No outgoings taken into consideration?

Merrylegs1969

Baring ones situation for comment/scrutiny is one thing, repeatedly being attacked, browbeaten, and condescended to, quite another.

There's lots to not like but I find letting it eat me up inside more damaging to me. When it gets to that, I'll be giving this board a swerve, perhaps you should consider likewise.

Am off to have a non-benefits funded glass of wine and watch sky.

mazza111

Merrylegs, Spamfree is the same on any benefits thread, they see it as their opportunity to get the big stick out.

Yet again I will tell you Spamfree, it's not a free car.

If it was a free car, the OP would find herself around £50/week better off.

Not even going to go into the rest, there's been 2 pages of twaddle without offering the OP more advice.

OP thank you for confirming what I thought.

OldMotherTucker

annie1975 wrote: »

I think the problem here has been,the OP has asked for advice and when given that advice, has not liked the answers because it means cutting down here and there...When the OP is not really wanting to cut down but was hoping for a bit more in benefits instead.

Sometimes when we don't like the advice we are given, it can make us think harder about what we really want - and how to get it;)

Chrissiew

Some of advice given I have taken, got rid of BT phone and Internet, I have to keep my mobile as now the house phone has gone I have no other means of communication although some here will say shouting out of the window is good enough!

The car, like others have said, is not free, I give up my mobtorbility allowance for that, the allowance is used for its intended purpose, to keep me mobile and help me get around, it's used for my purpose only, not my daughters, not my husbands, they are the drivers only, they do not use it to go on their jollies.

The whole point of the post was my amazement that the council do not take basic outgoings into consideration, gas electric water and tv licence, of course they won't take loans as that's something I did myself, I, like many others, was just putting my outgoings down. What some are saying is as long as you have a roof and food nothing else matters, even if you have no gas to cook the food with, no lighting and no hot water, the basics for comfortable living.

I have been told the law states a couple needs £112 a week to live on, take my £96 a week rent from that and it leaves £16 for food, that's it, some one with a family of 10 will probably come along and tell me they can do that easily and still have money left over for treats, good for them, I wouldn't be able to do it.

What really gets me is a few months ago a post was put up about someone winning the lottery and not giving his DLA up, I found this incredible and voiced my opinion, I was shot down by some of the very people who have labeled me a scrounger, they said why should anyone give up their DLA just because they have become millionaires, why should they give up their entitlement, yet I have been told numerous times I should give up my car, my entitlement, I am using tax payers money, I want more tax payers money, pure hypocrisy!

I am not a scrounger, my husband is a tax payer, I have not applied for, or received housing benefit before, my husband lost £160 per week wages due to job cuts and no work at his depot, what he gets now £235 a week, on medical suspension is his normal wage. I was trying to get help and put up the original post because as a first time applier of HB I couldn't believe it.

Caz3121

Chrissiew wrote: »

I have been told the law states a couple needs £112 a week to live on, take my £96 a week rent from that and it leaves £16 for food, that's it,

My understanding is that the £112 is after rent and council tax, so this £112 is left for the gas, electric, food etc
Your first post says you have an income of £305 (although I understand you have not included some income in this)
so 305 - 96 - 20 = £189 left

OldMotherTucker

I hear what you are saying but, at the same time, things are going to get a lot tougher.

We are all guilty of taking for granted how well off we are - and feel resentful about cutting back when we are programmed to believe everyone should be better off year after year.

Also - the £112 pw a couple needs to live doesn't include their rent.

Marisco

Chrissiew wrote: »

The whole point of the post was my amazement that the council do not take basic outgoings into consideration, gas electric water and tv licence,

Why are you amazed? Where would you draw the line then? I could be a prolific "waster" of gas/leccie and water, and my bills could come to £200 per week, I could have top of the range Sky, mobile etc, leaving me short to pay my bills!! But worry not folks, benefits will take up the "slack"!!

My internet, phone (with free calls) costs £24pm, my mobile is £15 with "free" mins and texts ( lower tariff is available) and I've got Freeserve for the tv.

Spamfree_2

Chrissiew wrote: »

Some of advice given I have taken, got rid of BT phone and Internet, I have to keep my mobile as now the house phone has gone I have no other means of communication although some here will say shouting out of the window is good enough!

The car, like others have said, is not free, I give up my mobtorbility allowance for that, the allowance is used for its intended purpose, to keep me mobile and help me get around, it's used for my purpose only, not my daughters, not my husbands, they are the drivers only, they do not use it to go on their jollies.

The whole point of the post was my amazement that the council do not take basic outgoings into consideration, gas electric water and tv licence, of course they won't take loans as that's something I did myself, I, like many others, was just putting my outgoings down. What some are saying is as long as you have a roof and food nothing else matters, even if you have no gas to cook the food with, no lighting and no hot water, the basics for comfortable living.

I have been told the law states a couple needs £112 a week to live on, take my £96 a week rent from that and it leaves £16 for food, that's it, some one with a family of 10 will probably come along and tell me they can do that easily and still have money left over for treats, good for them, I wouldn't be able to do it.

What really gets me is a few months ago a post was put up about someone winning the lottery and not giving his DLA up, I found this incredible and voiced my opinion, I was shot down by some of the very people who have labeled me a scrounger, they said why should anyone give up their DLA just because they have become millionaires, why should they give up their entitlement, yet I have been told numerous times I should give up my car, my entitlement, I am using tax payers money, I want more tax payers money, pure hypocrisy!

I am not a scrounger, my husband is a tax payer, I have not applied for, or received housing benefit before, my husband lost £160 per week wages due to job cuts and no work at his depot, what he gets now £235 a week, on medical suspension is his normal wage. I was trying to get help and put up the original post because as a first time applier of HB I couldn't believe it.

I have been told the law states a couple needs £112 a week to live on, take my £96 a week rent from that and it leaves £16 for food

That is to INCLUDE money to pay your bills, not money left over after all your luxuries, debt payments utilities and food is paid for.

You get over THREE HUNDRED POUNDS a week, AND the free car. Seriously, what more do you think you are entitled to?

Some people are living on less than £70 a week for gods sake:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

FBaby

Crissie, I think the misundanstanding strems from you confusing needs/necessity/choices. You say you are left with only a certain amount of money, and that amount of money means you are potentially short to pay for essentiels, so your outgoings should be taken into consideration, so you get more benefits to pay for these.

You say that your car is not free; indeed, but it is if you look at it from the point that you are not paying it out of any earned income, but out of benefits. You say that you want to keep the car but won't accept that this is NOT a necessity but a choice you are making. You could give it up, use the money to pay for the essentials you say you are short of, and still get what you get from having a car (buying food, getting to appointments etc...).

People who work and find themselves short of disposable income fall into two categories: those who also can give up their car, finding alternative transport to work, and those whose car is really a necessity because they trully wouldn't be able to get to work/do their job without it.

I fell into that category when I was a single mum (still do, but I'm not in a situation to review my expenditure so irrelevant). I had no choice but to get a car because without it, it was absolutely not feasable to drop my kids to nursery at soon as it opened, then get myself to the station, on a train to be in the office and then back and carry my 7:30 hours a day. I also very much needed to car to attend meeting for work.

Yes, you are finding yourself in the frustration of having to make choices on how to allocate your disposable income and seeing that it just can't pay for all the things you consider essential, and not completely essential, but that you feel you are still entitled to some basic luxuries on the account that they are basic. What I don't think you seem to account for is that many people who are in receipt of no benefit, reliant purely on their salary go through the same frustration that you do. I cried my eyes out many times, exhausted at the end of the day, having battled with my young kids to discipline them properly after a full day at work being pestered by my boss, to find myself that despite my decent salary, I couldn't afford double glazing in my house despite the windows falling apart, or the trampoline my DD was begging me for in the garden.

If I'd come on the forum at the time and said that I was tired of working hard earning almost £40K but not able to afford to get my windows replaced and thought I should be entitled for a grant from the council, I'm sure I would have got the exact same response, ie. no you shouldn't be entitled to any such grant, but maybe if you gave up going to the gym, you could then afford the windows, and that would have been fair enough!

Chrissiew

Marisco wrote: »

Why are you amazed? Where would you draw the line then? I could be a prolific "waster" of gas/leccie and water, and my bills could come to £200 per week, I could have top of the range Sky, mobile etc, leaving me short to pay my bills!! But worry not folks, benefits will take up the "slack"!!

My internet, phone (with free calls) costs £24pm, my mobile is £15 with "free" mins and texts ( lower tariff is available) and I've got Freeserve for the tv.

Why exagerate to try and prove a point? No one in their right minds would spend £200 a week on utilities and even if they did they would expect the council to just allow for a reasonable use. If you had the top of the range sky and mobiles etc then you would have been able to afford such things in the beginning, fallen on hard times and then be expected to downgrade, I have (had) he basic package of sky, the free view service in our area is very sporadic and most people have sky to make up for this, I have a basic payg mobile, pay £10 per month credit for it, I don't feel this is unreasonable or a high amount, we got a loan and HP for furniture when my husband was earning more, sorry we couldn't see into the future to know things would go wrong.

As I've said over and over again I was putting my incomings and outgoings down to show what we had, I didn't expect to get called all sorts for it, yes I did think utility bills would be taken into consideration when applying for HB because I stupidly thought they were a basic human right and needed to survive, as many have said, this is not true and it doesn't matter if you have to sit in the dark with no heating or hot water as long as you can afford a loaf of bread and have a roof over your head.

After reports from my GP and the reasons why I need gas and electricity and a mobile, the council have indeed taken these bills into consideration.