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 had my full rent paid when on benefits, it was a council house.

I bought quite a lot of my clothes from charity shops (and still do!), you have to rummage a bit but you can find something that fits well and doesn't smell. We always had decent shoes (bought new in outlets or sales) and to put heating on (but often only in one room, but that's just being sensible and I still do that now). Sometimes I'd get a budgeting loan to pay for things that I couldn't afford upfront, it was interest free and would be repaid in small amounts from my income support. They would lend enough to pay for things like shoes or appliances.

Nancy66 it's actually a worldwide campaign- livebelowtheline & it's not just celebs- I'm doing it this week. It's about raiding awareness of poverty but also raising money for charity.
So yes, celebs get publicity, but charities get lots of money to help work with the 1.2billion people who live on less than £1 a day.
(Sorry for thread derailing)

Surely the point of benefits being low is that it is shit and it is not supposed to be a long term solution. It is just enough money to get by until you're back in employment. I appreciate that in the current climate that people are on JSA etc for longer than a couple of weeks but I don't really see why there should be enough money in the emergency budget for luxuries and savings.

If you're only paying for food and bills then it is doable. Not much of an existence but enough and a lot more than many other countries provide.

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

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep Do you know the reasons behind that? Seems a bit of a narrow minded decision to make on their part. I was on HB for 3 months and I would have accumulated debt but it wouldn't have been the end of the world. HB would only be paid if I was living in a house share or a bedsit because of my age (think the rules are the same now) - I was in a bedsit. Seemed unfair at the time but in retrospect, I don't feel I was entitled to anything.

poshme - fair enough but the celebrity involvement really irks me.

ok sorry tequila, I didn't know that.

So I guess I agree that it's doable then. But so so unpleasant, stressful and depressing.

Madlizzy my casual/walking shoes have holes in them. I have run them into the ground.

I could run up more debt, but am rather saving for his school uniform for reception & a fortnight of intensive swimming lessons during the summer holidays. It costs £6.50 in fares for round journey of 15 miles just to attend.

Yes, I'm feeling sorry for myself & I know there are those who are far worse off than us. BUT why do we allow the rich to throw their weight around - judge & bully us - money talks, I guess?

lifeuncanny I wonder if there are different rules for hostels then.

TheresLots but what about people whose circumstances mean they are on benefits long-term, not through any fault of their own? Eg disabled people, carers etc? They still struggle to make ends meet, and the stress causes lots of health problems.

Just keep swimming

I get the point. But following the same logic, does anyone really believe that trauma surgeons need to have had one of their own limbs blown off before they can operate on bomb victims? Compassion, empathy and a belief in justice are qualities everyone has the potential to have, irrespective of their comparative wealth or lack of it. I would certainly agree that money can soften life's hard edges, and it's probable that those edges include pain and ill-health and even grief. That said, it is interesting to speculate whether David Cameron's grief at the loss of his young son was any less than it might have been were he less privileged......

Shitey, is IS hard work, I get that so much. I'm on a low income and my other half is self employed, but we're still better off then we would be on benefits, and that's down the benefits we're paid in Tax Credits which make up the shortfall from employers. I wouldn't be surprised if you pay 20% more on food and 40% on fuel than I proportionately paid back in the 90s.

His grief may be identical.

His and his son's experience of living with cerebral palsy was hugely different. As we know extremely well because he was challenged by a Mumsnetter with a daughter with CP, and famously went to tea at her house. One of her big issues was getting enough nappies for her DD; Dave didn't even know how many nappies he got.

I take exception to the notion that people don't get wealthy off hard graft, and that those on comfortable incomes cannot possibly understand what it is to do the 'hard work'.

From 14 I worked (around school) and at one point was doing 4 jobs per day - all these jobs were stepping stones to the next thing, save like mad and get experience to move elsewhere and onto something better.

There are many examples of people who are prepared to do the shit jobs, and move to where the work is - to forgo a hectic social life for a couple of years to get on, move up and save; just as there are many who won't do it (obviously there are those that can't too, but I am not including them in this).

I have cleaned houses, pubs, a cafe, I have waitressed in cafes, restaurants and hotels and done several stints of bar work both in pubs and hotels, I have worked in shops on tills and food prep in a cafe. I moved to where the work was and for the 18 months I did at uni (no grant or loan), I worked round my lectures etc. I joined the forces at 20 and have been in ever since, also doing loads of shitty jobs along the way - but just because I am considered well off nowadays (high middle earner) does not mean I don't know what it is to graft.

Objection, I think the idea is the under-25s are supposed to live with their parents. Or in their ancestral mansion or something .

It's really badly thought through; when I was your age, when the earth was still young I had a highly-skilled job in the SE on which I paid a not inconsiderable sum of tax.
But if my high-tech start-up had gone bust, I'd have been forced to move back to my parents' place in Depressed Northern Area with no high-tech industry and something ridiculous like 30% unemployment. Great plan.

tequila I take it you don't live in over crowded SE London we are within walking distance (furthest I am counting is 4 miles) of three libraries however they are not open 7 days a week. They get very crowed as such you are allowed a max 30 minutes daily - you have to hand over your library card to book a slot - and any paper must be paid for. Envelopes you are told to buy from the post office for example. 30 minutes daily is not acceptable that is why we were told to include broadband and phone in outgoings. Housing benefit does not fully cover rent in private lets anymore.

Nick Of course DC felt real grief for the loss of his son. It is a pity someone with so much power can not grasp the daily grind the common folk have to suffer & the barriers/hurdles that the poorest & most vulnerable face.

madlizzy We pay roughly £40 for all groceries, excluding nappies bought once a month. £64pm on duel fuel paid via dd. Roughly £40pwk on petrol. We budget every last blinking penny. When something needs to be replaced, we mend or make do. It sucks.

I am aware that many people are a lot worse off than us, but If anything more goes wrong, we'll need to sell the car. Lack of money, no family around, expensive childcare has caused so much unnecessary tension between dh & I.

I'm trying my best to keep a 'glass half full attitude'.

Lol, I just wrote a great long post but realised I sounded like a Daily Mail reader so I deleted it

I agree with pretty much everything said on this thread.

My only additional observation is that someone from an apparently privileged background may have experiences real poverty in the past.

Something along those lines happened to my family. My dad - from a working class background, but firmly ensconced in the middle classes as a GP - killed himself when I was 16. My mum hadn't worked for years, his life insurance didn't pay out because of the suicide, we lost everything and lived on pasta and cheese for months and months. Eventually my mum and I found work, and ultimately mum remarried. I went to uni (a bit later than originally planned) and joined a graduate scheme. Looking at us now, you would never know. But that doesn't mean that we didn't have a taste of what it might be like, and we both have nothing but respect for anyone surviving on a small budget.

monica my op refers to the 'filthy rich'.

To all those saying those on benefits receive full hb, what about people in work who live in private rents, where the tenancy agreement states 'no DSS' even if they are eligible to claim? Why is there such discrimination towards ordinary hard working people?

If they've got the tenancy already there's no reason not to claim hb. The landlord doesn't need to know. It's getting the tenancy when your income doesn't look high enough without the housing benefit that's hard!

So Boris Johnson thinks that poor people should be grateful to the mega-rich? Alternatively, maybe the mega-rich should be grateful to poor people for possibly working long hours to help mke their fortune?

I've met Boris a few times, by the way. Incredibly over-educated, but unbelievably stupid. Couldn't think his way out of a paper bag.

I always understood that the tv licence was if you have a equipment that is capable of allowing you to watch/record live tv. Otherwise everyone would just say 'oh well, I never watch live tv' and there would be no way of proving that they did.

As for selling your tv as a way of saving money - yes, sure you'd get maybe £50 for it, but once that's gone it's not that much help. Having a tv, especially when you have children, is a real godsend for those on a low income who can't necessarily afford to go swimming/visit museums and other attractions etc.

I second the pp who said it's more expensive to be poor.

If you can't afford a washing machine, it's more expensive to go to a launderette.

Electric keys and meters are more expensive than paying monthly.

Cooking up huge vats of frugal lentil stew or whatever, when it needs to be on the hob for over an hour and you're on a meter, it's not cheap.

Many goods/services work out much cheaper by buying in bulk, but what if you don't have enough for the initial outlay?

The phrase "chasing your tail", comes to mind.

I know it's very contentious but if you're wealthy enough to have a full and varied life, trips out, cinema, activities to keep you healthy you don't really need tv packages

If you're poor with no activities, stuck in a shit hole in the middle of nowhere I imagine having a tv package and decent broadband is bloody cheaper than attempting to get everyone on a bus to go somewhere.

I had no TV when my DS was small, but we did have a (clunky) PC with iplayer. Museums and the park were free, and our county had discounted swimming for those on benefits so we went loads.

And not everyone on benefits has to be on a key meter, there was one in my council flat when I moved in but I got it replaced with a normal meter as CAB told me it would be cheaper. I paid for a washing machine with a budgeting loan.