Housng benefits help!

Fiver29

spartacusthe1st wrote: »

i cant believe some ppl think 1300 is more then enough to live on!gas,elec,petrol,rent,council tax,food, phone subcription,tv licence,car insurance,water bill, and these are just the essentials of living. ppl say stop sky and stop phone contract well most if not all of the time you are in a contract so cant!i am in that situation aswell icant get out of my gym subscription which is 70 a month with my husband i would love that extra money but i have no choice but to keep paying it until my contract ends.you need to be able to live not just get by.i think you will be surprised how much the council tax and housing benefit will be,we certainly were! also terry nappies arent that cheap ither for a starter pack it costs around 60 quid then a few months later u have to get the next size up not to mention all of the cleaning fluids you have to buy and elec and water as youwill have the washing machine on constantly

The vast majority of people don't have gym memberships to worry about, so that is irrelevant in this discussion.

Fuel, food, water and housing are essentials, every thing else is choice.

Many people seem to class a car as essential because if it takes over an hour to walk. Well, if it takes an hour to walk and you can't afford a car, get up an hour earlier.

A £10 goody bag from Giffgaff is all that's needed for telecommunications. A mobile and landline is not essential unless you're running a business from home.

As for "not to mention all of the cleaning fluids you have to buy and elec and water as youwill have the washing machine on constantly", gosh however did people manage before disposable nappies? Disposables are not cheaper, just quicker.

Anubis_2

Fiver29 wrote: »

As for "not to mention all of the cleaning fluids you have to buy and elec and water as youwill have the washing machine on constantly", gosh however did people manage before disposable nappies? Disposables are not cheaper, just quicker.

Actually, with current electricity prices, plus the cleaning fluid, liners, washing powder, conditioner, and Terry nappies, they may not work out cheaper. When I was a youth worker, we actually ran a test years ago when disposables first came out.

Even then, the difference in cost was minimal - it did work out slightly cheaper to use Terry nappies, but today I doubt it does, and since the test, disposable nappies have decreased considerably in price, and electricity has risen to an all time high and just about to rise again.

I will say though that Terry nappies are better for the environment - when you consider how many tonnes of nappies are in landfill :eek:

Terry nappies may have improved now too, and they are VERY handy to have in when you have no money left for disposables, so perhaps at least get some in, and try them? That way if you are on a very tight month or week the baby at least has nappies.

Baby wipes though are none essential, cotton wool and water works just as well and is cheaper - I used cotton wool for all mine and Terrys for my first child (as it was cheaper then.)

£120 per month does seem very high for milk and nappies - even disposables - I am pretty confident that can be reduced, even almost halved.

Thank you to the poster who mentioned giffgaff, (Mrs Arcanum) I am going to have a look myself what that is about

Fiver29

Anubis wrote: »

Actually, with current electricity prices, plus the cleaning fluid, liners, washing powder, conditioner, and Terry nappies, they may not work out cheaper. When I was a youth worker, we actually ran a test years ago when disposables first came out.

Even then, the difference in cost was minimal - it did work out slightly cheaper to use Terry nappies, but today I doubt it does, and since the test, disposable nappies have decreased considerably in price, and electricity has risen to an all time high and just about to rise again.

I will say though that Terry nappies are better for the environment - when you consider how many tonnes of nappies are in landfill :eek:

Terry nappies may have improved now too, and they are VERY handy to have in when you have no money left for disposables, so perhaps at least get some in, and try them? That way if you are on a very tight month or week the baby at least has nappies.

Baby wipes though are none essential, cotton wool and water works just as well and is cheaper - I used cotton wool for all mine and Terrys for my first child (as it was cheaper then.)

£120 per month does seem very high for milk and nappies - even disposables - I am pretty confident that can be reduced, even almost halved.

Thank you to the poster who mentioned giffgaff, (Mrs Arcanum) I am going to have a look myself what that is about :)

If you need referring, give me a shout :D

Today's terries don't need liners and such do they? I'm sure I read that they were pretty self sufficient.

sunnyone

pompeyrich wrote: »

Give the guy a break, if you put his rent and CT into the calculator in post 2, then add them as a couple not working, it shows their monthly income, IS, HB, CTB and CTC and CB, would be in excess of £1,500. The op is trying to support his family by working and is financially worse off.

This post is wrong, maybe you need to learn more about benefits before you post rubbish like this, as a couple they cannot get IS.

Most of the pat on the back posts on this thread are wrong, this is a benefits board to give people the answers they have asked for on benefits and not a board to guess on so if you have no knowledge of benefits other than reading the fist google hit in your search this isnt the board for you.

merlin68

He also needs to find out from his landlord if they accept HB. Because a lot won't. Something to do with the insurance policies.

pompeyrich

sunnyone wrote: »

This post is wrong, maybe you need to learn more about benefits before you post rubbish like this, as a couple they cannot get IS.

Most of the pat on the back posts on this thread are wrong, this is a benefits board to give people the answers they have asked for on benefits and not a board to guess on so if you have no knowledge of benefits other than reading the fist google hit in your search this isnt the board for you.

The figures I quoted were from the "entitled" to checker, I had entered them as both NOT working.

Oldernotwiser

pompeyrich wrote: »

The figures I quoted were from the "entitled" to checker, I had entered them as both NOT working.

Your figures might be correct but you have shown the couple as being able to claim IS when they have no grounds for doing so. If they were both not working they would need to make a joint JSA claim. That was the point that was being made.

mildred1978

Anubis wrote: »

Actually, with current electricity prices, plus the cleaning fluid, liners, washing powder, conditioner, and Terry nappies, they may not work out cheaper. When I was a youth worker, we actually ran a test years ago when disposables first came )

Again, today's reusable nappies don't need cleaning fluid, and fabric conditioner actually stops them being absorbent. I use normal non bio washing liquid on ours, and even with just 18 nappies I only do 2 extra washes a week. Each of those washes costs less than 50p.

DorsetGirl_2

I have a 4 year old in nappies. Between the ages of 0-2 he wore reusables and it was much cheaper. Plus they keep a value as such and I managed to sell my nappies for 50% of what I paid. Plus some councils still run Nappy schemes where you can buy them cheap or get discounts from other retailers.

mildred1978

Anubis wrote: »

I understand what you are saying and I did suggest it is good to have some Terrys in. However, for your two washes, lets say you wash the whole 18 per time - that's 36 nappies per week. A 3 month old will go through far far more than 36 a week.

It would cost an average of about £4 to £5 per week, but let's say £4 at the very most - that is £16 per month, NOT including the price of the Terry nappies.

.

I don't know where you are getting £4 a week from. My LO has been in reusables since birth. When he was 3 months I still did no more than 3 extra washes a week, and I don't have a tumble dryer so had no drying costs. I usually wash 15 at a time.