How can I get LESS benefits?

Fishcake_Random

We are young couple ages 26 and 29, with a DD aged 20 months.
Currently we are self employed and run our own small shop, however with the recession etc we no longer make enough money to take a wage from the buisness, we are just able to cover bills and run it at neutral. Sadly we live in a very poor area for jobs.
We are currently on a waiting list for council housing so currently we have a 2 bedroom flat that is privately rented.

Each month we receive;

Council Tax Benefit- 120
Housing Benefit- 650 - Direct to landlord.
Child tax credit & Working Tax credit- 140
Child Benefit- £80

Total- 990

I realise that child benefit is different from "normal" benefits.
But what can we do to be less of a benefits family? We have talked about how we can become less reliant on benefits, and one of us will hunt for work when DD gets her free nursery hours at 2yrs 9mths.
Obviously we are working hard at our buisness and hoping that it will soon make us a wage. But untill that happens do we have any other options?


p.s please excuse my awful awful spelling.

Fiver29

You could look on the Up Your Income board. There's loads of information there. I'd recommend Lionbridge, good money for very little effort.

paddedjohn

why dont one of you go and get a proper job now instead of waiting untill your kid is nearly 3? you are getting nearly a thousand quid off the state while you are playing shop.

kingfisherblue

One of you could work evenings or overnight whilst the other works in the shop. Or the baby could go into the shop with the parent who works there, whilst the other parent gets a job elsewhere.

[Deleted User]

paddedjohn wrote: »

why dont one of you go and get a proper job now instead of waiting untill your kid is nearly 3? you are getting nearly a thousand quid off the state while you are playing shop.

what a shame you didnt learn some manners at that school you quote in your signature

Fishcake_Random

We are both working hard on the shop, so DD is already in the shop everyday.
Its difficult as neither of us feel able to look after her in the shop on our own as it is quite a busy store. However the idea of one of us working evenings or even both of us working alternate evenings would be good. It means we can still try with our buisness as well.

Fishcake_Random

Thank you PJ

I realise that I need to get my family off benefits and supporting ourselves, but sometimes you just
can't see a way out when you in a situation. We are far to good at making excuses for ourselves lol

lynzpower

What does the shop sell? Im wondering if focusing on that, and trying to improve some aspect of it might bring you in more than working even more hours, it could potentially be exhausting and may take focus away from the shop?

Fishcake_Random

we sell computer games, consoles and acessorys. We do very well usually but for the last 8 months e just have run dry and cant seem to get the customers in. We sell mostly online, which we intend to only do once the shop lease ends in 3 years.
In the meantime I doubt someone would take over the lease if we closed it which is a worry.

Sixer

OP: how on earth are you managing to even pay for energy/water bills and food on just £220 per month for the three of you? That's very worrying! I hope you are all ok.

Vis a vis better footfall for the shop: could you add a PC or two and have a corner set up as an internet cafe? Do you allow people to play/test games inside the shop? If so, could you install profit-share leased vending machines? Decent quality coffee machine? Could you run a tournament on a Saturday with a small prize, that would get in the local gamer kids? Do you buy and resell used games? What about leasing an ATM?

Carl31

Fishcake_Random wrote: »

We are both working hard on the shop, so DD is already in the shop everyday.
Its difficult as neither of us feel able to look after her in the shop on our own as it is quite a busy store. However the idea of one of us working evenings or even both of us working alternate evenings would be good. It means we can still try with our buisness as well.

if its busy, why are you making no money?

maybe you could look at how you are operating your business and improve your income?