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?

[sickofthisshite]

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.

I'm not bashing the rich. How fortunate to have so many options in life. How unfortunate though, that lots of wealthy people are poor in time, relationships, awareness, compassion and so on. I'm sure that not all "filthy rich" are egotistical and pity the poor.

We budget very bloody well but have been dealt some raw deal , unfortunately. We try our best to better ourselves. To work hard. Give our dc the love and attention they deserve. Maybe one day it will pay off. I'm not interested in being rich. Just to be able to buy my dc decent shoes, a short annual holiday in the UK, decent food, to save enough for a deposit to give my dc a secure home. Is that too much to aspire to?

I fear for the future generations of the working poor.

Tequila when I was on Income Support, Housing Benefit did not cover all my rent (bedsit in a hostel). I had to pay extra.

Evans you only need a licence to watch television as it's being broadcast - if you use a TV to play video games or watch DVDs, you don't need one. Similarly you need a licence to watch TV via the internet as it's being broadcast, but not to watch something on catch-up services. Not sure why those schools needed a licence, was there a TV in the staff room or something? One licence covers the whole building so it might have been something like that.

I have to say I have never paid any attention to the other shoppers in a supermarket. Why would you? It's not like Asda shoppers are going around swearing at you, nicking your wallet and holding you up at gunpoint over the reduced baked beans

Probably the school paid for the TV licence either because they were recording the BBC Schools programmes as they were being broadcast, or just to avoid hassle. £12 a month isn't much out of a school's budget.

Thing is, I know fuck all about choosing a public school, going to Oxbridge, living some sort of pseudo royal lifestyle or political campaigning and networking. I have zilch experience of any of this.

I therefore wouldn't dream of telling the likes of Sarah Ferguson or Boris Johnson how they should be doing any of these things. But they lecture us with impunity.

It's easy to live on a pittance for a short time, with a safety net, knowing that at the end you'll have all the comforts to go back to. It's much harder to do it for an extended period of time, with no end in sight and no way to cope if things get worse.

These publicity stunts just highlight how out of touch some of these people are.

myrtle can I ask how much you were getting?

Gerund, Myrtle and Laurie - thx for that. I wonder if it's a new ruling? I'm talking about several years ago, so maybe the law changed because it wasn't fair. I don't know, you learn something new!

I have 120 a fortnight for my grocery spend, thats food, cleaning products, toilet paper, pet food. I shop in Sainsburys. My family eat relatively well and they are never left hungry.
There are 5 of us.
I am without a tumble dryer at the moment though while I save for a new one. I also once had to live with a hole in the roof for 8 months as I asked the council for a two month break in my council tax to pay to have it fixed (catching up in the two months at the end). They refused to let me do this.
They did however manage to lose 40k in Iceland. Sorry I digressed.
It can be done but it is bloody hard.

Tequila some of your comments are only applicable if you live in an area where facilities such as libraries are within walking distance, what about those that live in rural areas?

sometimes yes I admit it would be MUCH harder for those. Wouldn't people in rural areas have different rules anyway? If not, they should. And should be given free bus passes.

I lived as a single parent on benefits for a while, and I'd hate to have to do it now. In proportion to today's equivalent, I was better off. Food and energy is a lot more expensive now. I lived in the days of fierce supermarket competition, such as 5p for a loaf or tin of beans. It's fine those saying yes, £53 a week is doable. What about when you need a pair of shoes? Oh yes, don't eat that week, or have no fuel. Need a new coat? Tough, put up with the one you've had for the last 5 years that's falling apart. Mind you, there is that ill fitting one that smells in the charity shop for tenner, so buy that one and be grateful. I would HATE to be on full benefits in this day and age, you get looked down on so much and treated like shit by so many people.

gerund is correct.

We have no live TV services. Theoretically we could tune in some freeview channels, but we don't. We use a DVD player and a ps3 - the latter for catch up tv only. Approved by tv licensing too (verbally on the phone)

No idea why the school needed a licence unless it's to do with them being a business. Sounds like someone was telling porkies - which the licensing people are capable of doing.

I used to be relatively well-paid once upon a time. When I was unemployed trying to exist on 71 a week was impossible. If it hadn't been for family and very good friends helping me out with the utility bills from time to time I'd have been up to my ears in debt. The fear of the bank calling up my overdraft gave me sleepless nights.

I'm now working but earning a pittance. Once I've paid my rent and council tax, set aside 20 a week towards bills and paid my fares to work I have 7 a week to feed myself. SEVEN QUID!

Those who say that people dependent on benefits can manage to have some kind of a life haven't tried it. Need to get shoes repaired? Or replace an appliance once it's broken down? Forget it. When my washing-machine died I had to wash everything by hand. For a year. In an unheated flat in the middle of winter when the temp outside was below freezing. Some of these arseholes should give that a try sometime. I've heard it's character-building.

Tinkly you said it in a nutshell!

I couldn't tell you who wrote it - but somebody wrote about why it is cheaper to be rich than poor and why the rich can't get their heads round why the poor are so 'feckless' with their cash.

The example was a pair of shoes. Someone on a limited budget finds themselves with one pair of shoes with holes in. Their choice is to buy cheap or go barefoot. It's a circular choice though as the shoes won't last and they'll have to buy another pair sooner.

The person with money would buy good quality shoes that last years and end up spending far less in the long run than the poor person.

What people with money don't understand is that the poor people don't have that initial outlay to invest to save money over time.

There are actually still some MPs with experience of living in poverty or being working poor, though not many. They also tend not to be prominent figures, even Labour tend to go for 'people like them' for the shadow Cabinet. I doubt DC spends much time speaking to working class labour MPs.

tequila that is not the case, unfortunately.

Objection - the tories are proposing to remove Housing Benefit for the under-25s. That would've been you up shit creek, wouldn't it?!

Cornettoninja I believe that was the great Terry Pratchett...

that isn't what Boris Johnson said at all....

but I see your point. there's a campaign at the moment in the US where a bunch of mega rich celebs are living off $1.50 a day for a week to promote poverty awareness.

Things like that I hate - it's meaningless and the celeb gets much more out of it than the poor ever will.

Terry Pratchett's Boots Theory

Tequila I was initially on £45 a week, then about £51 a week. Always had to pay extra rent, and this was in two different hostels.

Also there is a lower rate of IS/JSA for under-25s (this was the rate I was on) even though I had the same outgoings as a 25yo.

That's ridiculous. How come you were on income support though rather than JSA, ESA etc?

Yeah I know about the lower rate, I'm on it (But Universal Credit, not JSA, my area rolled it out first)

I was on Income Support because I was in full-time education and under 19 (doing A Levels) and self-supporting.