It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

mardatha

Hester, in this forum, a garden IS a social life ! LOL !

Penny-Pincher!!

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

Hi All
I've not caught up with this thread for ages but I do find it inspiring.
We aren't too badly off at the moment as hubby has some work, but it isn't for long. When we just have my wage coming in we live on under £10k a year takehome & we live in Berkshire which is one of the most expensive areas. Out of that we pay a mortgage & all the bills there is just the 2 of us most of the time, but occasionally we end up with hubby's son or brother staying with us when they are broke, jobless & homeless. We have a garden so grow what veg we can, dress from charity shops & have no social life, lol. Still we have a roof over our heads & can afford to eat, so we are grateful for what we have.
As to preparing now for lean times ahead, one of the best things I ever bought was a decent sewing machine, I earn extra money using it to do alterations.
Hester

HH-I have always admired how well you manage your money. Your also very generous and kind towards others. Are you receiving everything you are entitled too?....council tax benefit, working tax credit etc?

Have managed to use £8 in vouchers this wek towards food shopping. OH did a lovely small shop in Aldi and got alot of their Super 6 at 49p each...cherries, plums, peaches etc.

PP
xx

mirry

Hi everyone , thought I would stop by and say hello,

sammykaye , just want to wish you and your partner well for his upcoming operation , I will be thinking of you both.

we have just spent the past two nights in a travel lodge and I was horrified at the prices of everything , it was really difficult to eat cheaply,
we ended up eating at tescos ,lol.

Hardup_Hester

Hi
Lol, Mardatha, I think you are right there, hubby & I both talk to the plants.
PP, thanks for your comments, we seem to be just over the limit for receiving any help, I do check the Entitledto site regularly.
Hester

kidcat

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

Hi
Lol, Mardatha, I think you are right there, hubby & I both talk to the plants.
PP, thanks for your comments, we seem to be just over the limit for receiving any help, I do check the Entitledto site regularly.
Hester

Its strange how the benefits system works, my friend worked 21 hours a week and earned £8000 pa and when her daughter was with her she also got child benefit, child tax credit and working tax credit, help with council tax and free prescriptions, dentists etc. On top of that she received maintenance from her ex.
When her daughter left to live with the ex she got nothing. Because she wasnt working 30 hours she was not entitled to any help at all. She would happily have worked 30 hours but there were none available.
Somehow the system seems to have very strange thresholds and is not always helping those it was supposed to help. (A friend of mine earns £30k and still gets tax credits?? )

mama67

The other thing that seems to be wrong with the system is that if you are on the "dole" and have a family they say you "need" a certain amount to live on; but the tax credits on top of wages don't equal the same amount which they will give you to support your family even if you aren't working.

DH had a friend who came to stay with us whilst he was looking for work,(diff area of county) he paid his way, and he showed us the paperwork which said as he had 4 kids he needed X to live on but if he took a job on Y plus the tax credits Z wouldn't equal X, so he was actually better off on benefits with having 4 kids.

calleyw

Was informed today that by mid autumn I might not have a job:eek:

Never mind worse happens at sea :rotfl:

Just have to see what happens.

I don't think we can manage on just my husband benefits and Job Seekers. Can't really cut our bills back much more. Unless we drop the mortgage down to interest only.

But life has a funny way of turning out not always for good. But hey ho.

Yours

Calley

Primrose

Calley - haven't posted on this thread for a while but was sorry to hear your news. I just hope that by the time autumn comes the economy may have picked up a little and you'll still be OK. I don't know whether it's better or worse to have this much advance notice. At least you have a little more time to think the situation through but it also means more time to fret and worry about it. A double edged sword really.

kidcat

Its now been confirmed that there are going to be sweeping cuts across my husbands workplace, and that they are getting rid of all Dept heads, half the supervisors and many more. This means that they only plan on keeping either my husband or the guy he currently works with.
They offered better than basic redundancy to the dept heads in last weeks cuts and if he gets offered the chance of redundancy we are seriously considering taking it.
It seems that as business make more and more people redundnat they offer less generous terms, and that realistically he may get another year there at best unless the economy drastically turns around. Having seen their business practises I struggle to understand how they have managed to survive this long.
So now I am looking at whether there are any jobs available out there for my husband or I, and am considering using any redundancy money to set up a business of our own.
Scary, but something I have been considering for a while - but have been unable to move on without any capital to put in.

scaty

Hi,
Been reading posts and seems like I'm ready to post my mine now.
DD2 was working for a jeans shop for about a year when

• lost boyfriend when moving to another rented property - just didin't make it to the new house:o think he lost his way.
• She found she was pregnent christmas time - not a good time for us
• while on maternity leave (just started) the company is to close all UK shops and her maty money will stop- (as not got 2yrs behind her), worrid she wont be able to have her tax credits, pay her rent, - basically be broke

As her current home has 'technically' 3 bedrooms and only 2 are used, the housing people said that it was under occupied and will only help so far. Apparently would help more when the baby is born in july. Next rent is due by the end of the month and she is very depressed.

She has phoned ACAS but as she has less than 2 yrs in the companys'employment then the company can just withdraw her maternity payments.

Currently I am trying to re-arrange my own small house to accomodate her family - GD1 is a lovely child, don't know how DD managed that one.

My poor attic - which is soooo small, is full of my stuff as I'm trying not to pay for storage.

Looks like I will be truely kipperd again, end of my moan.:o