when you reach breaking point

bluebag

Greyqueen

Google bushbuddy, a woodburning stove that suitable for a backpacker. You tube has a home made version for coppers made from a few tin cans.

Save your kelly kettle money for tea bags.A girl has to have her stoves to mess with doncha know.

Sorry that was vey off topic, will behave myself in future,

gallygirl

Some of the tales on here have made me very humble - I am so, so fortunate. Been inspired to fill a bag for my local food bank - would have been a lot more but I have a lot of Approved Food stuff which is out of date . Funny how it's good enough for me, but not the food bank .

Got me thinking again - I can afford to shop cheaply as I can easily pay for an AF order to keep me in cous cous, savoury rice and bulgar wheat for 6 months. Those who really need it can't afford to fork out 2 weeks food money just on that, so have to buy dearer products. There are a lot of people who don't have computers - I wonder if they are in an even worse state . At least all of you on here have the internet so can access advice, info etc. - I am sure the internet access more than pays for itself.

Keep on keeping on folks :T.

Have also made a shopping list for next time I go - the food bank is very close to Aldi. Looked on mysupermarket for Asda bargains - I combine a trip to both - trying to get as much as possible for as little as possible. MSE habits die hard .

gettingready

Forbidding people to work and earn their own living but giving them handouts from other people's taxes is IMHO simply wrong, no idea what is the point of it but I am not an immigration expert - only know a lot of them on personal level. And believe me 90% do WANT to work and would find jobs (even on NMW) and would be happy working/paying taxes etc. Instead we wor for all this....

Still - I am planning on how to live on £80 per month and hope I can make it.

My salary is half of what it was 1.5 years ago and it is really tough.

I only have £80 per month for myself as my pets cost me a lot but there is no way I am going to rehome them - just hoping to get a job with better money, eventually...

[Deleted User]

I am a bit annoyed that this tread has started to turn into "it's all jo foreigner/ asylum seekers fault" I post here rather than in DT to try to get away from all of that carp! More money was spent on bailing out the banks than the total benefits bill. The vulnerable of the society have become the scape goat in all of this. Very few cheat the system, yet the right wing make out like the poor are getting rich by taking every penny of tax payers money. They are deflecting attention from the real problems in order to keep the fat cats happy and comfortable (MP's, Lords and lobbyists make up a proportion of these people). What we need to do is completely change the plan for revamping the economy: relying on cheap gadgets less and producing more things in UK, restructuring the banking industry is just the start. More than that we need to address our own attitudes towards spending! Live within your own means, do not rely on credit, get over the love affair with consumables. My rant over.

DonaldTrumpsHair

OK I know it's a bit much to talk about shopping in Waitrose when we are all struggling so much, but we honestly only buy Tesco matched items!

Something that makes my blood get warm is those tokens they give you. At the end of the store (our store), they make a big thing that they give £1,000 per month divided between three local charities. It all sounds well and good till you think that it is our money they are donating and not only that Waitrose must make that amount within an hour of opening of a morning.

I do so much empathise and sympathise with all you posters. Times are indeed very tough and I can only nod my head in agreement with most of what you are all saying.

sjprmc01

They do that token thing in asda now too actually I think I've also seen it in sainsbobs

Tbh these companies will make profits regardless, yes it is our money that makes that profit but they wouldn't charge you any less if they didn't do the charity thing, they'd just keep more of the profit for themselves. At the end of the day, it may be an insignificant amount of money to the company donating but it is a significant amount to the folks they are helping and I guess that is all that matters


Re the immigrant thing I have seen around me an increasing number of adults with no special circumstances/illnesses etc that make them unable to work who choose to live off benefits as a way of life. Most of these folks are British born and bred and 2 nd or 3rd generation of the same situation.

I live in an area that has had a huge increase in the amount of immigrants lately from various countries for various reasons but I honestly haven't seen any of them choosing 'the benefit system' as a way of life. They are willing to work and earn their way and climb the ladder, they are greatful for the opportunities they have here that they may not have had in their birth countries and want to make a good life for themselves. Not sit on their behinds and tnk they are 'above' certain jobs because they are comfortable living off the state. The state benefits system should be something you turn to coz you have nowhere else to go, not a way of life

OrkneyStar

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I've worked since I was 17 (low income jobs) and never had a penny from the state

Are you really sure that is true? Never, either indirectly or directly?
I'd be really surprised if that was the case!
Did you go to school? Did you ever get even one free prescription? Have you ever used a road or a pavement? Have you ever been to a Doctor or a Hospital? etc etc.

OrkneyStar

sjprmc01 wrote: »

Thinking about it I guess there is a difference between the 'modern poverty' that some people here experience and poverty in some of the third world countries

Yes folks here may be selling off their belongings and downshifting and struggling to make ends meet 'in private'. Yet I bet a lot of those same people have TV's, mobile phones, Internet, computers etc. I guess if it really, really came to it I'd get rid of the lot! (if completly necessary). Although I pay the tv license, I do have the majority of the satellite channels (I don't pay for them). I choose to pay for my bb service I could switch to free but I'd have to pay for a bt compatible phone line to be installed and rented though I currently don't have a LL and with a young family need a phone for emergencies but guess id have to switch from a (reasonably cheap) contract to PAYG and be sparing with it (I text A LOT) there are lots of places most of us can still make cutbacks (even those on here already using OS ways). But really, in this day and age, should we REALLY be having to be forced to be making these kinds of choices?

Eta : a lot of the child poverty also is through parents not being good with money/having their priorities wrong etc. I mean my mum was on benefits, but there was always enough food/heat/clothes/security. Etc. sometimes I think there should be a way of forcing some people to spend wisely and not on drink or cigarettes which, whilst I understand these can be addictive, are still a luxury......OH and I both work and I must say I couldn't afford to smoke (not that I'd want to)

Yep, this is how I would have expanded on what I said in my earlier post. Completely agree with you. Well said .

blackandwhitebunny

I lurk a lot but seldom post but this thread has really made me think.
I remember when the RBS and other banks you know what hit the fan, some columnist in one of the newspapers saying that if the public really understood what was happening there would be rioting and protests until lots of the top people were locked up. It didn't happen, partly I think because the media is far more concerned with celebrities and because its easier to blame the bottom sector of society than the top. Too many people are more concerned about the latest phone than what is happening in politics.
Like many I feel we're the squeezed middle, two professionals, good jobs, no children (by fate rather than choice), but I'm in a pay freeze, expenses keep going up, especially those expenses that we have chosen to have (I know we are fortunate to be able to make these choices) that are our way of providing for ourselves such as insurances against losing jobs, critical illness, extra pension payments etc. Many because of changes in legislation. Surely a sensible government would be trying to make it easier for people to be self sufficient not more difficult?
Like many others I see two sides of the welfare state coin. I read peoples stories on here and I think surely we can do better than this as a society? How is it that in the 21st century I have had to raid lost property at school for clothes for pupils? We often provide food for children who have not had breakfast, or a decent dinner the night before? But then as someone else mentioned, I want to go and shake their parents and point out that I have provided food for their child yet they have an iphone - where are the priorities? I teach children who care for disabled parents and social services are only too happy to let them do so at the expense of their own health and education as it saves a few pennies and some work for them, and these families have so little, I often wonder why we can't have a system where women who would love to earn some extra money couldn't be matched up with these families and go in to help for a few hours while their children are at school, without the great state machine that costs so much to run.
The other side though is when I talk to yr 11's and they have no real intention of earning a living as no one else does! I'm tired of hearing that their parents don't work because they have nerves (a common condition where I teach 'my mum's on the sick as she has nerves'), are overweight, depressed, stressed, too busy, are better of on benefits etc. One woman I''ve come across works 16 hours, cleaning and dining hall, and takes home £30 a week less than my OH and gets housing benefit on top of it. As a colleague of mine said ' that's good their mums get to stay at home and I'll work an extra few years to support them while I had to work when my children were young'
Okay I'll get off the soapbox now..

Popperwell

I don't really like the way we have to describe parts of society and the terms are not really appropriate, anyone can be ill, unemployed, income strapped and need help but we do(the media and politicians certainly do)

The usual working, lower, middle and upper class...

Today, in these difficult times I suspect you could say that if they are not already, many will be struggling and the lower and middle class are much the same as each other and having similar problems. So instead of attacking each other it is more a case of they should be supporting each other and working together.

I don't know how many hold the wealth of the country but I keep hearing that it is 10% so that actually means 90% don't! There's too much playing one section of society off against another.

The lower classes want some of what the middle classes have, the middle classes often look down on the lower classes(This is a big generalisation/stereotypical image)and not everyone does of course. Many are not envious and just want a nice simple life.

The problem we now have is fighting amongst the same social classes so there are divisions between similar people. Once we start arguing amongst ourselves we are in trouble...or perhaps this plays into the hands of those who run the country.