Fed up and skint!

coops024

Damian_Evans wrote: »

Childcare/nursery....................... 20

Whats this for if your wife doesnt work ?

I could have just saved you £20 my friend !:money:

tom9980

I would just like to thank the OP for instead of complaining endlessly about the problem of those who abuse the system and get too much and instead focusing on his own issues and trying to get his family around this problem. :T

Get the wife on the MoneySaving Old Style board and see if she can pick up some tips such as batch cooking/freezing meals, buying whoopsies, etc.

Do you have a garden and veg patch? its not too late to start growing something it all helps! i live in a flat and we have started a bit of a window box. Both our parents have a veg patch so we get free veg when there is a glut of the stuff and they freeze the rest.

A few months ago my dad got chickens (currently laying 18 per week! and we get 6 free per week if we want them) because the cost of eggs just keeps rising they were so easy to look after that we encouraged my partners mum to get some as well. We cleaned out a space in the barn and used old pallets to build a pen for them so next week we are off to market to buy some more chickens for her too. :T

This is the kind of small thing you can do to help cut the cost of living.

mum2one

Damian_Evans wrote: »

Well done Mum2one, you managed to quote all my bad bits and make me look like a tw~t! You missed the post where I apologised for tarring all dole claimers with the same brush. You should be a journalist, picking through what has been said and quoting only bits of it. Sounds like I hit a nerve. Try applying to The Sun. You'd fit in nicely there.

At the end of the day you made yourself look like a tw~t with not just your 1st post, but the further ones. Yes I do appriciate that you did apologise later on, but the damage had already been done, instaeed of getting your facts right, you just went blundering in, and I feel that people who claim benefits, get a poor ride.
I guess I should take it as a compliment that you feel I could be a journalist.

mum2one

justthisonce wrote: »

I feel sorry for the OP and think he is getting an unnecessary hounding on here. Bet most of the people castigating him are actually better off i.e money left in pocket after essential bills etc are paid, and I would not assume that any of them claim benefits but from the way they have leapt on him i think I can take it as read that they do.

Poor s*d has a mortgage that is crippling him plus full council tax. He is paying over half his total income on housing costs, almost £900 a month in total leaving him less than £500 for everything else, just about £100 a week for his whole family for utilities, food etc. How many of you lot are paying out the same percentage just for a roof over your head? What do you suggest he does? He came here for advice not so you can tell him how lucky he is to have a job so he can pay his tax and NI.

From where he is looking bet it all looks a bit bleak. Only thing in his favour is he has no debts, good thing really as he wouldn't be able to service them if he had.

He may of coame here for advice, but there are ways of doing it - NICELY - not come and tar people and moan at people who he knows nothing about.
So yes I can see why people including myself took offence to his post.

justthisonce_2

mum2one wrote: »

He may of coame here for advice, but there are ways of doing it - NICELY - not come and tar people and moan at people who he knows nothing about.
So yes I can see why people including myself took offence to his post.

So now he has ask to 'ask nicely' if he wants any advice or help. That's what my Mum used to say to the dog before it could have a biscuit. i don't blame him though. i claim nothing myself but there are many many threads running on these boards with people discussing how they 'maximise' their benefits, how to complete DWP claim forms that are only vaguely sprinkled with truth. If he has been reading any of that then no wonder he is fed up.

No doubt if he had been able to get a council house at about £80 a week he would have taken it instead of having to burden himself with such a huge mortgage.

You may think he is moaning at people he knows nothing about but I reckon all he can see is himself working hard and getting deeper into the mire whilst people castigating him are being supported by his taxes. So I guess he does feel entitled to comment.You do need to see both sides you know.

embarrassed_about_my_debt

I saw somewhere in your thread that you buy petrol from the supermarket.

My recommendation would be dont! Buy it from a proper petrol station, it goes further.

I had this arguement with my gf for ages as she used to buy her fuel from tesco. I eventually got her to try filling up from a petrol station for a month and she nows saves approx £30 a month and wont fill up at supermarkets anymore.

If you dont believe it try it yourself for a month and see the difference!

tom9980

justthisonce wrote: »

i claim nothing myself but there are many many threads running on these boards with people discussing how they 'maximise' their benefits, how to complete DWP claim forms that are only vaguely sprinkled with truth.

This statement is complete and utter C*** nobody here is doing anything of the sort, people here will help those who need it and will ask questions to find out what people are ENTITLED to claim. When it is clear someone is telling porkies they are either ignored (i choose to ignore on most occasions) or are rightly put in their place as they should be!.

Maximising benefits? listen you are either entitled to claim something or your not its as simple as that. If someone is earning 30k+ per year and they are entitled to help in some way they should claim it the governement budget for all the help they give us so you only hurt yourself if you dont claim.

As for completing forms and only vaguely telling the truth are you mad? i have never seen anyone say lie or make at situation seem worse without being told to tell it how it is usually within a few posts by more experienced posters who know lying will only get you into trouble and owing the government huge sums of money!. Also you need to understand that these forms are often very complex and it is very hard for the average person to successfully complete them correctly. I know of many examples of genuine people who are entitled to help and meeting criteria for help being denied because they dont fill in the forms correctly and then being accepted when given help by CAB, DIAL and many other organizations/charities.

epsilondraconis

Mum2one - its good to see that if people don't ask nicely you are there to pounce on them. You posted in CAPITALS to ensure we all understood how angry you were, you say that he is narrow minded and you say that he has a chip on his shoulder.

Okay the guy could have worded his posts a little better; however he has apologised. It appears that it isn't enough for you, you then say that the damage has been done etc and still moan about it. I persoanlly take my hat off to him for trying to do something about his situation. When we each look at our own situations we don't always look at it from everyone elses perspective because all we are thinking about is getting the bills paid etc.

Perhaps in future you too could consider you posts and be a little more considerate about other peoples' postings. Perhaps you need to see it from their point of view and not be so quick to jump on people if they don't ask nicely enough or don't word their posts in the way you would like.

Please don't think I'm getting at you Mum2one - I also appreciate the difficult position you are also in. I just think we could all be a little more tolerant thats all...

coops024

I think that the OP was only getting at the people who do play the system ... (They do exist you know !)

Someone I know claims £8k per year while her husband is self employed . He pays himself minimum wage and the company pays for the mortgage (as its his business premesis) all the util bills, petrol (as its a company car) and all electronic equipment justifying it as business use !

We only get to hear about the ones that are on the take ! you never see headlines saying "Hard worker claims Child Tax Credit"

So to assume the OP was actually talking about the ones that claim legit makes you no worse than him !

epsilondraconis

coops024 wrote: »

Someone I know claims £8k per year while her husband is self employed . He pays himself minimum wage and the company pays for the mortgage (as its his business premesis) all the util bills, petrol (as its a company car) and all electronic equipment justifying it as business use !

The obviously question is, why have you not reported them for taking £8k illegally. You can report them anonomously.