money saving christmas tips

rushnowt

wow, she sounds like she's getting herself sorted. well done.  ;)

yes not doing bad, acting more responsible than she ever did at home.

Just gotta wait for the other 4 to sod off now lol, then i can own the tv, phone and pc ;D

Fran

That scheme sounds great rushnowt. Wouldn't it be great if rent and utilities always cost that little!

Bogof_Babe

Don't want to be controversial, and I am delighted for you rushnowt, but someone must be paying to subsidize this scheme, and I bet it's either the general taxpayer or the council tax payer.

Seems a bit excessive to give a 16-year old all that for next-to-nothing. Or am I missing something here?

I was gobsmacked to read a report in our local paper last week that it costs £4,000 per child per week to provide foster care "outside of the area", whatever that means. I simply cannot believe this to be true, unless someone is lining their own pockets very thickly in the process.

Sorry this isn't a Christmas thread post either, maybe we could discuss it elsewhere, as it interests (and bugs) me, what exactly is going on in this country. People spending other people's hard-earned money as if it was a bottomless pit, yet taxes going up and pensions failing all over the place. >:( Rant over. Hi everyone!

rushnowt

Definately Fran,

I would be able to take part in this big Argos sale then lol and spend less time switching my providers, 4 times at last count in past 12 months and now i'm at it again,

(You have a lot to answer for Mr. Martin Lewis) ;D :-*

rushnowt

Hi Bogof_Babe,

Firstly i would agree maybe the link name needs to be changed now as this does seem to have turned into a teens forum LOL

anyway, Yes i fully agree with you and take no offence to your comments.
as you say someone is paying for this service , You, Me and anyone else paying tax and council tax, but surely isnt that what its for to provide a service to our own people in need (i definately do not mean that to sound like a racist comment, if offence taken i am truely sorry) but what i do mean is that we are all aware of the taxes we pay and the services we get from that, we could complain to our hearts content that there is not enough money going into hospitals, schools, public transport etc etc, but it will do us no good,
as i said it is not my ideal but one that i will have to live/cope with, she could have just as easily (as she was offered) gone into a homeless hostel and been in receipt of benefits and probably gone on to continue down that road, but at least this way she is on a training course (paid by the government admitedly) and works Sat and late nights in a clothes shop, my only hope is that this way she will learn to become an upstanding member of the community and continue in enployment and learn to value things better. This scheme is not available as a long term agreement when she is in full time work and earning more then the rent increases and she will have to pay for her own utilities and only runs until her 19th birthday, by then who knows.
I would much rather her have gone down this route than have decided to leave home and got into all kinds of unimaginable situations, as i'm sure you'd agree.
I'm sure you'll appreciate that it would not be fair of me to go into details of my family affairs but I can say that something did have to give and we could not have continued in the situation we were in, with her being the eldest of 5 kids it really wasnt an ideal situation for the other children while she was living at home. I hope you understand if i leave it at that.
I appreciate that it can get some peoples backs up when they see that money is being given to services provided for such things, I know dss, dla, sickness ben payments etc are another cause for concern, but after all would you begrudge a friend or family member the same entitlements if they needed it. I know i wouldnt.

Bogof_Babe

Hi again, rushnowt.  No offence taken at all, and I hope you will take none if I say that as a relative newcomer to this board I didn't realise your daughter was causing disharmony at home - I just thought she had decided to have her own place and your area has some wonderful scheme that lets all teenagers do so, while being subsidised by the community!

I am truly glad that things are working out - and yes it is good that opportunities like this are available where needed.  Best of luck with the future, sounds like it will be hard work with all those other children to look after - no wonder you need to save costs where possible!

Great site this, isn't it?  :D  Now... back to Christmas  ;) lol xx

honeyblonde_2

I totally agree with you rushnowt, as ive got six children myself, and before anyone jumps in, were not on benifits nor ever have been. Sometimes i'd love my son to move out, he drives me bonkers! 18 and knows it all, grrrr! But i supose if he did id miss him rotten.This scheme you was talking about is a good idea, and better than the kids leaving home to live on the streets or god knows what, I dont mind my share of coucil tax payments helping out to things like this.
I much prefare that than paying for those who just turn up in this country and get given a council house and benifits.

rushnowt

Bogof_Babe,  thank you for your replys, i take no offence as Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, and as such you have a valid point.

p.s any xmas tips  lol  ;)

Welcome to the site Honeyblonde and congratulations on your first post, I bet you feel better now  ;) Thankyou for your comments.

I bet your a bit confused though eh... the Money saving christmas tips subject, was there to fox you. lol  ;D, we do that now and again.
hope you get some great ideas from the site, theres loads of helpful stuff and everyone is really very nice.  ;D

Lucie_2

The BASE project sounds pretty similar to a charity in Liverpool called MAP (merseyside accommodation project) which helps to find housing for 16-18 year olds. They identified a gap in the market as it were; you can only be fostered up until the age of 16, but can't apply for council housing until the age of 18. What are young people supposed to do for 2 years? sleep rough?
They were a charity & received no govt funding at all, so please don't be too quick to jump in & say all these projects are spending hard-earned tax payers money.

rushnowt

OH, I've just thought of a great way we can all save money this xmas, well, you know how Martin is all for us saving money, well I thought we could all tell the kids Uncle Martin is sorting out xmas this year, drop the kids off at Martin's after all I'm sure he'll be up for it if we're saving money, and we can all book a cheap girlie holiday together for over the festive season, seeing how much we can save while we're away of course.
Sounds great to me, lol

(What you up to over xmas then Martin are you free lol)