for being annoyed that our tax is paying for people to buy wallpaper.

[suzexxx]

I saw a post from a girl on facebook asking whether the social could help her buy things to do up her home e.g wallpaper and paint. Alot of people commented that she could get some vouchers to use on a certain paint brand and B&Q etc.

AIBU to think this girl should save some money or attempt to get a job for extra luxeries before expecting the social to foot the bill?

I'm moving house next month and the whole house will need decorating. However i am realistic in the fact i won't be able to afford to wallpaper the whole place at once, instead doing a bit at a time as and when i can afford it. My partner earns a moderate income and i'm currently on maternity leave, so money is tighter at the moment, but would never expect someone to pay for something i could manage without like wallpaper.

I completely understand people using the social to buy essential items such as a cooker or fridge, but not non essentials.

general rule we must try and not knock people when they are in difficulties. They are a soft target.

Another thing, it is easy to be judmental when we are behind screen
names. (as we all are)

Sockrp, Thanks for explaining. I can't follow the thread as it goes in so many directions

Joanna's posts are really interesting. My cousin at one point worKed in supermarkets and was never able to get onto a management training programme as they only accepted staff with a degree. It didn't matter if the degree was media or biochemical studies, but you had to have it.

I studied part time for one of my degrees with a woman who worked in the uk's biggest supermarket chain. She desperately wanted onto the management training programme but again couldn't because she wasn't qualified to a high enough level, thus years of study in the evenings to try to be accepted. She never managed as after putting years of hard work in her marraige broke up and she couldn't complete the studying for financial reasons.

Another friend of mines husband is a store manager and again he is a graduate and had to go through several years I house training on top of that before becoming assistant manager never mind store manager.

Of course that doesn't cover every supermarket chain in the uk but for Joanna with a few gcse's to succeed in 4 years of work getting to where my cousin and co-student couldn't is a real achievement. She must have other amazing skills that they picked up on - negotiation, diplomacy, leadership, the ability to influence and bond people perhaps?

Interesting is an imaginative way of putting it RhondaJean

This is interesting, to say the least.

To sit there in judgement that it's wrong for council to provide decorating vouchers for tenants to buy "luxuries" like wallpaper, then cry that you can not afford wallpaper as you are on maternity leave is beyond ridiculous - on two counts.

Firstly, if this child was planned and you can't afford wallpaper, I'm not confident you're going to be financially able to enjoy the next few years. If the child was not planned, then perhaps you don't have much idea of what it costs to bring up a child - in which case, be ready, because you're in for some real surprises.

Secondly, just WHO do you think you are to judge what's right and wrong in terms of government funding? Consider this: I have been a council tenant for over 20 years. I have been a single parent for most of that time, and did spend a few years on benefits (hence why I was never able to afford my own home). When I moved in I decorated my new (council) house with my own money from the sale of my own house - and I mean I decorated ALL of it; it was NOT done for me, even though I was eligible for the council to do that. I have worked other than that all my adult life - yes; I am a taxpayer too. During my child's early years I went to university and graduated with a degree - and three weeks later was again working. Two years ago I underwent aggressive cancer treatment, during which I was forced to live on benefits - something I have avoided whenever possible, to the point that I returned to full-time work only 9 months after initial diagnosis, regardless of the fact that I am much less physically capable and energetic from follow-on difficulties of chemo and radio. Six months ago the council needed to do a complete rewire of my house and badly damaged every single wall in my house, several floors and much of the paintwork. Given this potted history and the fact that I can only earn one wage to keep myself and my son in "luxuries" like food, clothing and shelter, are you going to tell me that it's wrong that the council should remunerate me for the damage it did to the house I had kept in good order for all those years?

And believe me, I'm not whining that I'm badly done-to here; I am merely pointing out that you should think twice before judging people. As you will probably realise from my first paragraph, it's not a nice feeling, is it? It's a shame that you feel you can't afford wallpaper - and I truly wish you the best in budgeting when your child arrives. You are fortunate in that you do, seemingly, have work to go back to and that you do have two potential wage-earners to provide decorating money. You have more than many. But it might be a good idea to do yourself and others a favour and keep your blinkered opinions a little more quiet until you know more.

"It is wiser to be thought of as a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln (papraphrasing King Solomon).

Why have you reanimated this zombie thread?

Is it against the rules to post on old threads?

Not really, but why bother?

I felt so sorry for the people who moved into my Mum's house a month after she died. I gutted the place, as required, but the walls were thick with nicotine. I popped back just before I handed the keys to the council and the house smelled absolutely foul. Good luck if anyone gets a free roll of wallpaper for a council place.

Why does the decorating have to be wallpaper? I have my own house and it has never been wallpapered in 40 years since it was new. There's nothing wrong with a coat of paint now and then.