It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

basketcase

TheAble said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Watching Despatches this evening made me sad for people who are scared of their energy bills and then angry at OFGEM. Twits.

Many have a valid point. They thought they were on a good fixed rate tariff only for their shoddy provider (regulated by ofgem) to go bust and now they've been dumped onto a horrible variable rate one. Why are they "twits" exactly?

I thought it was OFGEM that Rosa was referring to as "twits".

SIRENS

v1ckyt said:

Hi Sirens. I have just read your post. Someone else may have mentioned this, apologies if so. Child Benefit is usually paid to the end of August after the child turns 18, rather than stopping in their 18th birthday. Hope that may help a little. All the best. 

Thank you so much, yes I had a letter last week saying that, I didn't realise thought it stopped as soon as they were 18, so that's helpful, I shall save that bit away for the next few months so I get used to the lower rate but have a bit put aside just in case x

Rosa_Damascena

basketcase said:

TheAble said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Watching Despatches this evening made me sad for people who are scared of their energy bills and then angry at OFGEM. Twits.

Many have a valid point. They thought they were on a good fixed rate tariff only for their shoddy provider (regulated by ofgem) to go bust and now they've been dumped onto a horrible variable rate one. Why are they "twits" exactly?

I thought it was OFGEM that Rosa was referring to as "twits".

Because OFGEM failed to regulate what should have been a skilled market. Instead contracts went out to every Tom, !!!!!! and Harry without the necessary due diligence checks. It is a spectacular failure of free market enterprise.

I can accept that market competition drove prices down in the short term, but it would have been better that we had all paid a little more rather than having to pick up the overinflated aftermath now through our energy bills.

Spendless

SIRENS said:

v1ckyt said:

Hi Sirens. I have just read your post. Someone else may have mentioned this, apologies if so. Child Benefit is usually paid to the end of August after the child turns 18, rather than stopping in their 18th birthday. Hope that may help a little. All the best. 

Thank you so much, yes I had a letter last week saying that, I didn't realise thought it stopped as soon as they were 18, so that's helpful, I shall save that bit away for the next few months so I get used to the lower rate but have a bit put aside just in case x

Hi, you've realised that once you are only receiving CB for the youngest one then the higher rate paid to the eldest will apply, so you'll lose the lower amount  that's currently paid for your youngest -if that makes sense.

I *think* you said your older one is going to Uni but living at home. If you do your budgets then have a chat about what she needs to pay for/contribute to from her student loan. 

I heard from my eldest yesterday. He had no money for basics like toilet roll, so we sent him £20 over. He is on Easter hols now, when he goes back he has 3 weeks left then he finishes his degree. His gf has been looking for a job and he needs to once his finals are finished. They've got until the end of August when their tenancy runs out to find somewhere. I am getting worried about it. 

Daughter had her 1st full day at work yesterday, previously been in training. It's seasonal work and she's recently finished a drama course, so we've told her until the end of the summer, we will treat her like she's still a college student and help/pay her commuting costs, but she needs to use her wages to pay for her own spends and we'll review in September when we know what the situation is.

It's quite possible from September we will have 5 adults living here. If that's the case we can't possibly have the situation where only Mr S is working. I will be looking for work soon to help out. 

London_1

I know how you feel my DD has two large young sons living at home at the moment the 17 year old Mikey  has a part time job that fits around his 'A 'levels which he finishes next month.But I give him his due he is stashing his cash to save for when he goes to Uni in September .The other lad Jack, is just coming to the end of his PGTC and has applied for a post in the school he is doing his training in so fingers crossed he will get it.Its been a hard year for him as his speciality is RE so he gets no grant towards his course ,luckily he is living at home or he wouldn't have been able to do it. But he has a part time job at weekends which he has kept himself in clothes etc But he is so looking forward to earning a wage at last.

Then after the end of next month her third son Henry will be finished at Uni and home so until he finds a job she will have three strapping lads who are all 6ft plus eating her out of house and home.Luckily both her and my son-in-law both work full time and I help out with HM cakes and biscuits and odds and ends. 

The cost of food will rise futher this year I think and how folk manage along with the utilities I don't know I think everyone will feel the pinch this year 

SIRENS

Spendless said:

Hi, you've realised that once you are only receiving CB for the youngest one then the higher rate paid to the eldest will apply, so you'll lose the lower amount  that's currently paid for your youngest -if that makes sense.

I *think* you said your older one is going to Uni but living at home. If you do your budgets then have a chat about what she needs to pay for/contribute to from her student loan. 

I heard from my eldest yesterday. He had no money for basics like toilet roll, so we sent him £20 over. He is on Easter hols now, when he goes back he has 3 weeks left then he finishes his degree. His gf has been looking for a job and he needs to once his finals are finished. They've got until the end of August when their tenancy runs out to find somewhere. I am getting worried about it. 

Daughter had her 1st full day at work yesterday, previously been in training. It's seasonal work and she's recently finished a drama course, so we've told her until the end of the summer, we will treat her like she's still a college student and help/pay her commuting costs, but she needs to use her wages to pay for her own spends and we'll review in September when we know what the situation is.

It's quite possible from September we will have 5 adults living here. If that's the case we can't possibly have the situation where only Mr S is working. I will be looking for work soon to help out. 

Thank you, yes I've realised that now, I think I just assumed it would stop as soon as she was 18, I always used the chb to pay my endowment so never really thought much about it, now that I no longer have the endowment I can just put that bit for ds away. Yes my dd is staying at home, she is currently in mad revision mode so I have told her to leave looking for a part time job until her exams have finished. Once her student loans are paid we'll have a sort out. My husbands life insurance has finally paid out so I shall repay the mortgage today and I have moved jobs so my travel has reduced as I will getting the bus instead of the train. Sadly it's not how I wanted to be mortgage free but it's one less worry for me and less pressure financially. 

Its tough out there and so much pressure on students to try to get a good start but shoulder so much debt, it's a fine line between, as a parent, teaching them to be financially responsible but not wanting them to suffer, no matter how old they are we still want to protect them. On a side note my mum still holds my hand when we cross the road 'in case I get run over' and I'm fast approaching 50 😂

I hope your son get the results he's wanting, it's a long road xx

Pixiekazza

I don't think I could afford uni now - seeing how my friends' kids struggle to decide if uni is affordable and worth it is really sad. The government's expectation that parents are responsible for supporting adult children is awful. My Mum couldn't have supported me financially, and I wouldn't have expected her to. I supported myself by working, and paid rent to her during the hols. I still ended up in my student overdraft by the end of my course, and in debt to the SLC. Great way to start working life!

Spendless

I know a lot of students who have had to attend a local(ish) Uni, live at home and commute because their parents couldn't afford to top up the costs and their student loans weren't enough to pay rent and live on. Not an option for my 2, DS would have had to very much compromise on the course he did and nothing available for DD.

We've always paid DS rent and could afford to due to a couple of windfalls but it's dug deep into our savings. This year has been a killer because we've had DD too and she was on an unfunded course. I'm only thankful I found temp work because it helped and it only ended the day before her course did and she came home just over a week later, and then found her job. 

Only a few days ago we paid over £2k for her digs that she's no longer using - but nothing we could do a last minute offer in a different part of the UK meant a last minute rush to find something available and she nearly had us scammed out of £1,000 by signing up to a non existent flat-share! Thankfully Mr S spotted last minute, but the day after A level results were due out  and she was going to study in a very sought after area so took what we could fast.

When DS returns after the Easter hols, his very final student loan will be paid. I think I'm going to give him some cash to tide him over the final 3 weeks, so he saves that and then he knows that the last instalment has to last him until they find work. I've no wish to put pressure on him as he does his finals but some forward thinking from him is required too. 

Wednesday2000

Sorry, I forget who said to me on here about Amazon prime, but that is true you do get a lot of benefits that I completely keep forgetting to use!:) I did watch the show Reacher on prime recently. That is a very good show if anyone is interested. The guy is not bad to look at either, not my type personally, but very attractive. Lol.

I am vegan, but was never a fan of milk, but I know other people say that almond milk tastes very much like dairy. I honestly can't remember the taste of milk now, though.  We usually buy that or soya milk. I don't really drink tea and coffee in warmer weather.

I see we are in for some nice weather, well, where I live, so the heating is off again.

Prudent

Pixiekazza said:

I don't think I could afford uni now - seeing how my friends' kids struggle to decide if uni is affordable and worth it is really sad. The government's expectation that parents are responsible for supporting adult children is awful. My Mum couldn't have supported me financially, and I wouldn't have expected her to. I supported myself by working, and paid rent to her during the hols. I still ended up in my student overdraft by the end of my course, and in debt to the SLC. Great way to start working life!

It is so very much tougher now. The halls in my old uni are over 50% more expensive (relative to inflation) than they were when I was at uni. Even in the mid-1980s though my dad had to contribute quite substantially to my grant. So there has been a long-standing expectation that parents will support adult children. I think his contribution was well over 50%. He hated parting with money and my mum used to swear he looked ill when he gave me the cheque for his share.  I do remember that he could claim back the tax from the government through the deed of covenant scheme. I did work through the holidays as well to contribute.