To be really upset to read on MN

[shootingstarz]

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

Morris if someone living in poverty spends £1on the lottery it's because they know that it is the only way they can possibly stand a chance of getting out of the cycle of poverty. They are not being feckless. They are gambling. Would it be better to invest their £1 in an ISA?

Morris I do understand, but can you for a moment try to understand why?

Imagine your life like that and then try for a bit of sympathy, rather than judgement.

Suspect I'm on a loser here.

if people can't feed themselves I want to know where all my tax money is going

Just priceless! You pay tax so therefore it must all be going to us scroungers living the high life get back to your dm.

eat toast for a few meals because they would rather tax their car I've explained the situation about my car. Please, what would your solution be?

I'm ok now but in the past I've had to go without food on a salary of £20,000, so I can well believe that those on benefits regularly find themselves in that situation. In my case it was a combination of childcare and commuting costs, and unforseen events such as the fridge and washing machine breaking down in a 3-week period, which had to be put on credit card and then became a debt. It was a managed debt because I'm quite finance savvy and got it on a 0% deal, but it still required money being paid each month from what was already a tight budget.

I'm still skint, but this is because of personal priorities (I am paying for extra childcare in order to retrain), but the only alternative to the above scenario would have been to give up my job and I can imagine the reaction that would have got from some posters. Back in those days I didn't buy any new clothes/shoes in a 3-year period, no CDs, downloads or anything else 'frivolous', no holidays, no alchohol or tobacco, not even the occasional cup of coffee out, and I was still having to scrimp on food.

Oh yes, going cold because I can't afford to put money into the gas card thingie that guzzles money. Children get extra blankets and hot water bottles. The electricity heats water enough for one quick shower, about four or five minutes of warmth, so I dump the kids in the bath and wash them, switching the water off between applications, then they wash all over with flannels that have been catching the water. I get whatever is leftover, so usually cold showers. Brrrr! Took me ages to sort the meter from the previous tenants massive debts, they wanted proof and had no-shows from their guys etc. Was having to put £30 a week in during winter and it wasn't lasting the week because so much of it was going on someone else's debt. Should get than money back, and once I've been with this company a bit longer I can change to a different meter and pay by DD.

I already have a form of food stamps, milk tokens. I use them to stock in fresh milk, fruit and frozen veggies. Very handy, although Aldi and Lidl, where I do majority of shopping, don't accept them.

I have to find £170 a month on top of housing benefit to pay my rent.

I have extra expenses while my mobility and health are poor that I have to somehow fund. Like buying probiotics, supplements, support bandages, bus fares, wheelchair hire, nursery fees, transport to and from hospital (though I do get this back, I have to have it in the first place) etc.

Food is just one thing I have to cope with. I am fortunate in that my mum helps me out quite often, she'll buy my children school shoes, and she'll come in and often bring me bread and diet coke as a treat, magazines for the kids (my DD was off school with a D+V bug, it was a lovely cheer me up delivery). But I am currently worried about bailiffs coming in for debts I have been doing my best to pay off for almost six years now, since I became ill, and have found myself becoming less able to keep up with the repayment plans and have defaulted. I'm getting help from the CAB, both with applications for disability benefit and with sorting out the debt issues again, but I am stuck stuck stuck, can't work and can't get out of debt, so have to find ways to cope as things become more expensive and life gets harder to afford.

MyDogShit maybe Morris will let you park it on her drive then you can SORN it

BrianCoxHSH - more food vouchers would be wonderful for me BECAUSE you can't spend them on gas/electric bills. It would mean I had no choice but to live on good food, not scrimp on fruit and veg to pay the bills.

I'm newly skint, since separating from my husband and his business. Although I am getting tax credits and free school meals, there isn't enough money at the moment to pay bills and afford a healthy standard of food.

Every week I get a food voucher for £3.10 for fruit, veg and milk - this is what keeps us going for the last three days of the week when I have absolutely no money, despite careful budgeting. I buy food when the tax credits come in, but always have to buy as little as possible, and I am still not meeting my bills.

The voucher means we do not run out of milk for the own brand weetabix and I can buy a surprising amount of cut-price veg with it.

Luckily for me I now have a job - start next week. I am very aware that if I had not been lucky enough to get a job (with over 100 people going for each part-time low paid vacancy) then I would have very soon had to cut down even further on food.

I think more food vouchers would be great for poorer families. There should be a voucher for rice/pasta/flour/cereal(not sugar coated) and one for eggs/meat/fish/nuts too.

Giving more food vouchers would not imply that poor people cannot budget well enough or spend their money on drugs/fags/booze, rather it would imply that all children should have a proper diet regardless of parental income.

Anyone who is up in arms about this should live for a month in their shoes.

That would shut you up.

Or, actually make you really vocal about It.

HTH in a really passive aggressive way.

Bloody hell, I am the squeezed middle class and am bloody thankful for that.

Cunts.

at the minute i'm missing about 3/4 meals a week. the ones i am having are toast or cereal. i usually miss lunch as ds1 is at school and wont notice that i'm not eating with him although sometimes it is unavoidable that i miss dinner. i never have breakfast and about 50% of the days i have either lunch or dinner. i fill up on cups of tea. i live in the UK.

I think a system that allows StrandedBear to be £270 worse off because she is studying rather than staying at home is deeply flawed. By choosing university she has a better chance of securing a well paid job and not needing to rely on benefits.

The benefits system is in need of a massive overhaul, it's just unfortunate that the wrong party are in power and tackling it with such glee.

wow it amazes me how much people know how others live and dismiss it as the poor being reckless with money

This is horrible :(

Where can you find food banks? Nothing local is coming up on Google

totem i'm sure you're trying to help bit do you not think I've done that already? Do you really think that because i'm pour it's because i'm stupid.

It comes across as yet another example of "you can't be that poor, you just don't know how to manage your money".

As I said, I'm sure you're trying to help.

I can remember my mum not eating a meal at tea time because there wasn't enough food to go around. If we left anything on our plates (which was rare) then she and my dad would have the leftovers... as I got older I cottoned on to what was happening so I used to make sure I pretended to be full and not eat everything.
I consider myself very fortunate to not be in this position with my family, but think I probably go a bit OTT with the 'be grateful children, there are others who have nothing' lectures

I think it's the just world hypothesis. Some people have to believe that those with difficult lives have brought it on themselves, because the alternative is to accept that it could happen to anyone - including them. And that requires a complete transformation of your world view. Far easier to remain in denial and blame the feckless poor.

the thought of food stamps leave me cold yep lets have the poor stand in line with food stamps and families like stranded and other posters wouldnt qualify anyway ,

Ok. I don't have a drive, I live in a flat.

I categorically said that the info I'm aware of re lottery, smoking etc is fact not judgement.

And one pound on a lottery ticket is indeed a v tempting spend, I do get that. I buy lottery tickets despite knowing the shore odds.

But one pound buys a loaf of bread. Or a bag of spuds. Or a box of weetabix.

So while I totally understand that those in crappy circumstances will want/need relief in whatever form they can afford, we're back to the personal choice thing.

My own mum was the classic 'fuck this, I refuse to live this way, let's order a Chinese' type of low income spender, and I've been there myself.

But saying that people truly cannot afford to eat is not the same as saying Christ, can you blame them for buying a measley lottery ticket.

i dont agree with food vouchers,for many reasons

far better to teach budgeting,cooking etc at school and home,that would help some of the problem but would take years to filter through

oh and paying a decent living wage would help but now im totally going of topic

people would just sell the food vouchers for cash...

or we would have the scenario where you would have your cupboards and fridge stocked with decent food all bought with food stamps and no money on the gas or electric to cook it with..

I am gobsmacked that people can say that they don't believe that there are people skipping meals due to lack of funds!

We all know that the cost of essentials have risen sharply every year. I'm talking about essentials like food,electricity,petrol and water. Before anyone mentions that food and petrol are luxuries- I'm referring to basics like butter and bread for food and petrol for those who need to travel regularly for medical appointments, or have to live rurally and can not walk far etc.

Yy to the poster who mentioned foodbanks. Our local paper is pushing this at the moment and I think it's great that they have drawn attention to this issue.

Good thinking tufty !

(ok, may have shot myself in the foot with the pour typo )

I had no idea either. That is sad.