Famous Rich and Hungry

Buick

Deanied wrote: »

Am I the only one who wondered why some of them had pets when they could barely afford to feed themselves? Interesting priorities.

justjohn wrote: »

Or the skint female smoking.

AnnieO1234 wrote: »

The woman who had the Made in Chelsea guy with her, sorry but don't plead for a foodbanks saying you never have any spare money with dyed hair. If you're living with just a couple pounds in your pocket even the cheapest of cheap dyes is out of your budget.

So people at the bottom end of society are not allowed to have pets, nor bad habits, nor even to dye their hair..

Do you know I think even if they were all crying into their gruel bowls some people on here would probably begrudge them the bowl.

paulineb_2

Speaking as someone who is still pretty skint most of the time, Im a freelance fitness instructor and my income can vary, I actually use YS shopping a lot, along with farmfoods, B and M, home bargains, Ive got a store cupboard full of approved food stuff.

And there are days where its a pain in the !!!! to have to go from one shop to another to try and maximise what you can get for your spending. But I do it.

As I said before, no one taught me how to cook (my mum is a fab person but by her own admission cooking is not her forte), I think I learned how to make a very few basics in home economics around 30 years ago now and that was it.

The less money Ive had over the years, the more Ive cooked from scratch, because Ive had to. 5 years ago I could have gone into Tesco and thought nothing of spending 20 quid, these days that 20 quid has to go a lot further.

I do know from the work I used to do that some people live such chaotic lives and are dealing with other issues that budgeting is not a priority. I worked with young people who had been given two or more tenancies and lost them because they couldnt cope.

Some people get paid their benefit and its gone within 24 hours. Thats reality. How we fix that, I don't know, because Ive worked with hundreds of people over the years who struggled, all I can say is that some of them when they matured a bit, got a job, got married and had a family managed to get their life on track and sort out their lives and are doing really well. Others didnt.

Sometimes people are capable and have no belief in themselves, sometimes they are dealing with bigger issues, but I think with a bit of effort there are many many people who may never be great with money, or great at cooking, but they'll do enough to get by, keep a roof over their heads, pay bills and feed themselves.

thorsoak

There always have been, and there always will be,!!!!less people who have too many children, who squandered their wages and have absolutely no intention of change - my OH's grandfather was such a man - apparently his wife and daughters would be waiting for him outside work on a Friday afternoon to get his wages from him before he went to the pub - and his sons (aged 6 & 8) would try to pick his pockets if their mother hadn't managed to get his wages!

The children from that family all managed to better their lives - but not all families do manage to pull themselves out of the poverty/degradation trap.

Blindsided_2

I watched both episodes, it was eye opening and certainly took me back.
As a child I remember wearing plastic bags on my feet inside my holey shoes, washing the one pair of knickers u had in the sink and hoping they were dry by morning and if it wasn't for my grandparents I think we would have gone hungry and certainly would have had no luxuries.

My dad lived away from us and didn't pay a penny, something I noticed was the case with the woman with 3 kids, the government really need to do something about absent parents paying jack all towards their offspring.

I'm on benefits myself at the moment, but I budget accordingly and have money put aside for emergencies,I appreciate though not everyone can do that.

What I didn't understand was some of them were bringing in £200 plus per week and still struggling, it's. It a huge amount but it is manageable

claire16c

balletshoes wrote: »

the lady with Cheryl last night had no debts, was living on benefits - and managing fine with her spreadsheet and bargain-hunting for her food shopping etc. Then a £200 rent bill came out of her bank earlier than she anticipated, and you could see her starting to go into a flatspin. It would only take a couple of missing/late payments and the bank charges those accumulate, for someone on a fixed low income to get into financial difficulty.

I agree but they only showed her in that type of situation. And she was the only one not needing a food bank!

esmerelda98 wrote: »

Whilst I have never taken one out myself, I do believe that payday loans have a (small) place. Say I need my car to get to work due to location far from public transport, unsocial working hours or just the nature of the job (e.g. salesman). It breaks down and I have no-one to borrow from. I don't like debt so I only have a basic bank account, no overdraft, no credit card and I need to fix my car. It's not long till payday. I'm due X amount of money from my job and I can easily cover the repayment. In that situation I'd happily pay say £250 for a 10 day £200 loan, many people would. The problems with payday loans come with people who cannot easily afford to make the repayment still taking out the loans.

If you 'didn't like debt' why would you be happy to pay £50 interest on a £200 loan but not use a credit card where it would cost you nothing if paid that month?!

Surely pay day lenders prey on people who can't afford to pay it back by the very nature of them not having good enough credit for credit cards or low interest loans.

Principia_2

missprice wrote: »

This is a great idea and I thought of it myself when pondering in the arms about benefits and the like. Even minimum payments would be a big help. But I can see a lot of people may well run up the debt and then get onto benefits just to avoid the debt for a long time.

Being honest, none of the adults on the programme looked particularly healthy or particularly happy. If someone honestly thinks that being on benefits and living a subsistence life, is a good choice rather than paying back debts then I guess I would think it was shortsighted but up to them.

It also might may lenders a bit more cautious about who they lend to.

I was also disappointed that the programme was not a bit more explicit about bankruptcy. You do have to pay a fee of several hundred pounds and your income is assessed and if you have any assets or surplus then you are expected to make some kind of payments to your creditors until you are discharged. Your credit file is trashed for at least 6 years. It's not quite as easy and consequenceless (is that a word?) as Kerry Katona made it appear.

I'd like to see foodbanks offering budgeting, gardening and cooking lessons (plus some free equipment like hand blenders, basic gardening tools etc) to those who want them. It's telling that Rachel Johnson couldn't come up with a nutritious meal that was within budget and she is highly educated and privileged. It can be done, Jack Munroe has done it, but it takes knowledge, equipment and confidence. Johnson showed that you can be smart and motivated but without knowledge then you will fail.

Finally, there has to be some kind of buffer available so people that manage on benefits aren't thrown into a tailspin if their benefits are late, starting a spiral of borrowing or bank charges.

moomoomama27

I was on benefits for 2 years 14 years ago, as a single mum to one. I had no debt, and I was more than able to cover the costs of life for me and my child, and save!!! Of course I didn't gave internet or a mobile phone and certainly not sky or pets!

Debt aside, it would appear from portions of the programme and anecdotal evidence that a percentage of those on benefits live far beyond their means, with mobile contracts, sky or equivalent tv packages! Of course smoking isn't cheap, and quite honestly if you are struggling to feed your children why have pets?! It seemed two of the family who gad pets were on long term benefit, so in all likelihood chose a pet whilst on benefit!

A lot of managing life on benefit ( I know from firsthand experience) is getting priorities right, food, bills and clothes on your back, being on benefit doesn't allow for "keeping up with the Joneses", so non essential material items need to go!!

Gleek

I enjoyed the programme. I'd like to hope those people got help for letting their situation be shown and the cameras in.

I wish they'd had some form of help rather than some posh and/or rich people sympathising with them and adding to mouths to be fed and kept clean with very little extra financial support and not much else.

Would have liked to have seen 'normal' people who have some understanding - like our gorgeous OS and debt free wannabe type people - of how to help after being in that situation themselves - or managing on very little for whatever reason and *help* them with payday loans/arrears of bills/debt/meal planning'how to weather proof your home (ie: bubble wrap on the windows, curtain over the door, fleece liner if you have any blankets) etc etc and with extra help that is available or could work for them (like DRO's, DMP et al)

Gleek

thorsoak wrote: »

There always have been, and there always will be,!!!!less people who have too many children, who squandered their wages and have absolutely no intention of change - my OH's grandfather was such a man - apparently his wife and daughters would be waiting for him outside work on a Friday afternoon to get his wages from him before he went to the pub - and his sons (aged 6 & 8) would try to pick his pockets if their mother hadn't managed to get his wages!
.

My grandfather was and is still the same. Everything was all drink. The only reason he doesn't drink now is because he's in a care home and we all refuse to supply it.

He would give my gran a tenner to pay ALL bills and look after their daughter (my mum) each week and have about 3 or 4 times that in his pocket to pee up the wall. When she was hospitalised for 6 weeks (twice!) when they lost their daughters through spina bifida in the 50's and 60's, my mum was sent to live with my aunt for the 6 weeks and he gave her just £10 each time to pay rent/bills and everything else for SIX weeks. He didn't care less as long as he was paralytic. (nor did he care for the grief of his wife or daughter and his drinking wasn't because of the children or a hard life - he had a good life and didn't care less about losing them)

He truly was - and still is - a nasty piece of work with no concern for anyone but himself.

missprice

moomoomama27 wrote: »

I was on benefits for 2 years 14 years ago, as a single mum to one. I had no debt, and I was more than able to cover the costs of life for me and my child, and save!!! Of course I didn't gave internet or a mobile phone and certainly not sky or pets!

Debt aside, it would appear from portions of the programme and anecdotal evidence that a percentage of those on benefits live far beyond their means, with mobile contracts, sky or equivalent tv packages! Of course smoking isn't cheap, and quite honestly if you are struggling to feed your children why have pets?! It seemed two of the family who gad pets were on long term benefit, so in all likelihood chose a pet whilst on benefit!

A lot of managing life on benefit ( I know from firsthand experience) is getting priorities right, food, bills and clothes on your back, being on benefit doesn't allow for "keeping up with the Joneses", so non essential material items need to go!!

And I was on benefits for several years, yet I still had a pet cat. She cost me all of £1.90 a month. Dry food only and no insurance or vet bills til right at the end of her life when she cost me a thousand quid give or take.

You cannot possibly deny anyone the undying love of a pet. they are for some people the only thing between life and no life.

Now if you said the pet costs a lot and people need to learn to feed the pet cheaper food, I would understand. But a pet is for life not just for Xmas.

In a lot of cases benefits is enough to survive on, however the debts make life a lot harder than needs be. A way of deferring the debt would be more helpful than denying someone a pet.

Oh and for info the cat was pts at 16 years old. She would have gone a few more years had she not broken her leg.
And the dry food I gave her was £1.90 at the end of her life. Sometime 16 years ago it was much less.