So fed up of having no money.

[BananaSun1989]

That's it.
That's the thread.

Empathy OP, I know how it feels. It's just the monotonous grind of it all and society now is so divided between the haves and have nots.

If anyone has maxed out their credit cards, overdrafts etc. they've screwed their credit score already. May be worth considering entering a debt management plan with CAP or Stepchange and getting yourself a two month "Breathing Space". Then you pay what you can afford which may be virtually nothing

If you've no assets or mortgage, consider a Debt Relief Order which can write off substantial debts. Local authorities will often pay the fee for this via Citizens Advice. Do not leave yourself in desperate straits to pay some bank interest on unsecured borrowings or other debts

Hahahahahha

Totally get it. I'm now on an IVA so I can't get credit. I had to borrow a fiver from a work colleague today so a direct debit wouldn't bounce.

This summer has been done completely on the cheap.... lots of picnics and luckily a summer pass to a soft play so I we've been there A LOT! x

Batch cooking requires ingredients in the fridge and cupboards. Not always available. Solidarity, OP. I eat once a day now to make food stretch.

Same here.

I'm aware if how patchy it is. I am also aware that many people don't know it exists at all. Mainly because they have never needed it and don't have the foggiest idea how to find it.

All I can say is that out here in a rural, low skilled, low literacy hinterland, where we do what we can and are well used and well supported, there are still people who need to be shown where we are.

He really is everything 🥰. It’s just so fucking shit that 2 full time workers who used to be ok, not well off, but ok are now absolutely fucked for no reason at all other than politics. Rishi Sunak tells us all to “hang in there and we’ll be ok” while enjoying his millions and free meals in the Westminster canteen, while (at least some of) the government workers that he’s in charge of paying go hungry in order to feed their kids 😡.

I’m sure she’s having a wonderful time off .

We put too much pressure on ourselves.

If I was younger I think I'd do OF too

Some female American wrestler makes a million USD per year on it apparently

I'm very broad minded and wouldn't mind at all doing this sort of thing ... except the fear of being recognised. If I could do it all privately then wouldn't care less. How do you stay unrecognised.... or is that impossible? tia

Why am I being derided when I actually provide support and others are suggesting batch cooking - which requires the funds to buy a large amount of food and pay for the fuel to process, store and reheat it?

Bloody typical of this place sometimes.

I just want to join you in venting and getting this out as I'm on the verge of a breakdown and need to vent.

No money. It's shit. It's causing my marriage to fail. I feel guilty everyday whilst DDs friends invite her to soft play or to whatever else which is a fiver to get in and I can't even cover that. Let alone the fuel to go in the car to get her there. I've had to steal things from Aldi / Lidl. I don't have a food bank near enough to get to. I've sold every nice thing I have on market place for a fraction of what they're worth. All my heirlooms of jewellery have been pawned for a pittance.
Cancer has well and truly fucked up my life.
The only good thing I have done is toilet train DD so we don't have to buy nappies.

It's fucking shit. Life is relentless at the moment.
The charities offered to cancer patients can't really do much financially apart from generic advice. I've had the debt 'holiday' but 3 months came around quick.
Pip is a laughable joke.

DH earns too much for us to get anything apart from child benefit. I'm trying to work myself all the hours I can but I'm limited due to my health.

It's fucking shit.
Sorry for my moan I just needed to do that today as the world is getting on top of me. I feel like the shittest mum in the world. Going to have to really search the cupboards to see what I can put in DDs lunchbox tomorrow.

People have no idea. They say their skint but they have savings. They can get a hair cut. There is a BIG difference between 'being careful' and being poor. The only saving Grace we have is that we have a roof over our head. Gas and electric haven't been paid in months.

It's relentless at the moment. Totally and utterly hopeless and relentless. And here I am listening to grotty men wank down the phone to me while I'm trying to hold my life together my a thread just to earn a bit of money.

A HUGE fuck you to life at the moment. Where is the fucking help.

Also this was not a pity post. I don't want pity at all. It's to all the people on here that apparently 'get being skint' whilst their bills are paid, they have more than £20 worth of food in their cupboards and are not counting change just to get a pint of milk.

I think it’s safe to say the OP will have thought of this.

She’s not asking for budgeting ideas.

And tbh everyone, but everyone, knows this

Also to whoever is suggesting batch cooking, I haven't got a spare tenner to spend on mince for a shitting cottage pie to last a week!

I’m so sorry, cancer is an utter bastard
Please, please ignore if it’s already on your radar, but Macmillan have a one off grant scheme, if you’re eligible
https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/get-help/financial-and-work/macmillan-grants

sending love 🌼

And whereas my dinners like this used to last 2 nights, now my son is an actual man, the whole lot is gone in a night.

Sorry that people are struggling I know its awful. I do think a thread like this is sometimes needed. To show society how people are truly struggling . And it educates some people as well.

Just to add please check the entitled to calculator to be sure your not entitled to help . You never know and there's no harm in checking.

I probably shouldn't have posted all of that. I'm sorry if it seemed a bit 'race to the bottom' I didn't intend to do that.

I'm just struggling today. Really struggling losing hope. As much as it's awful to see others struggling this thread makes me feel so much less alone.

Me too @BananaSun1989 on mat pay at the moment but money situation wasn’t that great beforehand! Summer holidays have been pretty boring for poor DS so far.

Sick of having only pennies in my account and on the countdown to child benefit payment or mat pay. I have started matched betting with some success but that is pretty slow and all the money I’ve made from it so far will be spent on DS uniform. Then it’s Christmas to worry about.

OK, I was only trying to be nice and help with a little idea. I've been where the OP is and I know how awful it feels. Apologies if I said something out of line. Clearly on MN you only have to breathe and you've done something to offend someone 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

@washingmachineslivelongerwithcalgon , thank you for your eloquent post. You absolutely should have posted, you have been massively let down in many ways and people need to know the reality of your situation. I for one am feeling very angry on your behalf right now

I empathise with many people on this thread. Things are shit for many people right now and Mumsnet often just doesn’t reflect that.

We aren’t as broke as many but we are really struggling at the moment. Dh works full time in a just over min wage job, I can’t work as I’m disabled (highest rates of pip long term) and we have two dc - one with autism and learning difficulties aged 11 and another adult dd aged 20 home from university. We live rurally and she hasn’t been able to find work. So we’re providing for an extra person food wise everything wise and it’s hard. We are down to our last £100 of our £2500 overdraft and already thousands in debt on ccs. Thankfully we paid off our mortgage a few years back due to inheritance but otherwise we would literally be on the bones of our arse. We just balance everything by moving things about right now but it is like living on a knife edge. If anything breaks we are truly fucked. Our hob is broken except for one ring, our Hoover is broken, our window lock is broken, none of which we can afford to fix.

You may not like the style of this song, but it's had 15 million views in 7 days. We're all feeling it OP.

I don't really have any advice, I'm sorry, but I wanted to offer empathy.

I've been there. My DC are grown up now but when they were small life was so, so hard. I left their father after an incident of DA and became homeless in the process. I got back on my feet but those first few years nearly broke me. I sat in the dark once DC were in bed to save electricity. I embroidered flowers on my 1 pair of shoes to cover up the fact my toes were poking out of them (they still let in water through the soles though). I barely ate, didn't drink, didn't smoke. I had to say no to meeting friends for a £1 coffee at the local cafe. It was shit.

People who have never been really poor don't realise how poverty relentlessly saps the joy out of life. All your energy is given over to managing it if you're not careful. Take away the hope it can ever get better and people give up. Like my friend with PTSD who will never work again and therefore never live a life free from poverty because of what someone else did to her. This is her life forever. Endlessly stretching out for years of not doing anything or having anything nice because she can't afford it. It is spectacularly shit and makes me very, very angry when I see how much wealth is squandered in this country yet how we treat those who are poor. (Now I'm better off I help my friend as much as I can because if I'm better off do will those be who I care about, but she has her pride, doesn't want to be a charity case and knows she can't be secure in it because it's not her own money.)

I was lucky. As a single parent with no family I had to wait til my DC were a bit older, but I had the advantage of a good education. I retrained and have almost trebled my salary. I will never forget those dark years though. My DC say they don't really remember them and that they never felt 'poor' but my own memory of those precious early years has far too many episodes of lying awake worrying about bills, desperately trying to shave 20p off this and that on my budgeting spreadsheet to ensure I could buy milk, feeling guilty for depriving them of that school trip. Poverty leaves scars. That's something else people who have never been really poor just don't get.

I don't have any amazing advice or well-meaning platitudes. Retraining your way out of poverty is only an option for a limited few sadly. A more generous benefit system that also provides targeted, practical help (affordable child care and transport for a start) is what's needed. As someone up thread said, there's only so much you can budget. But I get it and I sympathise. I hope your circumstances change. 💐

I don’t want to do the whole “sending hugs” thing as it sounds so shite compared to what you’re up against but I felt every word of that. I’m sorry. People just do not understand.

The fuel thing really gets me too. I get short breaks / council respite funding for Ds to spend on activities but we live rurally, most things are 20 odd miles away. I can’t afford the petrol even if I can use some of the money for the actual activity. It’s just really shit.