How to live on 65 per week?

stresshead81_2

Hiya grumpy,

I am, too, new here but am an old hand at living on a very frugal budget.

It is possible to exist, you should never say live on it! I have a lot of expenses including having to pay extra rent due to being on Incapacity Benefit (old style now replaced by ESA but am awaiting transfer over to that). You, however, are on JSA. Yes it is scandal that the so called caring government expects us to 'live' on 65 per week but that is not likely to change unless you move to Ireland or Jersey where the entitlements are more generous.

My father, 54, has just retired from one of the Armed Forces and whilst he has a good pension my parents divorced last year and my father still has to pay mortgage. Anyway, I digress, he feels the same you do. You should also look into whether there are any charities that can help if food is an issue. Never be ashamed to ask for the help. Never.

I have been through homelessness; divorce (parents not own); alcoholism (clean for 8 years); poor health (too many to list and will not discuss this side on board but will over PM); being gay (not a problem a blessing) amongst other things. I have also been on benefits for some time now, not through my own choice.

Oldernotwiser

You do realise that you'll only get help with rernt for a 1 bed property, don't you. If you've been allowing your daughter to live rent free and without paying for her keep, this will have to stop as well.

bestpud

I assume your daughter receives only the minimum student loan as she will have been assessed on your previous income.

Is there any way you can have her student finance reassessed now your circumstances have changed? I have no idea how it works now...

You should expect her to contribute at this point tbh. There is also the access to learning fund at her uni if you cannot get any joy from student finance.

If you don't watch much TV, why on earth do you have a multi room package? Is it for your dd?

If you don't have a PDSA near you then you will be limited to covering one animal under the scheme run by vets. You would need to consider which is going to be the best option to put on that. I wouldn't rehome my pets either.

As I see it, you have high expenses but some can be easily cut - phone bill for example, so don't despair.

If you get no joy with your contracts or creditors, the CAB will help you negotiate with them.

themull1

Could your daughter not get a part time job to help, or could you look at call centres etc to find work.? sell stuff on line? gold to sell?

hattifattener

Your daughter needs to find an extra income and start living off her student loan as the majority of full time students are already doing.

I lived on student loan and a part time (16 hours a week/min wage) job away from the family home when I was a student, including rent at a shared house, all my bills and essentials, plus far too much beer and expensive takeaway. She doesn't have to go silly and spend it on clothes or dvds like some do (or a new guitar, as my housemate did one term), or pizza like I did, but she can budget wisely and live off it, including contributing to bills and giving you some keep. Also, she needs to be just as much on board with cutting down on electric, gas, food etc as you are. In fact, many of my friends did not have a part time job and concentrated on their studies, as I did when it came to my final year.

The student loan is there because they know she's studying full time and needs something to pay bills, keep a roof over her head and feed her.

Good luck with everything. JSA always takes ages - it's really demoralising at times, but I found when I was on it, that if I really did everything they sign you up to do every week (e.g. you must call x employers a week, write to x employers a week, go on the internet x times) it was almost impossible for me not to find something. I know others have struggled on it, though, so I hope it goes well for you.

FBaby

Firstly, you need to remember one thing, what you don't have now is a good income, what you do have though is TIME. Time to go and get much better deals on all your bills. Your gas/electricity alone is incredibly high. One thing I can advise right away is to transfer your BT/Broadband on to your sky subscription. Cancel multiroom/sports/film, instead add broadband (free if slowest, £5 if quicker), and phone (free week-ends/evenings), or for £5, your calls are all free, including most foreign countries. In regards to your pets, i know there is support for people on benefits where vet bills are free. Ask your vet/council about it. I would cancel the insurance for now.

Having to live on £65 a week is a very scary prospect when you are used to be comfortable, a lot more than people used to it can imagine, but again, it gives you time to make a lot of changes to your life, and you are going to be shocked after all your research to realise how much money you've been throwing away each month. Assuming you find a new job shortly, you are likely to look back and see this experience as a valuable one.

sleepless_saver

Don't feed the troll;)

grumpyoldwoman41

sleepless_saver wrote: »

Don't feed the troll;)

Not sure what THAT was about?

*********************

Thanks everyone for posting, very much appreciated.

My daughter does live off her student loan, I do not suppoert her financially and we have separate "budgets" which will of course needs to be looked into.

I do have PDSA and another charity vet in reasonable distance.

What makes me laugh is that my JSA is "contributions based" - to me , if it is contribution based, based on my working history and my real contributions - it should be much higher.

I do not understand why the 2 types only differ by name but not by amount, not very logical.

Thanks again for all the advice.

sleepless_saver

grumpyoldwoman41 wrote: »

Not sure what THAT was about?



I

It referred to a post by a troll, which has been very rapidly removed.:T

kitschkitty

Not a help in your case or reflection on why the amounts are both the same, but I think it might be because you can claim contributions based JSA for a period when you become unemployed (if you are eligible) even if you aren't entitled to claim income based e.g. if you have savings or a partner who is working.