Living on £53 a week?

bodmil

RevolvingDoor wrote: »

Exactly! I don't know how anyone lives on that amount of money a week without having help from family or friends, especially people without children.

I think the point is that it's supposed to be a stop gap and shouldn't be long term so it is quite possible to gain assistance from friends without over-burdening others.. Of course that's after you've gone through your own savings.

adindas

For people like Bill gates, Carlos Slim or other billionaires, it is extremely hard for them to live on £53 a week. But if they had to I believe they could .... These people deserve for luxury lifestyle as they are working hard making their own earning

Certainly every people could live on much less than £53. Imagine if you had to live in a jungle as you had no other options as it deemed to survival, everyone could is not s/he ?

Benefit is intended for safety net not a substitute for comfort. Not give people a standard of living that is much higher than those slogging their guts for a pitance ....

My example on post No#35 demonstrates that some people in this country are living with less than £53 a week contribute to society without claiming any benefit.

19lottie82

piglet25 wrote: »

I am on contract for the mobiles, the phone/tv package and the insurances would all carry a cancellation charge. I know that the mobile company and Virgin wouldn't be happy if I cancelled the DD's so I would start getting late payment charges etc.

I don't think mobile networks or virgin media enforce late payment charges. Yes, you would be in breach of your contract, but if your income was cut and you couldn't afford it, then you wouldn't have a choice.

piglet25 wrote: »

The gas/elec is the cheapest available at the minute, and I am thinking of having the pre pay meters in so I can see what I actually use as I am sure they are doing me over - freezing half the time so definately not over using it!

If this is the case, then it's DEFINITELY not right. I'd be investigating this and complaining to your providers until they sort it.

piglet25 wrote: »

The car I would need for other reasons, so I couldn't not have it but the running costs would be less as I would have to make less trips

If you were on JSA then you couldn't afford it full stop. If you needed it becasue you were disabled, then a mobility car would be provided?

piglet25 wrote: »

The food couldn't really get cut back by a big amount as the cost of eating has gone up so much, I am a veggie so that doesn't include any meat or fish either :O

I'm sorry, but I don't believe for a second that you can't feed yourself (as a veggie especially) for under £250 a month. People feed families on less than this.

Saturnalia

I'm childless, single & under 35. I get £71p.w. JSA and £69p.w. LHA. £140 total.

My rent is £120. For the area I'm in (a pretty poor area of East London) £100 p.w. is about the bare minimum you'll pay for a houseshare room. My rent covers all bills including Council Tax, broadband, TV licence. The only bill I need to cover by myself is my phone at £15 a month.

So that leaves £20p.w. I can eat and pay the phone bill with that, and that is it. Nothing left at all.

I'm very lucky that although I don't have a perm job (definitely not by choice) I get temp work. But this last 3 months have been dead. I have worked for a total of 3 weeks in the last 12.

Yes, when I work I make around £50 a day, so I never turn down work. But my travel to work is £6.40 per day. And obviously I have to find that before getting paid! I'm incredibly fortunate as I have parents who will buy me a travelcard and friends that will lend me the money till payday. But I hate having to ask for help.

When I do get work, I stock up the frozen & dry foods, top up my Oyster card, buy toiletries out of Poundland. But I have to try to be careful with my money because I don't know when I will work again.

And of course, there is the whole rigmarole of signing-on-and-off-again. There have been numerous times I have made a rapid reclaim, been given an appointment for the following week, then got a few days' work and had to cancel the appointment, which means although I was entitled to JSA for the week I didn't work, I can't have it without going to the appointment.

LHA - that stops when my JSA does and takes over a month to kick in again when I sign back on. It's lucky that my landlord is an absolute diamond and lets me pay him in dribs and drabs. Of course when I work I overpay when I can to lessen the blow when I'm out of work again.

But I'm one of the fortunate ones. I do get work at times, I have people who help me, and somehow I get by.

paulineb_2

Its a very easy argument to say that there are jobs out there for people who want them. And that people who are studying live on less money and get by, yes Im sure some people do, but Im also sure some people who are here studying get assistance from families. Also, when I did my last degree, I worked full time around that degree. I worked nightshifts, 8pm at night until 8am in the morning and some days I went straight off a nightshift to uni. I managed, you have to. And I passed my degree with no resits. I dont think you can do a straight comparison with people who are at uni and people who are on benefits. Lots of people who are at uni work part time.

As for the argument that some people from other EU countries take jobs that UK people wont do. I dont disagree entirely. However, some companies had a two tier system whereby people who were from Poland for example (and I know people that happened to), were being paid 50 per cent less than UK workers. Some people got expolited by big companies for the sake of having a job. And yes if you look on any job centre plus website there are jobs. But there are more and more people chasing every vacancy. Employers dont need to reply to you. I went for two interviews at the end of 2011. Both for part time gym jobs, around £6.50 an hour. One didnt respond to me at all even though they had my email address, home phone number. The other took a month to respond to me to say I hadnt got the job. Employers can take their pick from applicants.

And yes, some people are caught in a benefit trap and are better off out of work, some people dont want to work and yes being on the dole should be a temporary stop gap. But it doesnt always turn out that way. Ive a degree and two post grads. I worked from my early 20s until I was 41. I changed jobs a few times and didnt have a particular problem getting interviews or posts.

This time around, Im talking from 2009 onwards, its been much harder. And Im not talking about applications for managerial or professional jobs, Im talking about supermarket jobs, minimum wage positions. And I know other people who live in areas where jobs have always been more plentiful, who have struggled as well. People in the south of england for example.

There are no guarantees and just because theres always someone worse off than you, doesnt make your life easier at times. I know there are people worse off than me, I have a roof over my head and enough food, millions of people dont have that. I seriously do count my blessings.

But the line of there are jobs out there if people want them enough?
There are, but you might just find yourself competing with another 150 people to get it.

As for budgets and veggie food. Its totally possible to feed yourself for less than £250 a month on a veggie or vegan diet. If you shop at lidl and aldi, cook meals from scratch and use sites such as approved food or Rosspa, you could probably cut your bill to about £20-£30 a week or less and if you had to, believe me you would find a way.

DeeDee74

19lottie82 wrote: »

IN terms of being able to live on £53 / £71 a week, First off, a car is not essential. Most people don't need one. Sure it makes their life more convenient, but it's not essential. I use mine to get to work, and I'm glad for it, BUT if I had to I could get a bus and a train. If I wasn't working, I definitely wouldn't need one.

Neither is a TV (license) or Broadband.

Haircuts can usually be done yourself or by a friend. Or local colleges offer cuts by students for a few pounds.

I think I could live on JSA, it wouldn't be nice, but I could do it. (If I didnt' have any debt, or other financial commitments that is)

£71 per week = £307 pcm

£60 pcm on utilities

£108 pcm on groceries

£5 pcm on content insurance

£20 pcm for a gym membership (not essential but pretty cheap and would keep me sane, i'd imagine)

£20 a month for un walkable

£8 a month for mobile phone (essential for job seeking)

£10 a month towards clothes (primark / charity shops are ideal for essential)

leaves £66 for other costs

Wow what company does such cheap insurance.
Oh and btw its $284 a month not $307 unless your using 12 months to split costs...
Then thats less than $1 a day allowance of gas and electricity? ?? Really!!
Water cost arent included in calculator either is this mnow an optional bill?

19lottie82

DeeDee74 wrote: »

Wow what company does such cheap insurance.
Oh and btw its $284 a month not $307 unless your using 12 months to split costs...
Then thats less than $1 a day allowance of gas and electricity? ?? Really!!
Water cost arent included in calculator either is this mnow an optional bill?

I take it the dollar sign was a typo?

Anyway, no my figures r correct

(71 x 52) / 12 = £307.66

I get my contents insurance for £4.54 a month from legal and general PLUS £30 cash back from quidco

DeeDee74

19lottie82 wrote: »

I take it the dollar sign was a typo?

Anyway, no my figures r correct

(71 x 52) / 12 = £307.66

I get my contents insurance for £4.54 a month from legal and general PLUS £30 cash back from quidco

No pound sign on phone actaully.
Trouble is you have to be on benefits for a year before u have 307 a month as every mon th doesnt have 5 weeks whats wrong with working it out weekly or every 2 weeks like benefit is payed.. $71 a week or $142 fortnightly. .. maybe 307 sounds better...
Fact is first month claiming your get 284 a month u can spend money you have yet claimed so spreading bills that way is a bit pointless..

meds12_2

In 1997 I lived on £28 a week, housing and CT paid while I started doing A-levels (wasn't living at home)...I have to say that it was tough!! But could be done...no mobile phone bill - landline, electric (I lived in a tower block so no gas) and transport and food costs. I lived in Byker in Newcastle and had a Netto near my flat, so very cheap food! Manageable but not something you'd want to do for a long time

HappyMJ

DeeDee74 wrote: »

No pound sign on phone actaully.
Trouble is you have to be on benefits for a year before u have 307 a month as every mon th doesnt have 5 weeks whats wrong with working it out weekly or every 2 weeks like benefit is payed.. $71 a week or $142 fortnightly. .. maybe 307 sounds better...

Very soon all benefits will be paid monthly so I suppose we all better get used to monthly figures.

A single claimant over 25 would get £311.55 a month.