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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wish all these filthy rich people who claim to know what it's like to live off a pittance, would just fuck the hell off?

294 replies

sickofthisshite · 30/04/2014 11:03

AIBU?

Sarah Ferguson claims a family of 4 can easily live off £80 p/wk to cover all living costs

Boris Johnson has said the poor "should show gratitude to the mega rich"

Iain Duncan Smith says living off £53 is doable for a single person.

According to DC, customers at Waitress are "friendlier & more engaged" than those he has interacted with at other supermarkets. As if people who shop in Sains, Tesco, etc don't have opinion on politics & the state of the country, their lives. Just because someone is inarticulate or introverted does not mean there thoughts & feelings are irrelevant.

The list goes on.

Who the hell are these prats to judge those in the vicious, relentless struggle of poverty.

I hope there perfect little bubble is one day burst.

It makes me sick to my very core.

OP posts:
Original poster
sickofthisshite · 30/04/2014 11:04
  • I hope their. Not there
OP posts:
Original poster
sickofthisshite · 30/04/2014 11:05

Waitrose! Stupid autocorrect

OP posts:
TequilaMockingbirdy · 30/04/2014 11:07

Yes it is very annoying. They haven't got a clue what it's like to be really skint.

Although I could live off £53 a week if I was getting housing benefit etc.

notthegirlnextdoor · 30/04/2014 11:08

YADNBU

They can all fuck off to fuckoffity land.

notthegirlnextdoor · 30/04/2014 11:09

53 a week? 20 of that on gas and electric for the week. Then 33 for food, water rates and TV licence not to mention getting to and from the JC and interviews?! Not enough by a very long shot.

Original poster
sickofthisshite · 30/04/2014 11:14

And then never come back and leave us in peace. How does a person born into such privilege begin to fathom what it's like to be continually kicked down into the mud with every attempt that you try to better.

Apologies for the pouring of outrage. I'm going through the shittiest of shitty times right now.

OP posts:
TequilaMockingbirdy · 30/04/2014 11:15

20 gas and leccy
25 for food
don't need tv license, no-one needs a tv license
not sure how much I pay for water
I can walk to the job centre and interviews, can push to a day saver if needed.

For me personally I could live off it. I'm sure most could if they absolutely had to. It wouldn't be pleasant, but I could do it. I've done it before.

Original poster
sickofthisshite · 30/04/2014 11:15

*to better yourself/your situation

OP posts:
SarcyMare · 30/04/2014 11:17

those program where they pretend to do it are even more annoying, standing there in their £500 suits and handmade shoes, only having a perfect regular week where nothing brakes and new clothes are not required.

notthegirlnextdoor · 30/04/2014 11:18

I did it 7 years ago and I really pity people who have to do it now, it was hard enough back then and I was 20 and in a house share.

As for tv licence I don't know anyone who gets away with not paying it.

MunchMunch · 30/04/2014 11:19

YANBU
We're all in this together, yeah right! Angry

Original poster
sickofthisshite · 30/04/2014 11:20

Yes £53 is might be doable for a single person.

My point is though, that the filthy rich can not possibly claim to know what it's like to be poor or to have been born into poverty. UNLESS they are self made coming from humble beginnings and therefore know what it is to really struggle.

OP posts:
Original poster
sickofthisshite · 30/04/2014 11:25

MunchMunch that has to be the most annoying slogan EVER! And most false too.

In this together - then why isn't DC shopping in Aldi to help cut the budget? Oh that's right, Aldi customers are ignorant, unfriendly & disengaged!

OP posts:
greenwinter · 30/04/2014 11:26

I think the thing they can never understand is the daily grind of it all. I still remember getting my first pay packet from a low paid job, after being unemployed for 6 months, and the joy of being able to buy "luxuries" like flavoured yoghurt.

Thomyorke · 30/04/2014 11:28

The problem with these people is for a week, a month and even maybe six months it is doable. You already have clothes, appliances, memories of the last night out, holiday and you know there is an end. They can not emphasize because it is not their reality. As a child my parents where poor but even then is is different from today. Having a couple of quid left is not a problem unless it is your only couple of quid.

Joylin · 30/04/2014 11:29

Yanbu, they just show how little they know about any life less privileged. Fools.

sparechange · 30/04/2014 11:31

OP, totally anecdotally, I think self-made people can be equally, if not more unsympathetic, because they have the mentally of 'if I can do it, anyone can and there is no excuse'

ephemeralfairy · 30/04/2014 11:32

Yanbu!

I agree with everything you have said. I'm thankfully ok at the moment, although I am on a tight budget I have a job. But in the past I've really struggled. The thing that always enraged me was the lack of acknowledgement that jobseeking costs a lot of money!
Travel to JC and interviews, paper/ink/photocopying costs to print CVs, internet access for job searches, online applications etc. Most libraries limit use of public computers and this bastard government is closing libraries all over the place anyway, so if you have one in walking distance you're pretty lucky!

MorrisZapp · 30/04/2014 11:33

What would you like them to do?

It is unlikely that anybody elected to government in this country will have lived on benefits or nmw at any point in their adult lives.

So how can they get true understanding of people who do? Genuine question.

TequilaMockingbirdy · 30/04/2014 11:33

notthegirl I mean you don't need TV, not that you don't need to pay it.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 30/04/2014 11:35

don't need tv license, no-one needs a tv license

If you have a television, then you do need a licence for it. If you don't have one, it is an offence (not saying I agree with them, they're a bloomin' nuisance). But if you don't pay for yours if you have a television, then the costs for all other licence payers are increased.

And that is not very fair.

I do get cross with people born into privileged backgrounds passing judgement on those who haven't, however, my neither o/h nor I were not born into great (financial) backgrounds, but have worked exceptionally hard to make life better. We were both brought up on council estates, I lived in B&B for a year when I left my home town to look for work, o/h left school with not one single qualification - we now run our own business.

And we are trying to teach our own children the same. A good life does not and should not be given to you on a plate - you do have to work hard to get a better life.

It is difficult if life is dealing you rubbish, but get past that stage and look forward. Onward and upward . . .

Original poster
sickofthisshite · 30/04/2014 11:35

greenwinter they have no idea. No idea whatsoever what it is to have sleepless nights over having to budget £40 worth of weekly groceries. Or how you're going to afford to fix your money pit of a car so you can get to work.

The working poor Sad

OP posts:
TequilaMockingbirdy · 30/04/2014 11:37

Cross posts evans :)

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 30/04/2014 11:38

Yes, Tequila - sorry Smile

manicinsomniac · 30/04/2014 11:38

Tequilamockingbirdy - what about rent?! I don't understand how anyone can live on £53 a week.

Rent for a room in a shared house in the cheapest area of the country - maybe £40??
Food - £8 if you really bought basic of the basic cheap stuff
Bills - maybe, maybe you could do it on £5 a week in a shared house if you had no internet, no phone and almost never used the heating but I don't know.
And then you're left with absolutely nothing.

Totally beyond me how anyone lives on it. I have a single friend who lives on about £70 a week JSA (because she is older maybe?)and I know her parents have helped out when things have got desperate.

OP, YANBU (except about hoping something bad happens to them, that is U)