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"16 Kids and Counting" - how do they afford it?

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Comments

  • Threebabes
    Threebabes Posts: 1,272 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    What a hard life it must be, I find 3 more than enough!
  • MerlinMags
    MerlinMags Posts: 93 Forumite
    The family with 16 don't really count as benefit spongers since one of them has a job. OK they might get some benefits, but they won't get their mortgage paid.

    I wanted to start a discussion about what their money-saving tricks might be, rather than judge their parenting techniques. (I thought they performed better than many parents anyway.)

    Apparently the kids don't have as many hand-me-downs as my own family do, and they didn't even re-use last year's buggy for the new baby each time. Mad!

    Someone mentioned £221.30 in child benefit per week....I doubt that even pays for the Tescos bill.So there must be some cunning money-saving going on.....?
  • marisco_2
    marisco_2 Posts: 4,261 Forumite
    I should think they have been paid a fair wack to appear on these programmes. I have only ever seen one set of grandparents. Maybe another set have passed on and they had an inheritance. We only see him working in one bakery but for all we know he might own a chain of them.

    I think it is crazy to have so many children. It must be such a noisy, chaotic atmosphere the whole time. At dinner time food is served up as if on a conveyor belt. Seeing that much food at one time would make me feel sick. Poor kids.
    The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own, no apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.
  • Jendita
    Jendita Posts: 11 Forumite
    Economies of scale?
  • HappyMJ
    HappyMJ Posts: 21,115 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    They wouldn't get £221.30 in child benefit Chris (23) and Sophie (18) are too old to be entitled to any child benefit.
    :footie:
    :p Regular savers earn 6% interest (HSBC, First Direct, M&S) :p Loans cost 2.9% per year (Nationwide) = FREE money. :p
  • flashnazia
    flashnazia Posts: 2,168 Forumite
    HappyMJ wrote: »
    They wouldn't get £221.30 in child benefit Chris (23) and Sophie (18) are too old to be entitled to any child benefit.

    One programme said they don't get any benefits apart from child benefit but I don't believe this for a minute; more likely they didn't mention tax credits because they didn't count that as a benefit (clever Labour spin).

    There is no way a tiny bakery like that can support such a large family (and it's also paying the wages for the eldest who also works there).
    I reckon he's probably declared a nominal profit on the tax credits form.
    "fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." (Bertrand Russell)
  • Callie22
    Callie22 Posts: 3,444 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts
    flashnazia wrote: »
    There is no way a tiny bakery like that can support such a large family (and it's also paying the wages for the eldest who also works there).
    I reckon he's probably declared a nominal profit on the tax credits form.

    Absolutely. I didn't see the programme but speaking as the daughter of a baker there is absolutely no way you'd make enough money to support a family of eighteen if you were working on your own in a small retail bakery - not to mention that the hours you'd be working would negate you having any kind of life outside of work. You'd struggle to make enough if you had a large, wholesale place, and even if the son is helping him I still can't believe that they're making any kind of real profit.
  • HappyMJ
    HappyMJ Posts: 21,115 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    flashnazia wrote: »
    One programme said they don't get any benefits apart from child benefit but I don't believe this for a minute; more likely they didn't mention tax credits because they didn't count that as a benefit (clever Labour spin).

    There is no way a tiny bakery like that can support such a large family (and it's also paying the wages for the eldest who also works there).
    I reckon he's probably declared a nominal profit on the tax credits form.
    The money they get from the bakery is £30,000 a year (we are told)....reading the blog they get a lot of leftovers from the shop for free. They claim to be getting around £180 a week in child benefit. Assuming they own the property outright they "could" survive on this amount of money without any extra help from tax credits.
    :footie:
    :p Regular savers earn 6% interest (HSBC, First Direct, M&S) :p Loans cost 2.9% per year (Nationwide) = FREE money. :p
  • For the main family in the show - it looks like they work hard in the backery - think the dad got up at 4 or 5 to get to work early to start off the baking. They must budget well and have an eye for value - for example buying the care home as a house than a ready-made house. I guess they must buy in bulk - Costco style maybe - thinking unlike most people even the fresh stuff could be bought in huge quantities.

    However the other Indian family who were also shown just lived off tax payers - the dad was a teacher or something and gave up his job to claim benefits instead. I found it really irritating that they moaned about having such as small house - they werent actually paying for themselve and that is still larger than many working people who are helping to pay for it!
  • flashnazia
    flashnazia Posts: 2,168 Forumite
    edited 8 March 2013 at 11:10AM
    HappyMJ wrote: »
    The money they get from the bakery is £30,000 a year (we are told)....reading the blog they get a lot of leftovers from the shop for free. They claim to be getting around £180 a week in child benefit. Assuming they own the property outright they "could" survive on this amount of money without any extra help from tax credits.

    Is that profit or turnover though? They are hardly frugal so I don't see how they could survive on that, even if it is profit.
    If its turnover I wonder what's on their tax credit form.

    Edit. Just checked entitled to.

    On 10 kids (the site only goes upto 10) and on 30k a year they can get £22448 A YEAR! :eek:

    So on 14 kids they are on much more than that!

    Surely I have made a mistake? Outrageous!
    "fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." (Bertrand Russell)
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