How do you manage to survive on your jobseekers money?

cst6

I think most survival tricks have been mentioned already. For my part I don't drink or smoke. I got rid of the car - I live near the centre of town so that's not a problem. Heating on only when freezing. Only the cheapest pay as you go mobile - for incoming calls only (the same £5 has been on it for years). No TV license - they bug you all the time but you can ignore them as you don't need one unless you watch or record broadcasts as they are being transmitted. No household insurance - if something breaks you have to fix it yourself. As someone else wrote 'if it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow let it mellow'. Now and again it's OK to got without food for a day - once you've done it a few times it actually gets easier. I use talktalk for broadband, it seems to be the cheapest as I only make outgoing phone calls when it's free, (the particular deal I'm on is no longer available). On days when I do eat, I eat only twice a day. I eat quite a lot of breakfast cereal and monitor the pound shop and 99p shop for bargains. (Several times I've seen the identical cereals costing £2.99 in Tesco). Obviously I never eat out, or go out for any sort of entertainment. A lot of entertainment is available free on the internet.

moose1982

cst6 wrote: »

No household insurance - if something breaks you have to fix it yourself.

This bit I would argue (sorry!). I get contents insurance for under £20 per year using cashback sites such as Quidco and TopCashback. For under £20, I normally get £40,000 cover which is miles more than I need, but it is piece of mind should the worst happen like a fire.

falko89

cst6 wrote: »

I think most survival tricks have been mentioned already. For my part I don't drink or smoke. I got rid of the car - I live near the centre of town so that's not a problem. Heating on only when freezing. Only the cheapest pay as you go mobile - for incoming calls only (the same £5 has been on it for years). No TV license - they bug you all the time but you can ignore them as you don't need one unless you watch or record broadcasts as they are being transmitted. No household insurance - if something breaks you have to fix it yourself. As someone else wrote 'if it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow let it mellow'. Now and again it's OK to got without food for a day - once you've done it a few times it actually gets easier. I use talktalk for broadband, it seems to be the cheapest as I only make outgoing phone calls when it's free, (the particular deal I'm on is no longer available). On days when I do eat, I eat only twice a day. I eat quite a lot of breakfast cereal and monitor the pound shop and 99p shop for bargains. (Several times I've seen the identical cereals costing £2.99 in Tesco). Obviously I never eat out, or go out for any sort of entertainment. A lot of entertainment is available free on the internet.

I think if I was at the stage where I couldn't afford to feed myself I'd be better of dead. Skipping days without food is madness.

jennyhugggies

Hi there, just seen this thread! My partner was made redundant a year ago and where we are there is basically nothing that he is qualified to do! We're engaged with 2 children and its a shame to say it but we are actually coping better now than what we were when he was employed! We arent getting more money or anything like that but we are able to cope with our money better coming every 2 weeks.

We never skip meals! We have contents insurance! We top-up our mobile incase we break down in the car or are out and need to contact anyone! I weekly go to tesco's and look at the discounted food and always stock up! We have 2 freezers full of food, starting from bread to roasts and lamb chops and all of it i paid no more than 50p a packet! Why skip meals when you know you can buy food at that price?! Its madness and not healthy in any way, shape or form!!!!! If a family can survive on JSA then surely a single person can too!!! and be able to eat every day!!!!

Kirri

It's not necessarily easy as a single person as things like contents insurance, water, tv licence, electric, car etc are all paid on 1 amount of JSA but the costs probably don't rise too much for 2 people but you have 2 lots of benefits coming in I guess against this and extra benefits for the children?

I agree on the food though, it is possible to eat cheaply these days, at least something every day.

sophlowe45

i would say get rid of the TV license too and watch on computer.

Accidentally came across the Hare Krishna guy while out today and had a lovely free healthy meal (the guy is incredibly nice too)

and got lots of 10p things from M&S :j

Moose1982 which company is your contents insurance with? i couldnt find anything less than £400 a year last time i looked. You have to have the right sort of lock on your front door and all sorts of requirements.