No outgoings taken into consideration?

PrincesaGuerrera

I am living alone and am on JSA and I can manage to live fine on my £71 per week (plus HB & CTB). Admittedly I'm not disabled but I have made some good budgetting choices (even when I was working!). I don't have a telly, which means no TV licensem, I watch everything I on my laptop now on the BBC I-player etc (you don't need a license for this only for live streaming TV). I have my internet/phone thru Talk Talk and paid the line rental up front (around £9.50 per month) and have 1 year half price monthly charges of £3.25 (40mb download limit). I also only have a sim only contract with a cheap phone at £7 (admittedly it can go over that some months). I'm on an electicity meter too.
Even when I was working I'd liv elike this and save the rest for a nice holiday! I works for me!

mazza111

I've actually been thinking of getting rid of the telly too in all honesty, just as it's another expense. Don't get me wrong i get my basic channels through my cable free as I used to have a package with them, I rarely watch live streamed TV and usually always on iplayer. But in saying that, I have been watching the olympic coverage


But my tv is only £3/week. Would it be worth getting rid just to save the licence fee?

I think when any of us are on benefits we really need to cut back to the bare minimum and cut our cloth accordingly. My biggest cut back was on lurpak butter, it's just got too expensive to buy, I don't really like the cheaper brands, but you do get used to them through time. And I'm really not having a go at the OP by saying that, I think it's just one of the things we have to do when receiving benefits. It's a bit of a total shock when you have gone from having a good wage coming in, to only having benefits coming in. It can also be a bit of a shock to see what other people have coming in in benefits according to yourself.

sniggings

sorry it's butter or nothing for me

Murphymycat

I live in the South West, there are 2 of sharing a small house. Our water bills are £20 per month, negotiated with SWW. We don't have a dishwasher and monitor the use of washing machine. Don't use bath or shower much because we both have monthly gym memberships which cost about £19 per month on qualifying benefits (I am on ESA my HM is on Pension Credit). For this you have unlimited access to swimming pool, gym and all classes including things like aquaerobics and tai chi.

I think the OP said her husband was diabetic. If his diabetes is controlled by medication rather than just diet then he is exempt from paying prescriptions, all prescriptions not just diabetes meds. He needs to fill out relevant form and get the GP to sign it. Mine sent it off to LHA and they sent me an exemption card.

LadyMorticia

I don't think that most people were criticising the OP. I think they were just making suggestions as how to save money when she is struggling.

mazza111

sniggings wrote: »

sorry it's butter or nothing for me

It's butter for me too, but not lurpak any more, it's just got too expensive!! Swapped to a cheaper brand but it's not as nice. Which is good, because it means I eat less of it

princessdon

Iluvmarmite

If someone posted to say they had lost their job - taken a lower paid job (but still had outgoings based on the higher wage). Ie a huge mortgage and childcare etc

Then said - I only come out with £4K a month - can't pay my mortgage can someone pay it for me - I am pretty sure they'd get the same reaction TBH.

They currently have well over £100 pw in disposable income if you add the DLA (I know some goes on washing etc) - but parents with young children will do equal amounts of washing, buy nappies etc and the govt doesn't take that into account.

In addition they don't have the car costs that others have.

I am not advocating a bashing - Just saying that I suspect a huge amount of posters on here and people in real life after paying their expenses out don't have much more than up there.

They are above the threshold for help - BECAUSE their income is high - how they choose to spend that income can't be taken into account.

I know someone who has approx £30 pw for a couple and 1 child. This is due to nursery fees, 2 x cars, high debts, high mortgage etc.

I'd say the same to them - They have £2.5K a month coming in - should we support anyone who has a low disposable income?

BigAunty

Very few posters demanded the OP wear the equivalent of digital sackcloth and ashes, giving up the PC/TV, though the Sky contract does provoke judgements when someone says they are struggling to pay for food bills. That's very much cutting off her nose to spite her face.

Most gave very constructive advice on how to slash the major bills (water/energy), medical/health expenses and debt repayments which swallowed up an unnecessarily high percentage of disposable income.

Most wanted her to let go of the ridiculous notion that benefits should be dished out according to how a household spends rather than what it receives in income - that's how the benefit system has always been premised so there's nothing absurd in posters redirecting her to deal with the benefits that she is entitled to rather than the imaginary ones she feels she is due.

annie1975_2

princessdon wrote: »

Iluvmarmite

If someone posted to say they had lost their job - taken a lower paid job (but still had outgoings based on the higher wage). Ie a huge mortgage and childcare etc

Then said - I only come out with £4K a month - can't pay my mortgage can someone pay it for me - I am pretty sure they'd get the same reaction TBH.

They currently have well over £100 pw in disposable income if you add the DLA (I know some goes on washing etc) - but parents with young children will do equal amounts of washing, buy nappies etc and the govt doesn't take that into account.

In addition they don't have the car costs that others have.

I am not advocating a bashing - Just saying that I suspect a huge amount of posters on here and people in real life after paying their expenses out don't have much more than up there.

They are above the threshold for help - BECAUSE their income is high - how they choose to spend that income can't be taken into account.

I know someone who has approx £30 pw for a couple and 1 child. This is due to nursery fees, 2 x cars, high debts, high mortgage etc.

I'd say the same to them - They have £2.5K a month coming in - should we support anyone who has a low disposable income?

The bit ive highlighted happened to us,and when i referred to it in an earlier post on these boards,someone told me I should not live beyond my means and move to something cheaper.although my mortgage is relitavely low compared to most,it would cost me more to go and rent somewhere.
But going to the OP we all have to make adjustments when we havent got the income anymore.

skintandscared_2

In this day and age I don't see a TV as a luxury, but a subscription to extra channels is. We were spending a fortune we didn't really have on Sky TV (the full XXL package). We bit the bullet and got a freesat box, which plugged into the same leads as the Sky box and utilises the satellite dish. You still get all the Sky+ functions like recording, pausing live TV, etc. There are lots of extra channels but no subscription whatsoever. Ashamed to say that in the last year it's saved us £720