Housing Benefit isn't enough!!

KimYeovil

£80 for gas and electricity for a one bedroom flat - rubbish!

£40 for metered water - rubbish. If you are unmetered, you may face extortion like this but not if it is metered.

£60 prescriptions. Why are paying £60 every four weeks for prescriptions instead of £10 per month for the annual thingummijg?

£60 per month for insurance? What are you insuring? The crown jewels?

£100 on food - rubbish. You do not need a more expensive diet.

£40 on petrol. A weekly bus card doesn't cost much. Or use a bicycle.

gemmalouanna

£20 electricty and £20 gas for 2 weeks is a lot (especially for 1 person/small flat) so you will have some excess there.

I would imagine for a lot of people on benefits the first thing to go would be the car as it is a big expenses - I think the scooter idea sounds good.

ladykhan

KimYeovil wrote: »

£80 for gas and electricity for a one bedroom flat - rubbish!

£40 for metered water - rubbish. If you are unmetered, you may face extortion like this but not if it is metered.

£60 prescriptions. Why are paying £60 every four weeks for prescriptions instead of £10 per month for the annual thingummijg?

£60 per month for insurance? What are you insuring? The crown jewels?

£100 on food - rubbish. You do not need a more expensive diet.

£40 on petrol. A weekly bus card doesn't cost much. Or use a bicycle.

Now i don't want to be rude but i never said £80 for gas and electric i put £10 a week away for electric same for gas and water as i don't no what my water will be. I have CROHN'S disease which means i use a lot more water than the average person will. I am now looking at the PPC i did not know you could pay by direct debit. yes £60 a month for a little tiny 106, 1.4 petrol. £100 on food as i have a macrobiotic diet because of the Crohn's thats the only that will help. £40 a month for petrol because yes i need a car, not want, not luxury i need it as i said in an earlier post
thank you for sounding so rude to me.

viktory

ladykhan wrote: »

It goes like this a fortnight because that's when I get payed:
£20 electric
£20 gas
£20 water
£5 TV
£30 Insurance
£30 (sometimes more) prescrition
£20 petrol (maybe more)
£40-£50 shopping (have to eat a special diet)
£13 on tabacco

You are obviously mistaken re the electric/gas and water. There is no way you are paying £120 a month for those three - unless you have debt you are clearing.

The fact that you have Crohns means that it is even more important you stop smoking - I did it, I stopped cold turkey so please don't whinge that it is too hard.

"What Effect Does Nicotine Have on Crohn's Disease?
Smoking cigarettes actually has a detrimental effect on Crohn's disease. People who smoke, or who have smoked in the past, have a higher risk of developing Crohn's than non-smokers. Crohn's disease patients that smoke have an increased number of relapses, repeat surgeries, and may require aggressive immunosuppressive treatment. People with Crohn's are strongly encouraged by their physicians to stop smoking in order to prevent flare-ups of the disease"

Change the car for a scooter (or the bus - even cheaper). Even on a special diet you can eat more cheaply than you are at the moment.

Simple fact is you are actually in a better position than many - lots of hard working folk can't afford to run a car, eat out, smoke or have a social life.

Stop complaining and start looking for ways to cut back and save money. You are not getting any more freebies.

sp1987

gemmalouanna wrote: »

£20 electricty and £20 gas for 2 weeks is a lot (especially for 1 person/small flat) so you will have some excess there.

I would imagine for a lot of people on benefits the first thing to go would be the car as it is a big expenses - I think the scooter idea sounds good.

The electric is very high! We paid £150 for last 3 months electric in our shared 2 bed flat and we are like Blackpool illuminations (plus 30 mins of expernsive electric showering each per day, lol) so can obviously get this down. We do not have gas in our property, everything is electric, heating, cooker etc.

Can you just use your car less? £20 petrol should do you 200 miles ish so can you not put the mileometer on to see how much you are driving and see how many miles could be cut out? If it is 20 every two weeks you are driving what, 400 miles a month? There must be a way to get this down say by 1/4 to save you £5 every two weeks. I would not want to get rid of my car so I understand. Maybe cutting speed a little on dual carriageways could help, 56mph instead of 70mph will save you some ££ long term.

I think if you were able to cut some money off everywhere you would have a good saving all round.

ladykhan

viktory wrote: »

You are obviously mistaken re the electric/gas and water. There is no way you are paying £120 a month for those three - unless you have debt you are clearing.

I don't know. I have only just moved in and this is based on what I am using. I moved in on the 17th which was a Monday, by the next Tuesday everything was gone so I added another £10 and its gone on like this for electric and gas. Water i don't know as I haven't had a bill yet but as I said, i use a lot more water than the average person.

Oldernotwiser

Really it just comes down to DMG's earlier advice; cut your outgoings or move somewhere cheaper. As you don't seem interested in doing the former, you'll have to do the latter.

Edit
I've just reread an earlier post and can see you're in a council flat so LHA isn't applicable. I always thought that HB covered the whole rent in this situation, but perhaps I'm wrong.

I have to say that very few 19 year olds are able to rent a whole flat to themselves, much less be alloted a council flat, so perhaps you ought to be thankful for that much!

ladykhan

sp1987 wrote: »

The electric is very high! We paid £150 for last 3 months electric in our shared 2 bed flat and we are like Blackpool illuminations (plus 30 mins of expernsive electric showering each per day, lol) so can obviously get this down. We do not have gas in our property, everything is electric, heating, cooker etc.

Can you just use your car less? £20 petrol should do you 200 miles ish so can you not put the mileometer on to see how much you are driving and see how many miles could be cut out? If it is 20 every two weeks you are driving what, 400 miles a month? There must be a way to get this down say by 1/4 to save you £5 every two weeks. I would not want to get rid of my car so I understand. Maybe cutting speed a little on dual carriageways could help, 56mph instead of 70mph will save you some ££ long term.

I think if you were able to cut some money off everywhere you would have a good saving all round.

I used to have a diesel but has to sell as it was dying so i bought this stupidly thinking that it would be about the same money (diesel did 100 miles to a tenner ) but it doesn't. it does bout 100 miles to fifteen pounds! i have a feeling something might be going on it, maybe pump or something but can't take it to a garage right now because of money problems!! i drive like a granny everywhere i go, always have done. but i do a lot of little driving. i would like to try and walk more soon but at the moment due to my health i cant do it just yet. as i said i am putting the money on roughly when it is running out to gauge roughly how much it is going to cost. but i am changing suppliers soon as i know it sounds a bit much and i have a service change on both meters. so hopefully that will cut it down a bit.

welshmoneylover

KimYeovil wrote: »

Or use a bicycle.

Personally, I woudn't fancy the idea of riding a bike when suffering from a case of the !!!!!!$ :rolleyes:

The OP has stated she has Crohn's disease and has moved into her first place.

Like most people who move into their own digs for the first time, the OP has had a wake up call of how expensive things are.

I, for one, can't wait for my teenage son to get his own digs for him to realise money doesn't grow on trees and things have to be budgeted for and not simply spent down the pub every other night!

The OP claims she hasn't enough free money to live on and wants more.

There are families working themselves to the bone in this recession to keep the wolves away from the door.

To the OP, your budgeting seems a bit way out. As for tobacco, it's a luxury working tax payers have had to forgo during this recession.

It's an addiction and not a necessity.

ladykhan

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Really it just comes down to DMG's earlier advice; cut your outgoings or move somewhere cheaper. As you don't seem interested in doing the former, you'll have to do the latter.

Edit
I've just reread an earlier post and can see you're in a council flat so LHA isn't applicable. I always thought that HB covered the whole rent in this situation, but perhaps I'm wrong.

I have to say that very few 19 year olds are able to rent a whole flat to themselves, much less be alloted a council flat, so perhaps you ought to be thankful for that much!

Believe me I am!! sooo thankful!!! thants why i was wondering on help as i dont want to lose the place!! thanks for helping though!