I claim tax credits and could work more than I do but choose not to. I'm also pg with #5 which was unplanned and so will be claiming even more tax credits soon. Who wants to come and lecture me?

[KidderminsterKate]

I claim what I am entitled to and what the government says I can have......this seems to get peoples knickers in a twist AIBU?

cj- do you not ever visit the GP or the dentist?

kate I said in an earlier post that I would love to have 5 kids but sadly cannot afford it. Your response was that people could choose to have lots of kids if they didnt put material wealth(house etc) first. Sorry but that is bollocks! My dh has a good job(professional), I am a sahm to our 3 dcs. We most certainly do not live in a "mcmansion" rather a tiny ex council house in a run down area. We dont have foreign holidays-ever and we drive a low range car(which we cant afford to fix). We barely manage to make ends meet.
I would love to have another child but we really cannot afford it. I am also losing cb in 2013 which will make our situation even more dire.
Be honest would you have had so many children if you knew that there was no safety net of benefits?. I doubt it.

Of course she would pinkie, she'd have fed them, housed them and heated them with "love", "cuddles" and by being a "great mummy".

Jealous of you op?

God no, I would hate to build a lifestyle dependent on state subsidies which can be ( and indeed, are being ) cut /changed at any moment. I also think its a very dicey attitude to pass onto your children, probably by the time they are breeding there will be nothing in the way of tax credits anyway- so they may need to rely on working to their maximum potential rather than playing the system to work the minimum possible for the most handouts.

Nor would most people want 5 kids - but that's another story

Some people have to build a lifestyle dependant on state subsidies though no. You cant work you maximum potential if the well paid jobs are not there. By the times my 3 dd's 'breed' i hope they do the best they can within the situation they are in.

Janey pet, thats right the systems are changeing. I dont think they just affect the poor though.

Should dinner ladies not breed
Factory workers
Shop assistants

The list goes on and on, you know the shit jobs non of the 'posh' people want to do'

With the amount of high earning councii workers they are laying off in my area i would imagine even more people with be claiming benefits, not just the dregs of society.

Yes - it affects everyone- but the more you rely on state subsidies, the more fucked you'll be when they're cut- thats just logic!

Don't understand that last point about 'posh' people- whatever 'posh' means?!

Forgot to add

The 3 dd's might just get luck, marry a wealthy man and be able to sit at home on there arses all day slagging off the less fortunate, some of which work a damn site harder than them

Lucky? Good grief, that's about the lowest aspiration I have for my daughter. I hope she gets herself as well qualified as she can and aspires to support herself rather than rely on anyone else

Janey, i have already said some people have to rely on benefits to top up their wages as they work 40hrs but get shit wages. Why should someones who works have to live in poverty. Maybe if they made working 40hrs match the money you get working PT and claiming WTC no one would be claiming. Point is some businesses cant afford to pay a decent wage.

I was directing that at other people Janey, I would rather they worked as a barmaid and got slagged off for having a shit job than do the above.

That ow exactly the direction we are moving in- that going to work will pay, and playing the system to try to work less and receive more, won't.

Which is why I think the op is bonkers for parading her very dicey financial situation as if it's something desirable

Whoops - that is exactly the direction

But it wont go that way. Companies cant magic the money they havent got to pay better wages, they would go under and create more people claiming benefits.

Labour said working was going to pay, all that meant was work and get extra benefits.

The op said she would be worse off working FT, how is that right.

Its going exactly that way- read the threads about people finding their tax credits cut massively! Seriously- would you want your own daughter to be pregnant with her 5th kid, working part time and reliant on state subsidies. Id Be very worried if mine was.

A prime example is Nissan where my brothers work. One has a contract and the other is on a temporary contract

The one on a temporary contract gets 3 month contracts, cant get a mortgage and earns way less than the other brother.. He gets finished for a couple of weeks then took back on when a contract comes in. This has gone on for 18 months. Before that he worked at Komatsu and was layed off, before that he worked in a garage and was laid off. No one is taking on so this is his only option. In between he claims JSA. Is he wrong to claim benefits Janey???

No i wouldnt Janey, but all this depends on well paid steady jobs being available to people

OP ^People could 'afford' 5 kids if they didnt want big mcmansions, foreign holidays, fancy cars, boden clothes and waitrose food and other such poncetastic things"

Riiiiight...see DP and I both work and we struggle to afford the one. Terraced house, go-kart for a car, no fripperies whatsoever. You are therefore talking utter bollocks.

What is a 'mcmansion' btw? Sounds like somewhere Ronald McDonld would inhabit.

In response to earlier posts I like Kerrygold butter in vast quantities. DD is drawn to my cat's IAMS biscuits.

"I would rather they worked as a barmaid and got slagged off for having a shit job"

I started off as a "barmaid" and now own three pubs( not such a shit job.) like any job if you work hard , you will reap the benefits ( and not the government kind!!)

Ive worked as a barmaid on and off for years. Pubs in my town are shuttered up, one has been raised to the ground.

I don't think YABU at all.

We have wanted more children for a few years but put it off because we did not want to claim child benefit or tax credit. We could now just about afford our second, we are in a position where DH can reduce his hours. We have been trying for about a year and nothing has happened and I suspect it is because I am too old.

How have my rather stupid actions helped anyone? I was pigheaded and very unreasonable .. and rather sad.

No as soon as we could do without it we stopped.

My point was that it is often not wise to wait until you can afford to have children to actually have them

We were, it would seem, ahead of our time, as we will lose it soon anyway.