Worried 'bout my mum

magicgenie

My mum has contacted me, she's in her 60s, rather upset, i think what brought it to a head, was the fact that she had 2 more teeth pulled and old age really seems to be kicking in, she quoted some price of £2000 she'd gotten from somewhere for dentures, the car MOT is due etc etc, she went onto explain, that she was not asking for money (i don't have any) more for advice really, she went on to say how she can ONLY just survive day to day (she lives in Wales on a full pension) but is constantly worried about money and 'out of the ordinary' expenses, she says she's had the estate agent in and her house is worth 120,000, but she asked me where could she go, that would be cheaper (in order to gain some money from the sale, to live on).

I don't even know what a full pension amount is, so it's difficult for me to gauge what money she has.

I guess, i'm asking you lovely people if you have any advice or, have been in this situation and may have found some solutions, or at the very least some light in what seems like a very dark tunnel to my mum at the moment?

Any thoughts/feedback would be very much appreciated, thanks for reading.
kind regards
Alex

miaxmia

I have no idea whether this is a good idea or not, but if your mum is desperate, there are these companies that buy, say 30%, of your house, but you continue to live in it - might be worth finding out more about that.

TroysMum

Has she considered sheltered housing, or a pensioners bungalow?
It may be worth getting in contact with her local council and getting put on the list?
She woould have to pay rent for the house, but she would obviously have the money from the sale of her house. This may take away the pressures?

I'm not sure but she may be able to get some assistance with her dental work if she is on a full pension? Give the department of work and pensions a ring and get information on what she is entitled to.
Good luck.

moo2moo

Shes in Wales!!!!! You should be jumping for joy! Especially since shes a pensioner.

Spend lots and lots and lots of time on the phone. Find her an NHS dentist in Wales. Even if it means an hours drive each way. Full or Partial Dentures on the NHS are £177. Dental exams are free in Wales for the over 60s too. Prescriptions are free as well.

Perhaps if shes as short of money as she thinks she is and has a spare bedroom she could rent it out to a mature student, possibly a foreign language student on a short course. Or a working professional who works near her during the week and goes home at weekends. Selling up and downsizing seems an extreme thing to do, if you look around you'll find theres very little for less than £120K, especially after Estate Agents fees and solicitors costs.

If she does need to sell up to release some money then thats still only a short term solution. 5 years from now she'll be back in the same position. Can she get a part time job? Are there any adjustments she can make to her lifestyle to reduce her expenditure?

colnkits

Just wanted to add a link to search for NHS dentists in Wales

http://www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk/nhsdw.aspx?id=80

ceridwen

Agree with Margaret Clares post.

The £2,000 figure she is quoting is, I believe, the cost of replacing 2 teeth - ie not dentures, but surgical implants (if thats the correct term). I know that because I'm remembering to take darn good care of my teeth - as I would never have dentures if any gaps appear - it would be replacement teeth for me and the thought of paying that much:eek:

weezl74

If she can get seen at Cardiff dental hospital, a student will do the work, and it will all be supervised by v. qualified dentists, and her treatment will be free.

Isn't the state pension 6k a year? could your mum have a look at the way some of our friends on MSE have done some challenges, like 'live on 4k a year', just to get a bit of extra info.

Has she made sure she's got her winter fuel allowance, and if she lives alone, partial council tax exemption?

Just a few thoughts.

Sorry your mum is having a hard time...

sb44

It may not be an option but what about selling up totally and buying a static home and banking the rest to live off. It may not be a good idea to anyone wanting to gain anything when she passes away but she needs some kind of help now.

If she lives in Wales there are lots of sites that do not allow holiday makers on or the homes to be let out so you know you won't get any rowdiness on site. She would have to pay for water and site rent buy that could come out of the interest on her lump sum. Some sites close down for 2 months of the year but I am sure she would find members of the family who would have a spare room for 8 weeks out of 52!

Friends of ours bought a secondhand static home which is absolutely beautiful and they only paid £19000 for it but you can get a decent brand new one for £30000 (a lot less if you go for a more basic one).

Not all static caravan owners are considered to be 'Trailer Park Trash' there are some lovely quite parks and homes have to be kept up to a certain standard.

If it meant not being able to pay bills, live on the breadline and live under a dark cloud in my old age I know what choice I would make. Ok, you may have lots of memories in your house but they won't pay the bills and help you live longer. Why stay for the sake of leaving it to the kids, let them make their own way in life, she has lived hers, tell her to think of herself and not what others think.

http://www.atlas-caravans.co.uk/

http://www.bkbluebird.co.uk/home_page.html

http://www.willerbyuk.com/

http://www.abiuk.co.uk/index.asp

http://www.caravanning-online.co.uk/caravan_manufacturers/caravan_manufacturers_static.htm

Good luck to your mum.



Sharon

dronid

Hi magicgenie. I'm sorry to hear your mother is in this situation but glad you've got some support here! I seem to be hearing more and more of pensioners getting into money problems. Information seems to be available only by lots of different routes (unless you know sites like this one). I've run into a number of people who are at their wits end and have no idea of how to deal with their situation. It would be one of those really useful things if the government produced a simple leaflet for pensioners listing information like the stuff on this page e.g. what should always be free if you're a pensioner, what would be means tested and where you can get help on applying etc. It's great your mother has someone informed to rely on but I can't help but feel that your mother is the tip of a very large iceberg. It's something I really feel strongly about. Really this is a big issue for a lot of people who are spending savings or living in poverty rather than receiving benefits they are entitled to.
Maybe this would be something for the site to campaign about?:D
Don't forget to look up what your mother is entitled to on http://entitledto.co.uk/.

miserly_mum

Not sure how your Mum stands as far as a Mortgage? But assuming she has no Mortgage payments then £120 should be more than enough for one person to live on.

My 18 year old daughter is on benefits at the moment and she runs a house and keeps hersef and a one year old on £109 p/w. Yes she has to be careful but they eat well, house is always warm and she has a wee bit left over for the odd treat here and there.

Sounds like your Mum's problem lies in managing her money, rather than the amount she has coming in?

I know my own late Mother was hopeless with money and to be honest that is the reason i'm so careful with money myself.

Mum and I were very close and she trusted me 100% so how we solved her money problems at the time was,

1.We sat down and made a list of all her basic weekly out goings like food,electric heating phone, life insurance etc. (This will only work if your Mum is entirely honest about any HP or debts) This is the point where you can put MSE to good use in trying to get these down as low as possible

2. Once we had etablished how much she needed for bills/debts we came to an agreement that I would collect her pension and income support from the post office and take out enough to cover the bills which I was responsible for paying

3. I put her food budget money in a separate envelope and her "spends" in another one.

4. I also kept a little over for her emergency fund in case a cooker broke down or whatever.

This suited us because it ment she didn't have to worry about bills anymore. What money she had left to spend was hers and she knew if she spent it all it didn't matter because everything else was covered until the following week

It also made my life a lot easier because I didn't have her moaning on about being skint all the time and needing to borrow money.

I'd also get your Mum to promise not to buy anything like dentures etc until you've shopped around online for her to get her the best price.

Gingham_Ribbon

We have a 'silver savers' board that I think you might get more help on, magicgenie. I've moved your thread over there for you.

Hopefully, people there will be able to give you advice on what help your mum can access. Then why not pop back over to old style for some more tips on cutting back her household expenses?

Good luck helping her.