To be so sick of being broke?

I thought UC looks at household income, so if you are unentitled to it - your kids would also be unentitled?

Seems that a lot of your woes are related to debt repayment so not much you can do there. Agree re: the mounjaro and stopping. You might also as an aside want to read up on the longer term issues of the drug, and consider that when you stop which you inevitably will one day, the weight will just likely just pile back on if you’ve not addressed the reason for over eating etc. Agree with people saying that £850 a month on groceries is insane. Must be loads you can cut down there. Final comment on the internet. Unless you are making Hollywood grade movies and chucking terabytes of data around every hour you don’t need a £65 a month internet! I pay £28 a month for full fiber 1Gb/s speed and never get anywhere near using its full capacity. What are you doing from home that requires what must be a military grade internet connection for that price!? Other thought is that if you have a good phone contract which I’d have thought you must have for £100 a month for you both (even with device payments), you could tether your PC to the phone and get rid of the internet completely. This would assume you have unlimited / loads of data allowance.

80 plus h even on NMW in this country is plenty. Come on.

Minor point but Aldi do Ceterizine tablets for 89p so it's worth trying these if you haven't. Home Bargains too.

I think the big thing here is that at the time, this situation is hugely stressful and isolation and you feel like you’re treading treacle.

but you aren’t on your own

I think you need to write out an income and expenses list out and see where you’re spending money and where you can maybe save.

I also agree with people saying if your DC have UC or wages they NEED to be contributing financially to the household. They wouldn’t live anywhere else for free!!

do you own or rent?? If you own I’d consider selling and moving to a cheaper area maybe?? If you rent, phone up your housing department at your local council and ask to be put on the list for social housing lists can be long but they do consider people’s circumstances.

Sending a handhold and I can tell you, it will get better ❤️‍🩹

It's not lot extra but it can be a stepping stone to someone better elsewhere. Why would you not take this opportunity??

I suggest changing GP pronto. Some are clueless.

OP, does your BMI qualify you for weight loss help on NHS?

I'm glad they work for you, but that doesn't mean they will for the OP? DS2 has terrible hayfever and only fexofenadine makes any difference to him. Plus not everyone lives near a poundshop, I don't

Why?

Oh well carry on being in debt and struggling, one day you'll open your eyes, next time the bailiffs may not be quite so understanding.

people trying to be helpful, OP. You just post snotty and snide responses. You aren't going to get much sympathy with your arsy attitude.

Sorry it’s tough @PrincessC0nsuelaBananaHammock . Everything has just got so expensive now and wages don’t keep up.
I know you didn’t ask for advice, however just in case it’s useful… I joined the staff bank as a healthcare assistant at a local hospice. The hourly rate isn’t great, but if I pick up a weekend shift the pay is enhanced to time and a half, or nights are double pay. Just picking up a shift here and there on my days off does give a bit extra. Could be worth looking into maybe.

I do sympathise - people who got into lots of debt during the pandemic will definitely be struggling more now.

I work from home full time and pay £30 a month for broadband with Vodafone. Have you tried other providers?

You should get hay-fever tablets from pondland. They work very well . £1 for 30

I'm a bit during at the comments about expecting the older DC to contribute, particularly the one who's going to university next month.

The eldest is disabled, attending college and gets UC. PIP claim has been made, previously refused
The youngest works part-time and going to university next month.

What would people expect, contribution-wise? Isn't it more typical for parents to still be expected to contribute towards university as the maintenance loans don't cover everything? Am I missing something

I pay less for Internet and have top speed and 3 gamers. Might be worth a shop about

Then you are buying things you both want. That is fine. It does mean you can’t buy other things you might want.

Are you mid contract with your Internet package? £65 is a lot even for high speed and you shouldn't need the absolute fastest for WFH. We're with plusnet on their full fibre 500 package, costs me £32 a month and we got a £75 prepaid card on signing up. We can have all 4 people streaming, gaming or downloading stuff with no lag

If you could swap to that and get the joining reward (if they're still doing it), would OH be open to owning his own set of weights and running around the local area instead of the gym? Mine has his own set of weights as we can't afford a gym membership at the moment

Combined you'd save about £50 there, not much but a little bit of extra spending money

Do you need to pay for the VPN? There's free ones (on mobile at least, I think there's a browser that has a free one built in for desktop?)

It is shit, we're in a similar position with little to no extra left after bills and food, I would be carless if it wasn't for my mum being able to cover the £700 needed for MOT (I pay her back over time), COL is kicking our ass and we just about keep our head above water, but it's not where I expected to be in my mid 30s

£850 for groceries seems an awful lot, where are you shopping? We spend what I’d consider a lot on our family food shop and it’s still nowhere near that amount. We buy decent ingredients but cook from scratch most days, this definitely keeps the cost down. We eat a lot of vegetarian dishes too which lowers costs as meat can be expensive.

I think the gym membership is actually really cheap, I’ve not seen one for £25 before. And your husband is making use of it and it’s contributing to his health☀️, fitness and mental wellbeing then it’s a good thing to spend money on. The same as the mounjaro, whilst £99 is a lot, if it’s the difference between you being unhealthy and healthy then it’s a good use of money I’d say.

Do your kids contribute a small amount for rent? I think that would be reasonable expectation and also a good lesson to them/preparation for adult life about budgeting.

With Amazon, you can share the account with other households and split the cost. Do you have family or friends that use Amazon that you could share an account with?

Another tip: I recently made some money selling my child’s clothes as bundles on Vinted. Kids grow out of clothes so fast and they were in really good condition. Maybe have a clear out and try doing some selling.