REALLY STRUGGLING! help!

tatieirregular

i just wondered if anyone knew anything else i could claim or anything i could do to get myself out of the penny-less state i'm currently in? at the moment i get job seekers allowence (£47 a week) and housing benefit (250 a month) but am really stuggling to afford the costs of living.
i have recently graduated with a first class honours degree in fine art and can't find a job however hard i try, at first there was plenty of jobs to apply for but i always got rejected for either being over qualified or under qualified/not enough experience. but now i'm even struggling to find jobs to apply for.
so after using my job seekers allowence to pay for bills and to cover the rest of my rent i'm left with very little for food and nothing left for emergencies.
my flat mate is in the exact same situation, except she is also trying to pay off her credit card. i saw her eat just a potato today for dinner. thats how poor she is, the best i got was watching her eat it and wishing i had a potato of my very own!
we are having to avoid using the heating as we only have expensive electric heaters and we just cant afford to use them, we don't have double glazing either so it gets very drafty in our living room!
i've tried looking for help on the government website but i'm not eligable for everything i've found becuase i'm not disabled or have children and i'm not over 60. most benefits seem to overlook young people in my situation! i'd actually be better off if i had a baby
i think there should be more help out there for people who are fresh out of university and can't find a job, rather than wacking £50 interest on top of my student loan for every month that i can't afford to pay it back! meaning that once i am finally earning over £15,000 i will have soooo much interest on top of the orriginal £10,000 i borrowed (a internet loan calculator reckons i'll have to pay back £30,000 becuase of the interest. hardly fair) anyway, my apologies i'm going off topic.
any help, advice or food parcels welcome (wheres harvest festival when you need it?) ah well i may be poor but at least i have my humour!
amy xxx
(apologies for any spelling/punctuation errors, i'm dyslexic (another thing hindering my employability!) well done if you made it this far!)

LizzieS_2

You have already posted this once in the same area of the forum.

lisaloo1977

I made it to the end fine. I do not have any good advice but i am sure someone will be along to help soon.

Have you tried hardship loans from where you get your benefits? I am not very clued up but have heard them mentioned before. Also are you applying for jobs that are not in your field just to get a job for now. I know its not what you have gone to uni for but it might just help in the short term to put food on the table. It seems to be a good time for seasonal work, so maybe try that.

Also there is a board on here called up your income, have a look on there. Some people are doing mystery shopping and alot is food so you purchase do your report and then have free food and a small payment.
Not much i know, but something.

tatieirregular

thanks, i will look into that.
i have been trying to get any kind of job but a lot of shops/bars tell me i'm over qualified. and they think i'll leave as soon as something better comes along! also the problem with seasonal jobs is that they are mostly 4-8 hours 12 at a push and if i took one of those i'd be worse off than i am now as i would have less money comming in and although i'd love to do that it won't pay the bills. i've looked into crisis loans and bugetting loans from the job centre but it takes over a month to get it and also its a loan so i'd just be getting myself further into debt and to pay it back they take it out of your jobseekers so i'd be having the money now but making myself poorer in the future. ohhhh this is probably the worst year to have finished uni in xxx

(i've no idea why the thread posted twice!)