It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

shegar

Hi all......yep been so nice here again, took dogs to beach this arvo loads of people swimming in the sea, sunbathing,cycling along the beach............I just flopped down for 10 mins and all I could here was the waves it was beautiful, the dogs laying on top of me...............loving evry minuet of the glorious weather,came home done a bit of watering.........................

Mardather I hope you soon feel a bit better than you have done............

Old tractor, sorry to hear how down you are with all the things happening in your life right now......my hubby use to be a long distance lorry driver, he would go away at 4 am on a monday and not come back til the friday or saturday, he done that for 14 yrs, it was very hard at times, like you, there is no social life working away from home, but we had a mortgage so he had to do it, I worked part time cos of the 2 young boys at the time...............I had to be mum and dad.......

Sorry to hear about people having pet problems too, aww its so upsetting when you know that your pet hasnt got long left, I really do sympathise with you........

We had a little treat for dinner tonight, well in tescos they had The Hairy Bikers food in the chiller , so I thought I will for once buy their mashed potato with cheddar cheese, WOW , that was so delicious ,creamy, white, fluffy, it was a real treat to have ,only buy it when you have a few quid to spare though I cant quite remember how much but around £3.00......its in a big round bacofoil dish.............................

Hugs to all of you that need them, its a good job the weather is decent otherwise we would all be depressed with the global economy etc.etc......Bless you all..

[Deleted User]

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

smileyt_2

I am on the Tenants' Panel for my Housing Association and was at a meeting yesterday where the income manager was saying they are expecting a quarter of a million pounds shortfall in rent when the new Housing Benefit changes come in :eek:. They are very worried about the effect this will have on the organisation and very worried about how they can best help the people who will be affected. I will be one of them. As a single person in a 2-bed house I will have any housing benefit 'docked' by I think 15% of my rent because I will be classed as under-occupying. Never mind that I have been living here for over 12 years and was offered this house because it was in a really rough area where no-one else wanted to live at the time. It also applies to couples who live in a 2-bedroom house. Apparently there will be exemptions if one member of a couple is disabled so they have to have a separate bedroom, but the manager telling us this says the rules will probably be very stiff, like the rules for claiming disability benefits are at the moment.

So next summer, if I have to claim JSA (because my work is seasonal) I will have to find £10 a week towards my rent. Of course, I am working at the moment and will be saving every single penny I can to tide me over. But it will be the nail in the coffin for so many. Many people will be forced to leave their houses and downsize. How is this going to affect communities? Plus a lot of Housing Associations now, apparently, don't build one-bedroom flats any more because people need more room because of broken families (having kids over) or more far-flung families and having family to stay.

And I don't see the rich shouldering their fair share of the austerity burden.

Sorry to be the harbinger of doom, but people who are under-occupying (yes, even if you've lived in a house all your married life and your children have now flown the nest) but claiming Housing Benefit will have their benefit docked. If you are under-occupying by two bedrooms, you will be paid 23% less. It is better that you know now than that it is landed on you next April.

If you're over 65 you should be safe.

It's just as well we're not allowed to swear on here.

On a more positive note, Hepzibah seems a little better, although I have been working all day so I haven't seen much of her. I am off tomorrow though, so I will be able to have a better look at her then. Roseanna, I will be thinking of you and your little cat tomorrow afternoon.

I think I am going to suggest to the Housing Association that we look at starting a food co-operative. That's the only thing I can think of that might help some people.

I don't know what will happen to those people for whom a 15% or 23% cut in Housing Benefit is more than they get in Job Seekers Allowance.

bluebag

oldtractor wrote: »

I know I should be grateful and also for the fact he had a full time job. Sorry I just morbid at the moment.

Yeah, I can do morbid too, so know how it is. I just feel as if I am swimming uphill sometimes and occasionally it pi**es me off.

Both of us worked shifts for years and years, used to be like ships passing in the night. For the longest time many people used to think I was a single parent as with night shifts they never saw me with my husband! LOL.

Try and make some time, however small for you to share together, he works hard and unsocial hours so it may be easier to find time together at less conventional times. There is more than one way to skin a rabbit.

Wishing you all the best, keep ya chin up!

ceridwen

smileyt wrote: »

I am on the Tenants' Panel for my Housing Association and was at a meeting yesterday where the income manager was saying they are expecting a quarter of a million pounds shortfall in rent when the new Housing Benefit changes come in :eek:. They are very worried about the effect this will have on the organisation and very worried about how they can best help the people who will be affected. I will be one of them. As a single person in a 2-bed house I will have any housing benefit 'docked' by I think 15% of my rent because I will be classed as under-occupying. Never mind that I have been living here for over 12 years and was offered this house because it was in a really rough area where no-one else wanted to live at the time. It also applies to couples who live in a 2-bedroom house. Apparently there will be exemptions if one member of a couple is disabled so they have to have a separate bedroom, but the manager telling us this says the rules will probably be very stiff, like the rules for claiming disability benefits are at the moment.

So next summer, if I have to claim JSA (because my work is seasonal) I will have to find £10 a week towards my rent. Of course, I am working at the moment and will be saving every single penny I can to tide me over. But it will be the nail in the coffin for so many. Many people will be forced to leave their houses and downsize. How is this going to affect communities? Plus a lot of Housing Associations now, apparently, don't build one-bedroom flats any more because people need more room because of broken families (having kids over) or more far-flung families and having family to stay.

And I don't see the rich shouldering their fair share of the austerity burden.

Sorry to be the harbinger of doom, but people who are under-occupying (yes, even if you've lived in a house all your married life and your children have now flown the nest) but claiming Housing Benefit will have their benefit docked. If you are under-occupying by two bedrooms, you will be paid 23% less. It is better that you know now than that it is landed on you next April.

If you're over 65 you should be safe.


I don't know what will happen to those people for whom a 15% or 23% cut in Housing Benefit is more than they get in Job Seekers Allowance.

This is one that has been concerning me for some time.

I'm not in that position myself - but can easily see how people who really ARE trying could end up in that position (even if in public sector housing).

Its always struck me as appalling that someone could be thrown out of their home just because they become unemployed - as unemployment can happen to any of us.

We all read the newspaper stories re the "Professional Victims" who expect to have a luxury home at taxpayers expense - and my blood pressure duly rises at their sheer bl**dy nerve.:mad: The other side of the coin is perfectly ordinary hardworking/paid their dues people in the street who might be told "You cant afford a perfectly ordinary home in a perfectly ordinary area - and, BTW, that might even be applied to a home you have already GOT when unemployment hits". There really should be some way to differentiate between those who expect to live in a dearer area and/or have more children than THEY personally can afford on the one hand even when in work (ie the !!!!less/selfish ones) and those who really are "trying" and expecting to live in a perfectly ordinary home in a perfectly ordinary area with the standard number of children on the other hand. It really is NOT fair to penalise category B because of the category A people.

I know I would have gone ballistic (as a category B person - ie a "tryer") if anyone had ever told me when I was unemployed "You cant have - or even keep - a normal standard home". My answer would be "I've just put up the barricades and got the Press photographer ready to take the photo of me being literally carried out of my home crying - now what are you going to do?" in that position personally.

shelley_crow

drinkupretty wrote: »

Well OH's JSA still isn't through, they have lost some info this time delaying the application again :mad:. My Social Work bursary still isn't in, uni have not confirmed we are attending despite almost at the end of the second week. Even when they do it will still take 10 working days to go in. We have £50 between us, I have no idea what we are going to do

Please don't panic, easier said than done I know!

Every university should have an Access To Learning Fund. It might have a slightly different name depending on the University but it's a pot of money that can be accessed by any student in dire straits. If you pop into student services, they will point you in the right direction. This type of thing happens all the time, it happened to me a couple of times when I was doing my Social Work degree.

scottishminnie

My, haven't you ladies been busy while I've been away on holiday. It will take me a week to read back through the pages even though I was lurking from afar to begin with!).:)

From a quick skim there seem to be many who need some :grouphug:

I had a wonderfully relaxing break and am very grateful for it. Things are proving challenging for some folks across the pond too and the tv and magazines are full of money saving tips, ideas and coupons so I'm back armed with a few to read through. I'll be sure to share anything worthwhile.

I continued my MSE ways when I was away - a while ago I noticed I could buy an attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer which was a paddle with rubber attached to the blade. I thought it would mean less scraping of the bowl but at £28 I decided to wait a while. Whilst on holiday , waiting idly for hubby to return from the gents, I spotted a cookshop and on his return popped in for a nose around. lo and behold they had the attachment for the princely sum of $25 so i snapped it up. At around £16.50 I was delighted. Hubby thinks I'm loopy carrying kitchen utensils home in the suitcase but I'm happy.


I also had a nice surprise on my return to work today when I was told I'd won a £50 John Lewis voucher in a raffle I entered before I went off. I'm now debating putting it toward another Le Crueset casserole/lidded dish as I love the one I have. Would that just be overly extravagant when JL probably do perfectly good own brand ones?

There was a slight blip when we returned home though - I'd organised for a decorator to emulsion the bedroom and kitchen while we were away. We've known him for years and he is absolutely trustworthy so no problems there. I thought it would be great to come home to 2 freshly painted rooms with no upheaval of being around while he was working. The colour we agreed on was "dulux, simply pearl", as we both agreed it was a good neutral stonelike colour. Except - when we came home it was anything but neutral - it was the most horrible lilac shade I have ever seen:eek:

So to cut a long story short the rooms have now been repainted at further cost. The decorator was a bit sheepish as he admitted he hadn't expected the original colour to turn out that way but he didn't think to text me and ask if lilac was ok. There's a lesson in there for me though, it may have seemed like a good idea to avoid the upheaval but if I had been there then I would have been able to stop him before he painted both rooms.

We dug up my potatoes last night - there are lots although they are pretty small. I'll just use them as salad potatoes though and was thinking about making leek and potato soup with the really small ones and leaving them whole.

It's going to be a busy weekend for me, the garden is in dire need of a tidy up, some grass cutting and the patio really needs a hose down. As my grandmother used to say when she came back from holidays "it's back to auld claes and parritch" - she was right, it sure is:)

mardatha

This is just like the JSA/ESA thing. "You cant claim JSA because you're too ill to work - and you can't claim ESA because you're not ill enough ".
Now it will be "you can only have 75% of your rent because you're in a 3apt - and you cant have a 2apt cos we haven't got any."
They are treating us like enemies they're determined to wipe out for goddsake, instead of the people who voted them in and pay their wages.

smileyt_2

Exactly, Mardatha. They are treating the poor like scum to be got rid of. No human being is scum. Well, ok, some behave like they're scum but ....

The vast majority of people just want a bit of security. Most of us are honest and hardworking. Many of the unemployed are there through no fault of their own. Yes, many rich people work hard for their money. But not everyone has the same opportunities and there's only room for so many 'at the top' - that doesn't mean the rest of us have to be punished and treated like a piece of dog dirt because we can't reach the dizzy heights.

What will happen to our communities? So many people are going to be moved around. I suspect it's all part of the master plan to stop people getting to know each other - divide and rule. Plus a grand plan to run down the social housing sector and turn everything into private business, thus widening the gap even more between the haves and have-nots.

Excuse me please whilst I go and stick my head in the gas oven.

smileyt_2

Ah sorry to depress everyone.


drinkuppretty I have pm'd you. Not to make you more depressed though!