To be really upset to read on MN

[shootingstarz]

That parents are going without food because they can?t afford to feed their kids.

Hardly a flaming Morris, merely asking you why you keep on raising the smoking and gambling thing on a thread about how people are struggling to eat.

TheBigJessie - it just struck me as an odd sense of priorities.

HintofBream - seriously - RTFT.

Bream

That was a completely daft comment and you simply haven't understood the rest of the thread, seriously.

oh har-de-har-har. how clever of your hintofbream to realise and point out how stupid we all are. of course, lets all of us thicko poor sell or computers (mine was free BTW) and we shall eat like kings for all eternity or however long £50 will allow us to eat like kings for

Cook the computer in a bain-marie and cut out the middle man?
Then eat cake perhaps?

Why did it?

Myself, I'd call it long-term financial thinking. Selling useful [item A] for less than you paid for it, because you need money now, rarely leads anywhere good. Especially if it's something that is important, because then you have to get ^another [item A]. Often on credit, from Brighthouse.

I've seen it so many times, and I am amazed by the number of people on this thread who seem to think it actually an approach to get into. It is an awful vicious circle.

even better, cancel the direct debit for the internet, wait for the balliffs to come round then catch them in a big net, boil in a pan, throw in some salt and get stuck in. cannibalism, it's the way of the future.

Have you got a net Booy?

I'm not working 40 hours per week slaving my guts out for people to own bailiff nets.

no but i will sell one of the children to buy one, (not the smaller one, no-one would pay enough for him ). hang on, why all this selling of kids to buy nets, i can just eat the kids save all the to-ing and fro-ing. 2 birds, one stone, i eat, and no longer have any kids to feed. sorted.

By the way, in case any one thinks I'm sneering, I have actually utilized Cash Converters before.

can't wait to see DM tomorrow. "benefit mum threatens to eat her kids in order to pay for internet"

Sorry, I missed all the posts up-thread about computer access etc. Of course I can see that it is very useful, nevertheless a lot of people do manage without it and survive. We all did once upon a time.

hint have you read hugadalek's posts? she is regularly housebound by her illness. how do you suggest she survives without the internet?

Yes, Yes HintofBream, we all managed without electricity once upon a time - although looks like some will be going back to that state of affairs.

My childrens' homework has to be completed on a computer and often requires access to the internet - my youngest has to do quizes and things online and my eldest has to do research and upload essays and things.

I started reading this thread, and had to go out to morrisons for a bit of a top up shop. Up until December last year, I too had not eaten so the kids could, sold the contents of my jewellery box , you name it, to keep our heads above water. Fortunately we are now much much better off than we were . When I got to the checkout, there was a woman, not much younger than me, two kids in the pushchair , and she looked knackered . Absolutely fucking grey. In her basket, was 8 pints of milk , some tins of soup, a loaf of bread, and some other bits and bobs. Not much. When she went to pay, her card got declined , and she started to get really upset . Turned out the dh had done a runner, taking the cash with him , and left her with nothing .

So I thought , fuck it , and paid it for her . There are no food banks near here, and she needed help . Unfortunately it made her cry. We've ended up swapping numbers , and I'm trying to see if I can help her while she gets on her feet .

So what I'm really trying to say , is thanks OP. By posting the thread, I've helped someone in need, and I have a feeling she's going to end up as a friend .

Are parents going without food so much that they actually become quite thin or skinny? Have tried to read the thread, but I haven't seen anyone say that. And I'm not seeing it irl, either.

Because that's when it would matter to me, when parents actually became visibly undernourished, and would make this seem like a truly important issue.

fwiw, my mother did just this, in the USA, in 1958 or 1959; she became underweight as a result of eating very little & yet trying to keep her babies fed. But I think she still smoked at the time so economics of her choices not very simple. Reminds me of similar mother in Angela's Ashes, actually.

Doing without internet access in a world where no-one has internet is very different to doing so in a world where most seem to have access.

Let me draw an analogy. Take hot water, and the general business of washing and personal hygiene. You can survive perfectly well without even a bath once a week. Elizabeth the 1st reportedly washed four times a year. This lack of washing did not disadvantage her.

But if I, or anyone else, tried to emulate Elizabeth the 1st, how well do you think we would do at a job-interview?

Plomino. You made me cry. What a wonderful person you are.

Bream

There used to be local shops that delivered, neighbours to chat to, and a community out there to rub along with.

Now it's all online, especially cut price things (eg Approved Food, my current favourite purveyors of slightly out of date but very cheap foods).

So society has changed completely and unless you have online facilities you pay more for everything, and you also become very isolated very fast.

I'm late to this thread, but I'm disgusted at some of the attitudes I've seen :(

I'm a student doctor and single mum. I fully accept it was a choice, as I took redundancy 3 years ago from a dead-end job I hated and applied (and was acccepted) to study medicine. I know doctors are made out to be rich money-grabbers on MN and hopefully one day I'll be able to earn a decent salary and pay taxes again, but right now, there's no way you would describe me as rich!

I'm not entitled to grants/loans etc here (not in the UK), so my monthly income consists of ?400 benefits and ?620 CS from XH. I therefore officially earn too much for income support!
I pay ?610 rent for the one-bedroomed flat I share with my 3 kids, ?90 health insurance, ?110 utilities, and ?30 for (subsidised) school meals. We get a subsidised public transport pass for ?10 a month for the 4 of us.

My car is 15 years old and in poor repair. My parents pay the insurance for me. I only use it twice a month to take my oldest DD (who has SN) to/from her residential school an hour from here. That costs around ?60 in petrol per month.
My youngest DD also has issues and I'm currently spending ?80 a month on appointments with a therapist for her.

So that leaves me with ?120 per month for everything else - food, clothes, school trips etc. My parents buy each kid 2 pairs of shoes a year (school shoes and winter boots).

As the kids get a decent lunch at school, we eat simple foods in the evening. This week I bought a packet of dried split peas for ?2, an onion for a few pence and boiled them up in a big pan of water into enough pea soup for our evening meals for 5 days.

I can get 2 bags of plain, unbranded flour for ?1, which will make 4 small loaves of bread (I already had some dried yeast in, but it's ?2 for 12 sachets). Someone gave us a jar of homemade jam, which we have been eating with the bread for breakfast.

So we've survived on ?5 for 5 days! Weekends are harder, as the kids need protein at least once a day. Some days I feed them first, then eat whatever's left over. This week I've managed to buy a frozen chicken, which should last for several meals. I will boil up the bones for a soup for next week's dinners... On market days, I collect the overripe fruit and veg the stallholders are throwing out and cook it asap.

I should add that I don't drink or smoke and don't go out at night, as I can't afford a babysitter. On the 2 nights a month my XH has the kids, I'm usually so knackered I go to bed early, or occasionally visit a friend.

I can't imagine how people do this long-term, knowning this is all the future will ever hold. I keep myself going by remembering that in a couple of years I'll be a junior doctor with a salary and will one day be able to pay for my own kids' higher education!

Yes, Jessie is right.

Imagine applying for a job: 'Hello, well, I couldn't actually access the job spec online, so instead I stole a mobile phone and pestered your secretary for it over the phone instead, then when the credit ran out I nipped on the bus and came over to find out about it in person, and now I'm here for an interview and I'm hoping you can see me right now, since of course I didn't get your confirmation email of the times as I don't have the net. But I'm well professional, me!'

Very good, Bream, very clever.
I'm not actually on a computer, I'm on a phone, which is £15 a month for 200 mins and unlimited 3G. That's about £4 a month more than a landline would cost me. £4 a month might sound like a mad extravagance I'll grant you, but as my dd has alot of allergies I like to know I can dial 999 wherever I am in case of emergency, and since literally everything I own that wasn't a gift is from freecycle or gumtree, including all my dd's cloth nappies, I reckon I've probably made it back.

plomino. i am welling up reading that! i'm sure that woman is so grateful for what you did. i had to get food in yesterday and could only afford up to £15. the total came to £15.47 but i truly needed everything i got and i had to put it on the debit card. it means the rent wont be paid on monday and we literally have nothing else til next wednesday so the food will have to stretch and yes this is factoring in me not eating several meals and including dinner at my parent's house on sunday. it sucks ass big style but my children have to eat. the rent will jsut have to wait.

plomino another one here welling up.

[Thanks]