NC. How to survive 4 weeks on £500?

[SurvivingTheMonth]

I have NC as I've posted this on Facebook too.

Due to being off sick for 3 weeks and only getting SSP, I've only been paid £500 from work for 4 weeks. Was paid on Monday.

Live alone, no children or pets, so just myself but my monthly outgoings are £650 a month! I'm behind on my TV license as it is and owe them £30.

I need around £100 a month for petrol just to get to work. No public transport.

I'm also £11,300 in debt which I basically just pay the interest on each month.

How do I survive 4 weeks on no money? No friends or family to lend me money.

@orangegato please don't give false information.

It is based on monthly not annually. If one month you want 120k then the next month you earnt nothing then technically you would be entitled to full UC the month that you earnt nothing as long as you don't have more savings than allowed.

Hi @SurvivingTheMonth, sorry you find yourself in this situation. Many people here have given some excellent advice, please read the thread carefully and hopefully you'll find some help here.

Do go through your bank account and look carefully at any standing orders and check that they are still relevant- cancel any that are no longer required/magazine subscriptions and wot not.

Check your phone contract and see if you can change your monthly fee - are you out of contract period now and not realised it? Worth checking?

Check your local Olio app for any freebies for food. Likewise, the local food bank.
Also, do an inventory of your fridge, freezer and cupboards and make the absolute most if everything you have - even if it makes for some interesting meals.

Ebay/vinted - sell anything you don't need. Consider doing a car boot sale or "garage sale/table top sale" from your front garden.

Sign up for Y-live and do paid surveys - you won't be paid immediately but you will accrue money and it will be something small for the future.

Check all your reward cards.

Consider getting a part time job. Bar work/waiting in the evenings - combines a bit of social life with a bit of income.

I'd second the suggestion at getting a second job if possible. If you're on £16/17k, that's less than full time even at NMW.

Plus, due to staff shortages, a lot of employers now pay above NMW, so it should be possible to increase your income to £21/22k which should have a significant increase in your disposable income.

But definitely get proper advice on your debts. 'Just paying the interest' means you'll be in debt forever more.

@RB68 good post without comments like 'get a better job' -etc. there may be many reasons we don't know why the poster can't just get a better paid job!!

And then they’d pursue you for the money back if you’ve earned more in the tax year overall so why on earth would you claim? So I could just not be paid for a month, claim UC, be paid double the next month and not expect to pay back what I’ve received? Nonsense.

Contact Citizens Advice, ask for a voucher for food bank, speak to local authority as suggested.

Ouch. Food bank will help a bit at least?

I would take a 2 phase approach generally - sort this month out with a v strict budget and pulling money in where you can and pushing out spending if you can and slide under the wire at the end (Thank God its a shorty hey) and then have a 6 month and 12 month goal but you can also think about other things along side that.

Longer term you need to ditch the debt MSE is great for helping with that - its very easy to get comfortable whacking things on there when things go wrong esp expensive things like cars. Your 3 weeks on sick leave is a bit of a wake up for you that it wouldn't take alot to tip you into trouble and with no support what will happen? You may also find if you call the cc company that they will freeze the interest for you which makes a massive difference and you can throw any and all extras at it to get it down.

Take some serious steps to cut back for say a year to 18mths and it could really turn things around - maybe alongside looking at what you can do to improve your job income either by upping hours at work or getting a promotion or just by looking for another job.

Think about what you could do to motivate yourself - would buying no new clothes and getting folk to sponsor you help? Oxfam I think are doing this at the moment, if not that look for something else

I would also try to find yourself some real local support - a book club, a hobby meeting etc - it may cost a few quid but they are generally not extortionate and it can make all the difference mentally to cope with day to day life and have a bit of a support network.

As far as I can see there is some poor advice on here - a Google search with regards to UC- it seems you can go back for1 month from when the claim would have been eligible - and I can see nowhere that you have to pay it back if your earnings or savings were at an eligible level for the period you claim for- so as far as I can see OP I would claim- they will also do advance payments it seems (which are deducted off the initial claim) so you won't get it for 5 weeks but might be able to get an advance. As far as I can see you can get made redundant from a£50k a year job but if you have little savings and have a new £50k job to go to in 6 weeks you would still be eligible for that 6 weeks period - even though you wouldn't get it for 5 weeks. That's how it reads to me. I see nowhere that you have to pay it back if you earn over a certain amount- all the paying back searches relate to overpayments of the benefit and any advances on payments due

a Google search with regards to UC- it seems you can go back for1 month from when the claim would have been eligible

you need to search harder. The backdate claim criteria is so narrow, you need a valid excuse as to why you couldn’t make a UC for every single day you want it backdated for eg hospitalised with no internet access.

This is the criteria to backdate claims to UC, it is very narrow.

She would be making a new claim as a single person and was off sick too

Would it be possible to look at lift sharing for a month. Even if no colleagues live in the same town/village, if you picked someone up on root for a bit of petrol money it could help.

Any chance of getting any overtime or extra work. Even a couple of hours here or there could pay for a significant portion of your food bill.

Thank you so so so much for all of your wonderful replies. Apologies, I've been on a 12 hour shift at work and not long got home.

My debt is credit card used for IVF. At the time I was in a relationship and we were to pay it off together, even though its in my name. 5 rounds of IVF failed and took its toll, he buggered off and left me with debt (to add insult to injury, he now has 2 children).

I have spoken to my boss today and there is a hardship fund apparently. Up to £300 which is paid off at £50 a month. She's started the ball rolling to see what I can get.

I will have another read through all the suggestions and see what I can come up with.

Thanks all.