afford a 3 bed semi. She does classes at the gym and has savings a of around £10000 but would like it to be more. She would like a partner but is a bit choosy and would rather be single than 'settle'. She has a dog and meets with others at the week end in a dog walking group. She likes the cinema and the theatre and can always find a like minded person from work/family)gym/walking group to go with her. She is also in a monthly book club which meets at the pub. She considers she has a full life.

BIossomtoes · 08/09/2023 19:46

Betty’s me 25 years ago. She works in the public sector and can comfortably afford her mortgage on a two bed Victorian terrace and her Honda Civic. She has a cat. She loves clothes and buys few and good from John Lewis. She loves her garden and all flowers, she buys herself a bunch when she does her supermarket shop. She has Radio 4 on all the time at home and in the car.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 08/09/2023 19:46

I know, hence the rest of my post that you've conveniently snipped off...

You're overthinking it. Whatever it is.

Giggorata · 08/09/2023 19:47

Betty has a small terraced house in a northern city, has paid off her mortgage and has some 30K savings.
She has a whippet named Judy and a small but well looked after garden with lots of flowers and pots rather than veg, where she likes to entertain.
Her friends mostly include people from work, members of clubs that she is in and some of the neighbours, but she has others further afield…

She is a member of a walking club that meets weekends and explores the beautiful countryside around the city. (Good for the dog)
She is also an enthusiastic salsa dancer and goes twice weekly, where she met her two current men friends, David and Raj.

Betty didn’t marry, although she has had three proposals, but none from the right man. The one she though was the right man turned out to be spectacularly not and on reflection, she feels well shot of him. Thank goodness she didn't marry or have children with him. (despite the agonising miscarriage she suffered in year three)
Now she doesn't want either an exclusive relationship or a live in partner and this arrangement with David and Raj suits her.
They both know about each other, they have nice dates and good sex and she always has someone to escort her to parties, weddings, holidays, etc.
After what seemed like a hint from David, she has been wondering about a threesome…

She dotes on her niece and nephew, aged six and nine respectively and regularly socialises with her sister and brother in law, who live in the same city, sometimes babysitting for them.

Betty drives a tiny bright green electric city car, but often goes further afield on her huge motorbike, with Judy safely strapped in a carrier, or looked after at her sister's.
This is when she relives her youth, hanging out with the Hells Angels (Mudsea Chapter). No one know about her biker past, the tattoos and piercings, the lust for speed, but without it, she would just burst…

cardibach · 08/09/2023 19:49

Aserena · 08/09/2023 19:25

Interesting! Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but then @IClaudine’s Rightmove research shows Betty’s budget might not get her very far in Cardiff these days.
Perhaps Cardiff Betty would have to move further out to get a better quality of life these days.

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Why is Cardiff Betty buying her first house now? If she’s mid life and earning like that she probably bought ages ago.

jays · 08/09/2023 19:49

Aw. My mum was called Betty and she died a couple of years ago. I just let my imagination run and pictured all the things I wanted there to be for her mixed up with what she actually was. I enjoyed it! I loved the tread, was a really nice thing for me to think about. One person’s ‘load of crap’ is another persons little nugget of gold I guess. It’s not hurting anyone 💖

Handsnotwands · 08/09/2023 19:49

Betty has a wine club subscription and drinks her way to oblivion 5 nights a week. Every Monday is a new start. Every Wednesday is close enough to the weekend to indulge once more. She dreams of the good life but she’s inherently lazy. She watches love island and remembers when she was thin, but felt fat anyway.

cardibach · 08/09/2023 19:51

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No woman needs a good overhaul from a man. What a horrible post.

CrapBucket · 08/09/2023 19:52

Betty? Betty? Who the fuck is Betty?

(For 24 years I’ve been living next door to Betty)

BlowDryRat · 08/09/2023 19:52

Betty lives in a 2-bedroom house she bought in the 90's and now owns outright. She taught herself coding and works 4 days a week as a software engineer. She spends her evenings white water kayaking at Lee Valley, is a volunteer instructor for disadvantaged kids from London and goes on long weekend trips every month to different locations for her hobby. She gets away twice a year with her club. All the older men fancy her but she has a FWB situation with her best friend Mary, who she's known from when they started at their first secretarial jobs on the same day 30+ years ago.

Cottagecheeseisnotcheese · 08/09/2023 19:54

Depends if Betty is over 50 in large areas of the UK she would have been able to purchase 2bed terrace in her mid 20's for about 50K.in 1993-5. Like I did if she up sized to 3 bed semi about 2000 she is almost certainly mortgage free or about to be. Even if she still has a mortgage it is likely to be under £500 a month so her income will go quite along way.

Betty is in top 20% of earners just edging into higher rate tax or definitely if in Scotland.

Superfood · 08/09/2023 19:55

Aserena · 08/09/2023 18:19

Inspired by another thread.

Meet Betty:

Betty earns £50k (pre tax) per year, with a stable career.
She is mid-life and single with no children.
She has no wealthy relatives.

What living conditions and lifestyle would you expect Betty to have, in the area where you live?

Tell us where she’s living and how she spends her dosh. Feel free to be imaginative!

Betty is paid by a shit PR/marketing company to post threads on Mumsnet without flagging them as marketing content.

Superfood · 08/09/2023 19:56

Fallingthroughclouds · 08/09/2023 19:43

I second this. What a load of crap.

Show quote history

Feel free to be imaginative!

Tells me this is a post by someone paid (not very well) to work for a marketing/advertising/market research company.