AIBU to not understand luxerys these days and poverty.

[milton2591]

what do you class as luxury's ?
what do you class as living under the breadline?

UNder the breadline is struggling to pay for basics such as rent, food and heating. Clothing being worn out...no cash for travel.

Luxuries are holidays, cars, electronic gadgets and eating out etc,

Increasingly cars are used almost exclusively for commuting so they are not always luxuries.

Yes I sort of agree with the poster above but I've been on holidays while claiming benefits.

Poverty is not having enough money to feed clothe heat and do anything.

I have totally lost touch with reality I think :/
muff cakes by the way it isn't about benefits :) hope you enjoyed your holiday.

it is more about what as a nation we actually class a luxery and why so few people claim poverty before even giving up the stuff they have.

*many not few

Going to the hairdressers every 6/8 weeks = luxury
Kids going to activities = luxury
Take-aways = Luxury
Going out for coffee and a cake = luxury
Bottle of wine = luxury

Personally I class anything that you could do without, or that you could have got a suitable cheaper version of as a luxury. I generally find most peoples definition of poverty to be substantially wealthier than mine.

My SiL is now on benefits but doesn't see wine, holidays, taxis, new clothes and nights out as luxuries. She sees them as necessities. she's in a lot of debt for this reason. She text recently because she thought having £15 for the weekend was being in the 'poverty trap'.

Poverty is living in bad housing, being cold and hungry, not having money for medicines when you're poorly and having no way of climbing out of it. Makes my tummy hurt when I think of people being cold and hungry in this weather.

:(

azzbiscuit I feel the same as you !
I don't feel like I live under the breadline at all yet was told the other day I do :/

Poverty depends on the time in which you live, I was listening the other day to A History of Britain in Numbers: Prosperity and it was comparing years ago to now. Almost the poorest now would be thought of as very well off years back, to own books or to have more than one meal a day would count as luxury. It's all dependent on what society think of as essential at the time.

but do you think someone can claim poverty or living under the breadline whilst running a car ?

Well benefits are the minimum the gov say is livable (is that a word?) so you can't talk about poverty without talking about them. And when your on benefits your classed as living in poverty.

I think these days if you own a car, and use it to get you to and from work you can still be living on the bread line.

For many working poor running a car is significantly cheaper than commuting by public transport, and often commuting by public transport is impossible.

I drive btw and I am no where near rich , but when If I couldn't feed my children then I would give up my petrol money before cutting back on food .

what I meant muff was it wasn't a thread about people on benefits having luxury's

Think cars depend on where you live/job/etc, so could be a necessity or a luxury. I know I'd love to get rid of our car, but in our case it's a necessity, a bloody annoying one.

I've been thinking about this lately.
The Joseph Rowntree foundation has a minimum income standard based on the amount of money needed to achieve a standard of living considered adequate by the majority of people surveyed.
Its actually quite fascinating, the level of detail they go into.
Like, they have worked out the exact number of trousers, shirts and pants and adult man should own for example!

You can see how your income compares with the minimum income here

Thing is that people have different expenses and expectations but there is a set figure and below that you are classed as living in poverty, its a figure higher than the bare minimum. If you get less than that figure you can still live well depending on your own skills and to a certain extent your luck with housing. When I was living on benefits I had the time to shop wisely and the skills to cook from scratch. I also mostly shopped in charity shops for clothes and toys so my expenses were lower leaving more spare cash.

To me a luxury is anything I spend more on than I absolutely have to even better toilet roll etc. My life is surrounded by luxuries though others may not see them that way.

oh see dash I saw one articles that said 29 k for a family of four I was like :0

Going to the hairdressers every 6/8 weeks = luxury
Take-aways = Luxury
Going out for coffee and a cake = luxury
Bottle of wine = luxury
Going to pop concerts = luxury.
Sky TV= luxury
Cigarettes= luxury

My SIL and DN who have lived only on benefits for the last 10 years can regularly afford all of the above.

No matter how hard I try, I can't see DC's music/swimming lessons as a luxury. I think these should be provided to all chidlren for free. I also think every child should have the opportunity to paddle in the sea once a year.

I don't think a car, or internet are luxury, especially if you live in a rural area.

We've chosen car (very old banger) and internet for education (and a social life!) and phone for safety, all luxuries, over heating, hot water on tap, washing machine, dryer, tv, and some food.
I'm in a wheelchair and those luxuries are quality of life, a way of budgeting, and a way out of future problems here. I don't claim to be in poverty but take them away and we would be.

According to that calculator we need more than one and a half times what we live on!

I cant click the link justgetonwithit :) I hate to think what mine would be lol

For a basic standard of living, I need to earn:£44,959 per year, giving a net income of £680.57 per week
So that my income, after tax and benefits adjustments, is enough to cover what the public think is needed for a minimum acceptable standard of living.

Funnily enough, this is nearly our household income.

In response to Muff's comment about benefits being what the government deems you need to live off - that's a load of bollocks. If you live in London, after you pay your rent you can be expected to look after a family of five for less than £200 a week but if you live much further out then you can have anything up to £350 a week to pay for all your bills, food, clothing, basics.