I can have a loan ... but at 189.2% APR !

Jennifer_Jane

Broken_hearted wrote: »

Its that illusive need again. Clothes can be washed by hand, not easy and very time consuming. Cooking can be done in a microwave which you can pick up from around £15.
Or you could get them from freecycle.

Got there ahead of me! Friends of mine have done really well with washing machines/ dishwashers, all kinds of things.

Jen
x

[Deleted User]

Castleman wrote: »

Minimum wage £5.73

Standard 37.5 hour week = £214.88. Subtract tax, NI, other expenses from that and it's nowhere near £300!

Sorry i dont recall mentioning minimum wage, though if you were only earning min wage you would probably be working more than 37.5 hours a week.

But if youre going to be picky about other peoples post without thinking about them then(At minimum wage) its about 2 weeks wage.

SingleSue

Agreed Brokenhearted.....in a way

My microwave is not that brilliant to start with (second hand purchase for £10 11 years ago so no bells and whistles like a grilling function etc) and trying to do all the different things needed due to dietary needs would have been nigh on impossible in the microwave. I did attempt it for a week or so but it came down to the children not eating correctly.

I even got my old camping stove out and spent a while combining cooking on that and in the microwave but again, you can't go on forever doing that.

As it is, my oven has stopped working now just as the cooker is out of guarantee, the stove top still works so that is a blessing....I am not going to be getting a loan to replace the cooker, I am using the stove for boiling etc and a bedsit type tabletop oven to roast,bake etc. I have had to become inventive about the ways to cook some things as so many dishes need to go in to account for allergies, food intolerances and the normal likes and dislikes.

Thankfully, my washing machine has never gone whilst I have been on benefits so I haven't had that problem but I do remember when our machine went when I was married and we didn't have time to get to a store to get a new one (before the days of internet - well in our house anyway), so everthing was handwashed....the same as I do now when we go away on holiday in a caravan rather than pay the exhorbitant rates for using their washing machines. I don't find it particularly easy though as I have arthritis in my hands and wrists and it completely beggers me for doing anything with them for a day or so afterwards.

Edit - At the time my cooker went, I had not even heard of Freecycle, let alone would know to use it. I of course know differently now and would have no hesitation in scouring the lists to see if something like that was available and within easy collecting/transporting (again not easy as someone single with a limited space for transporting items in a car)

Broken_hearted

Children can get the correct nutrients without having a hot meal. My children are not given the option to dislike a food, if a meal is placed in front of them they are expected to eat it.
On benefits you would have been entitled to a social fund loan and there are 100's of charities that will help people with disabled children.

SingleSue

I know that now....at the time I was fairly dense on knowing my rights and knew nothing about the social fund loans.

With multiple allergies and food intolerances, it is not as easy as just plonking whatever you want on the table, nor is it financially sensible to feed everyone on the specialist foods as not all items are available via prescription, this is why I put likes and dislikes at the end of my options.

Charities have a budget the same as everyone else and it is not always easy or possible to secure grants, especially when you need an item quickly or if you live in an area where there is a high ratio of people in need.

As it is, in our area, there are very few charities that actually will do things like that unless you are homeless or moving into a property after a period of homelessness...something else we have a huge problem with.

I was alone, scared, trying to do the right thing by my children, turned down by the bank and hire purchase and being told off by the medical team involved with my children as their needs were not being seen to correctly (strangely, they insist that having a working cooker and oven is not a luxury but an essential and that cooking by microwave and camping stove is not adaquate)..... I felt I had no choice, it was only a short while after I had taken the loan that I discovered the social fund loans.

As I have said, I know there are different options now but at the time I didn't....and there will be others who are like I was then.

Drea

Broken_hearted wrote: »

Children can get the correct nutrients without having a hot meal. My children are not given the option to dislike a food, if a meal is placed in front of them they are expected to eat it.
On benefits you would have been entitled to a social fund loan and there are 100's of charities that will help people with disabled children.

You are sounding a bit patronising there, of course children will dislike food whether they have the 'option' to or not. Everyone will dislike something.

Anyway, I was not on benefits when I had to get my provident loan, I was working full time and still did not have money. I am entitled to nothing until I am 25 when I would be able to get working tax credits if I am still on a low wage. I am 22, single, living alone (or was, now looking for a flatshare). But at the time I got my loan I was living with my ex who took the p*ss, he would hide the fact he had money, pretended he was paying rent, etc. I had no option at the time but to get the loan or we would have both been out on the street. Not that he deserved my help I've learned from that mistake though!

Gorgeous_George

The highest APR must be when somebody buys you a beer for £2.50 and you repay them half an hour later with a Guinness at £3.20.

That's nearly half a million percent and we call them friends.

GG