Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

Rosanna79

Frugal
Congratulations on quitting the fags. It's the hardest decision one often has to make, OH quit over 2 years ago 44 years after starting. Watching his struggle certainly helped me to understand some of my families struggling with the same problem in my work.
Keeping on'e hands busy certainly does help and I find this applies to NOT eating when I shouldn't to help keep the weight down!

Gailey
I'm dizzy with all you manage to do in a day! Hope your scan goes well.

Kezlou
Glad you enjoyed your chocolate and i was amused to read about your cats. Mine tries to snaffle my porridge before I can eat iut as well as loving icecream and yoghurt- Strange animal!

Bluebag & Kitaboodle
Interesting to hear about your experiences of working with JCP / DWP. Only yesterday OH was saying he thinks they'll be bringing back screens for frontline workers. he worked for many years at DWP in Polar, East london but not with the public. He told me once that some of his female colleagues were informed by management that it was part of their job to tolerate the filthy verbal abuse showered on them a daily basis! How damaging that must be for what is NOT a o particularly good rate of pay,

He was under constant pressure to amend the terms of his contract to work with the public. It was only when we moved north, he declined a transfer and being unable to find other work took over the running of our home that his health improved 100% overnight. he looks like making old bones now whereas before i really thought the stress would shorten his life.

Ceridwen
Always find your post interesting and thought provoking - keep'em coming..
Sammy Kaye
Congratulations on your good luck! You really deserve this and with your amazing maturity for one so young I'm sure you'll make the best decisions. There's a lot of very good advice from the other ladies ... Is it possible that if you bail Owen out he'll repeat the process of getting into debt? I don't mean to be offensive Sammy. It just seems from you're posts that you're having to be doubly sensible for both of you. You sound like a brilliant Mum and H/W. Lookk after yourself love.

Must agree with general consensus on price rises. OH does a lot of the shopping and we've found Aldi tomatoes going off too quickly so tend to by at Mr. M- this week up to 95p from 88p last week

Best wishes to all who need support at this time

mardatha

Aye, and that will cost money .... but no doubt they will find that money no problem . By the time they have saved us £6 billion it will have cost us double that !

BB1984

Just had a look back through my shopping receipts, and seeing in black and white how much some foods have gone up recently is quite shocking :eek:

I have two asda receipts here, one from 2nd October and one from 9th November.

Asda Pasta shapes 500g: 50p

---

> 75p
SP digestive bars: £1.10

---

> £1.22
Cravendale 4pt: £1.60

---

>£1.68
SP porridge oats: 62p

---

> 75p
Asda concentrated squash: £1.00

---

>£1.50

Didn't buy much else the same both months, so can't compare any others, but I'm shocked at how much some things have increased just in the space of one month! Pasta is a worry, as we eat quite a bit of that. Must keep an eye out for offers, if there are any. The squash was mad too, told DH that he'll have to stop drinking it so quickly, but he just hates the taste of water. (He didn't notice before when I decanted some SP squash into the other bottle, but it's not often that I go shopping on my own and can get away with it!)

Just switched energy suppliers, hoping it will save us some money but not counting on it as it's not a fixed/capped tariff and the prices have been going up again. Blimmin British Gas had the cheek to declare record profits then put their prices up loads, blaming it on wholesale prices.....fine, wholesale prices have gone up, but you'd hope that they'd pass on some of their profits to their customers, wouldn't you....GARRRR!

Right, off to the footie shortly, hooray... Taking my thermos and a choccie biscuit to keep me happy though

BB

MrsBartolozzi

Frugal wrote: »

Ceridwen - Does this mean people will be able to accept jobs at, say, 10 hours a week and still get WFTC and such? The whole thing confuses me!

No it means that couples with children will need to work 24 hours a week rather than the 16 they need to now to get WTC. Single people still need to work 30 hours before they are entitled to wtc though, but this has balanced things up ...a little bit.
I'm frustrated by the way the media have been publicising this and all the other cuts, scaremongering folk on low incomes that they will be out on the streets. That and the carp about there being no appeal against the benefit sanctions (concerning working for benefits). This is not true, there will be an appeals process, the papers have just lied about this to garner outrage. TBH, I'm so glad I escaped the JSA treadmill last month, only to join in the three-ring circus that is working tax credits lol, but seriously being on JSA isn't fun and trips to the JC can be scary too with the security guards watching your every move not to mention the other claiments. My sympathies go out to those who have to run the gauntlet every fortnight, hopefully you'll find work soon.

:TSammyKay, That's great news:T!! I'm so glad things are looking up for you and best wishes for the future!!


ETA:
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/universal-credit-full-document.pdf

15. Most people want to find work and will never be in the position of facing a sanction. The aim of our changes is to make the consequences of failure clearer and simpler. We anticipate that most people who are sanctioned will receive a lower level sanction and indeed the majority of people are only ever sanctioned once. For those who repeatedly fail to meet their responsibility to look for work there will be progression through the sanctions regime to the tougher penalties. Recipients in this category will have had many opportunities to demonstrate engagement and will have been clearly warned of the consequences of continued non-compliance. The penalty of losing three years of Jobseeker’s Allowance will apply to the most extreme cases, where benefit recipients have serially and deliberately breached conditions, and where other sanctions have not worked to change their behaviour. Recipients will continue to be able to show good cause and, as now, after a sanction has been imposed, recipients will continue to have the ability to appeal. We will also maintain safeguards for vulnerable people and ensure that mental health and substance abuse problems are taken into consideration

ceridwen

Frugal wrote: »

Ceridwen - Does this mean people will be able to accept jobs at, say, 10 hours a week and still get WFTC and such? The whole thing confuses me!

I think its early days yet to see exactly what it does mean - but my interpretation (for what its worth!) of this is that it would benefit ANYONE to take ANY job going - ie even if it was only a few hours a week.

As I recall - I think the idea is that people keep 35% (?) of the money they earn extra from having a job - going up a sort of sliding scale until they earn enough from the job not to need any help any more. That - I think - is very positive actually:). This will be INSTEAD of Working Tax Credit from what I can gather.

My understanding FWIW of what I've read so far about this is that I, for instance (as a single childless person), could go and get a job that was even just 5 hours per week and I would be able to keep 35% of that money I earnt during those 5 hours (ie over and above what I would get in benefit anyway). So - to me - that removes a huge obstacle to getting a job. Also - I think the current system is HUGELY socially divisive and this new system looks like it wont be - yay!

I remember distinctly that - the last time I was unemployed and having to get a job (full-time in my case) - that the type of job I do is not well-paid:( - so (with the fact that accommodation is dear in my area) I had to be careful about just what jobs I could ask for in order to make sure that I would have a financial benefit from getting back into work again (even at the start). It DID make life harder - and there were jobs that I couldnt even ask for because I would have had little (if any) extra money for getting into work again.

To me personally I think the Government is taking a very pragmatic viewpoint about just how much most people (dont) want to have a job if given a totally free choice about the matter. The vast majority of us (including me) simply won't do a job unless we are better off for doing so - BECAUSE we don't want the job anyway and are only doing it because we have to...(regrettable as that is.......).

(Exit stage left...dreaming about being able to do the type of work that I would do voluntarily if I had the time...........). It IS really really annoying that some people tell others "You obviously dont WANT to work" - when...yes...some of us really really DO want to...but its not financially possible to do any work of our choice......grrr...

gailey_2

Afternoon guys.

Feel so much brighter today, hubby gave me lie in.:j
baby started kicking last night a relief was getting worried.
had lovley relaxing morning of doing nothing but spend time with my girls and watching crap tv.

Did easy lunch of tinned spaggeti for girls will do something nicer later.
Hubbys working late as he took thur off to take care of me.

I need to do so much housework this afternoon house a complete pit but as everyones been ill since wed been last thing on agenda.:eek:


Sammyk-Glad you got sensible plan and spending it wisly I found it quite hard with tax rebate on stretching the money to everyone that needs paying

Thanks kezlou/kidcat for advice on stepson.

Thing is unless he lived with us any extra support would be like ******* in the wind would make minimal difference as good work we done in past been quickly undone.
Unfortuantly my stepson wont acknowledge fact he has problems, take any responsability for his actions or make an effort to improve his behaviour /school work hes not bothered and blames everyone else.
His mam constantly paints him as victim and blames the school the social, us anyone but herself she constantly makes excuses for him and seems to be tiptoing round eggshells last few years since he started running away buying him lavish presents and cant possibly be crotical or disipline him again as he would get upset which is not helping.

Theres also lack of trust, stealing/vandalism and fighting which puts my girls at risk and the lies he told social and the police about us when he ran away before, hubbys fearful more involvement wouldent benefit his son and would harm our family like its done at home as his stepdad had to move in with his mam whilst the false claims were being investigated.

Ceridwyn- I too thourght I would live in goodlife home was drooling atheir lovley semi and the size of their garden the other day!

Mrs vegplot-hope you better soon, glad freezer did not defrost and good luck with hubby and debts least he realises fact he has aproblem and reliquishing control to you is a good start.

When I think of my past experiences of job centre.

1st was 1995 small job centre,home town did see few rows.
But nothing as bad as when I moved to newport/cardiff after leaving school . Theres was always people hanging outside with their frosty jacks and lots of security guards.Can be quite intimadating.

My last experience was about 6months ago jobecentres in bristol equally scary places in fact the rougher areas dont even have job centres based there with high areas of unemployment means they have to commute to job centre to even find a job.

Anyway waited for 20mins was busy.
security guard asked what I wanted maybe he felt I looked bit out of place sat their quietly in a smart dress no bottle in hand.
I told him I was waiting to see someone about vacancies.
he said I apply for things online that the people at the desk were for social security /jsa claimants and has an unemployed married mum looking for part time job and not on jsa I was not eligable for their services.

Im lucky I have internet access and computer at home.
I did look online pre preg but thourght job centre may have very local commutable jobs as thats key part of working is childcare.

All the times I looked and applied to lots of part time jobs I either got

no response
over qualified
or not flexible enough.

Very few employers now offer set hours even 8-12hour part time shop work.

When I was a store manager 16hours was magic number not only because of child tax credits but its the point that employers have to start making ni contributions.

The general concensus was in retail is that

you offered no more than 16hours
preferably under 21s as cheaper level min wage.
tried to pick staff with felexibility too.

I did have few single mums who worked 16hours and got help towards childcare they seemed horrified I worked fulltime and paid over 800quids worth in childcare and had no help in terms of working child tax credits. It was worth them working the 16hours.
me not so much as gained not a lot from working but stress and not seeing my family certainly dident feel rewarded despite me paying more in tax and ni ect.

I personally feel benefit reforms a good thing but the devils in the detail. As long as it continues to support.
The vunerable and disabled.
genuine sick
and genuine job seekers

But if it puts an end to blooming people the papers and magazines highlight with headlines like workings for mugs, look what taxpayer pays for my lavish lifestyle than so be it.
However I like to think that group is in a minority and most are the deserving poor as government likes to call it.

BB1984 totally agree with you points hubby thinks im turning into parnoid old lady when I whinge about price rises after every shop become fixated with it.

I can understand why some things gone up due to price of wheat.
But other price rises like bog roll,squash do baffle me.
Is it genuine increase in raw materials or supermarkets getting greedy or inflation?

I know from working in retail not all good deals are as they seem.
sometimes they on offer but rrp was never really that price in first place they have to raise price for even 24hours to do price establishment then they can say on offer at this price very crafty.
Sometimes item would be on offer and buy one get one free then it would change to half proce therefore same cost to retailer.
The cost of everything else non promotional went up sometimes by pennies to ofset the promotions its why im careful in co-op and buy whats just on offer/reduced as their other stuff quite pricey.

I think supermarkets have become wise to peoples new shopping habits they realise not only have consumers shifted from brand names to own brand but many have switched or least tried their value range yet value ranges on morrsions and sainsburys ahve been slowly creeping up last few months.

We cant really downshift beyond value range we either

dont buy-sometimes not an option on essentials like toiliet roll.
shop around for everything which takes time and sometimes skill.

im trying to formulate a plan of action to combat the rises by shopping round even more than I do now.

we get double concentrate squash sainsburys and tesco are set on multibuy at 2 for 2.50 so 1.25each.
frozen/milk/braead-farmfoods normally chepast.
fruit and veg-aldis/lidls/.
meat /fish/chilled and grocery its matter of shopping around.

Right best go do housework and read book to kids.

Hope everyones having a good day.

Kitcaboodle

[QUOTE=MrsBartolozzi;38432428I'm frustrated by the way the media have been publicising this and all the other cuts, scaremongering folk on low incomes that they will be out on the streets. That and the carp about there being no appeal against the benefit sanctions (concerning working for benefits). This is not true, there will be an appeals process, the papers have just lied about this to garner outrage. ...

ETA:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/universal-credit-full-document.pdf

15. Most people want to find work and will never be in the position of facing a sanction. The aim of our changes is to make the consequences of failure clearer and simpler. We anticipate that most people who are sanctioned will receive a lower level sanction and indeed the majority of people are only ever sanctioned once. For those who repeatedly fail to meet their responsibility to look for work there will be progression through the sanctions regime to the tougher penalties. Recipients in this category will have had many opportunities to demonstrate engagement and will have been clearly warned of the consequences of continued non-compliance. The penalty of losing three years of Jobseeker’s Allowance will apply to the most extreme cases, where benefit recipients have serially and deliberately breached conditions, and where other sanctions have not worked to change their behaviour. Recipients will continue to be able to show good cause and, as now, after a sanction has been imposed, recipients will continue to have the ability to appeal. We will also maintain safeguards for vulnerable people and ensure that mental health and substance abuse problems are taken into consideration[/QUOTE]

Thank you for posting this! Good to know that there will still be appeals! If we do wind up with me being the breadwinner and staying at JCP I'll feel much better about it in that case.

I'm fairly good at managing people's moods (I had a violent father that I had to keep in a happy mood!) so I think I could talk down any angry customers who aren't suffering from mental illness or the effects of substance abuse - but I still don't look forward to the increase in unhappy claimants!

Charis

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

MORNING ALL:D


Owen suggested a joint bank account ---- like poop. Thats MY money. So I will set MY account up.

[...]

I have an extra £118 there now a month that I could spend all of but I want to try and save some back to add to the savings. Even if I save £50 a month after Xmas - come next christmas I would have £600 to cover all my Xmas shopping but it will also act as a nice buffer for us.

[...]

the new xbox and kinect I have won I will
give to Ben for Christmas but I am going to trade in our old XBOX at game station or cash generators and then use the money I get from that to get a few more games for Ben.

[...]

I'd love to manage to get a foot on the housing ladder as I've never had a family home

[...]

For all concerned. Boyfriend is not getting a say with this little windfall. When I rang him I said he was not having bike bits/bikes/cars etc. I told him I would get him debt free - which will make us £200 better off from him too so it will still help us and I've told him nothing else on credit ever. If we want something we will save for it. The money is going to be put into my savings account and so I will be the one controlling it until I open a new savings account to home it once I've looked into interest rates etc.

[...]

Strange thing was we were thinking about getting a new TV once we were debt free and were looking at only getting a 32" :eek: and now we have a 37" coming!

Sammy Kaye, you have an old head on young shoulders and a very sensible attitude to money. I'm so pleased for you. Your prize is exactly what you needed, and a little bit more, a tailor-made prize in fact.

I keep recalling that woman you met in the shopping centre a few weeks ago, the one who said she liked your tattoo. Maybe she's had you in her thoughts, with Christmas coming up?

'Some have entertained angels unawares'.

lilac_lady

I was so happy to read about SammyK's good luck. To get a windfall after striving so hard to keep your family afloat is wonderful.

I hope that the rest of you who are struggling along will have some of the same luck as Sammy.

ceridwen

GAILEY - Aint that the truth - for a good analysis of shop jobs from what I've seen....

Cant believe that security guard was trying to tell you that Jobcentres arent for people just asking for jobs anymore (ie "We expect everyone to do it online these days"). I would have said "cheeky mare" if he had been a woman.....

Some people simply ARENT online - for whatever reason - and I think its totally unfair to assume that everyone is:mad:. So Jobcentres are only for scallies - and not for the likes of you and me then.....:mad::eek:. That is simply not on for him to say that...