when you reach breaking point

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I only caught a bit of it on the radio, but there was something about unions uniting, and working to rule etc...

I think there might be a winter of discontent....I think these so called austerity measures are creating more probelms, and will end up costing the government dearly in more ways than one..

Popperwell

Perhaps the media will finally have to report not just the selective view that they have been and the hardship that is coming such as your articles point out and how just about anyone will be affected in some way.

the_frugal_frog

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

frugalfrog this thread might help: £7 per week menu ideas
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4084527
Have you thought of going to your local Salvation Army citadel, they will always help or point you to where you can get help.

Thanks to all for posting advice and links, I have been promised a payment tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

I have sold some of my belongings, but nothing that was precious to me, or really needed.

I also think I have some very good news but dont want to jinx myself so I will blurt it all out when I get written confirmation.

I am donw to the bare minimum now. But I am managing and praying tomorrow I recieve a payment.

So many things happened in such a short time and left what meagre savings I had gone. It just goes to show how quickly things can become worryingly desperate. I have vowed to storecupboard stock and every spare penny I have will be a prisoner lol. I have eaten so many baked beans I think I am developing an ornage tan :rotfl:

Hope everyone is well x

maryb

Butterfly Brain, I read that article about the Trussell Trust but I have to say I don't see it as sinister. I particularly didn't like the insinuation that because someone had worked in finance they had to be a wrong'un. I trained many years ago at one of the two firms mentioned in relation to Andrew Tanswell and worked in the City for many years. There are decent people everywhere who know how lucky they are and want to give back.

People who are on the left of the political spectrum may be less likely to get involved in something like this because they feel that it should be a State provided solution - who knows? I remember back in the 1980s/early 90s when Bernadine Lawrence published her book on How to feed your family for £5 a day, a lot of charities didn't want to know because they thought it would take pressure off the government to ensure welfare levels were generous.

I suppose I instinctively feel that the Trussell Trust is doing something practical to help and it feels as if it is in tune with the OS philosophy. I drop food off at my local centre after doing a supermarket run and I know the people involved there are genuinely good and caring.

I felt the author of that piece was almost insinuating that it was the Trussell Trust that was the instigator of the proposal to do away with crisis loans, just because they will be there to pick up the pieces.

I would be sorry to see people becoming cynical about them just because they are well organised

monnagran

I think that anything anyone can do to help the truly desperate is worth doing.
When we started our Drop-in we did approach the Trussel Trust and went through all the training but in the end they decided that our church hall didn't meet their high standards. This is when we started our own.
We are doing more or less the same thing but on a small local level.
All the food is donated by the churches in our town and the only rule we have is that they can only have one bag of food per week. It's not designed to keep the family entirely but just to ease the burden a bit. Actually, if we know that there is a family involved we manage to make sure the bag they are given is a larger one.

I do get an order in from approved foods once a month to top up the donations and will continue to do that as long as I'm able.

I think it will be a case of all pulling together for the foreseeable future.

Butterfly_Brain

It is just not that it is the fact that they will only help people three times in a year that only equates to 9 days worth of food, people need help much more than that, what are people supposed to do when they have nothing at all, especially the way the benefits system is slowly but surely being dismantled

Popperwell

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

It is just not that it is the fact that they will only help people three times in a year that only equates to 9 days worth of food, people need help much more than that, what are people supposed to do when they have nothing at all, especially the way the benefits system is slowly but surely being dismantled

I did not know that. I don't think many do and many have no idea how bad things are. Cosmetically the Government and media are managing to hide this, not as bad as Greece but I can see simularities. I am scared.

The feature on the radio programme showed another food bank scheme not unlike Monnagran's church run in Wales and they are already helping sixteen hundred people and expect this to increase and with the withdrawl of crises loans the council is talks with them as to how they can work together when it all comes home to roost.

Even worse in the States "The land of plenty" and even some expert says millions depend on Food Banks and there are something like 60,000 of them and this expert was critical of their system and the route we are going down.

This expert was at a US University and was...American...

maryb

I know it's not the whole answer, and can't be - indeed shouldn't be, we can only call ourselves civilised if people have an assured safety net. And though I can't believe the benefit system will ever be dismantled to the point where people have nothing at all, sadly, there are too many people who don't have a decent sufficiency and I know it's not going to get better.

But I can understand the Food Banks putting limits on, given that they frequently run out of stuff. It would be better if they could help people on a weekly basis like Monnagran's Drop-in centre but if there isn't enough food available for that then they have to prioritise and focus on getting people through a crisis.

mardatha

It's a very complicated subject isn't it? I do feel instinctively that the more Food Banks there are, the happier the govt is - because then they can just shove responsibility onto them and step back.. But I also know that if there are no FBs then people will have no help at all. I see this country sliding back into the 1920s at high speed and I think its totally pathetic.

Butterfly_Brain

In the last two years the rise of food banks should have set alarm bells ringing in government, but they haven't. What a great legacy the coalition is making itself....The government who caused the biggest rise in food banks since the great depression, and the biggest and most vicious cuts on the weakest in society while the rich just keep getting away with Tax evasion and were given a tax cut.
The poor didn't cause this crisis.The tax evaders, banksters, corporate monopolies, et al did with their greed, but the poor must suffer the worst.