To think you're not poor...

[RunningjustasfastasIcan99]

AIBU to think you're not poor if you can afford SKY TV? Felt a bit irritated that on "rich house poor house" this week the "poor" family had massive Tv's in the kids bedrooms and sky tv. I know they didn't have a ton of money and were in the bottom 10 %. But really?

bad wages' is why I suggested saving for a college course rather than spending it on Sky. It's about being proactive and trying to improve your skills so that you can get a better job and better wages
It was pointed out to you that some people already have qualifications but are no longer in a position to be able to use them. You chose to ignore that point.
You also suggested that disabled people should save money for days out or home improvements. Have you any idea how phenomenally patronising that is?

At least it's being proactive and attempting to break the cycle rather than being sat at home watching a tv box-set! Education is so valuable and courses can really help people to improve their skills so they're more attractive to employers and so they have more chance of accessing a job that was once out of reach.

How come our virgin bill cost £60+ a month only internet and phone line??

Spoken as someone who isn't working in a low paid industry. Many of these people work full time and are still living in poverty when are they meant to find time to do a college course? It must be nice up there looking down on others.

@Dobbythesockelf there are plenty of evening and weekend courses available- not just during the week.
@Gilead I don't see how that was patronising?

Oh dearie me I don't really know what else to say

I have sky tv its £35 /month for tv , internet and phone line how much do you think sky tv is?

But £35 a month when you can't afford to feed your dc is a lot. However we used to have a sky box but pay nothing on freesat. Now we have a humax so we can record. We also have Netflix and Amazon prime but both together are cheaper than sky and if money was tight we would drop them.

I think what many people who aren't the poorest in the country fail to realise is that not everyone thinks like you and the poorest in society are generally of low education so to expect them to have budgeting as a skill is unrealistic and unreasonable. Why do you think lots of benefits have been paid weekly in the past. I don't understand how an Xbox is more important than a laptop for homework but I'm well educated and have a job where I'm constantly looking for solutions to problems and ways to save money/work more efficiently.

It's hugely frustrating to watch but I don't understand why it would shock you. They want their kids to have what they perceive all kids to have.

The size of your TV in the UK is supposed to be inverse proportion to your class. I saw this programme which is nicely done and the family who are not well off halved their income because the mother has this

"Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia (FM) is a medical condition characterised by chronic widespread pain and a heightened pain response to pressure. Other symptoms include tiredness to a degree that normal activities are affected, sleep problems and troubles with memory".

Her partner (not sure if they are married) bought his house they live in when they were young - they got together as teenagers and he is very proud they own their own house. He works 6 days a week.

They didn't say he was poor. They just said the family was in the bottom 10%. If everyone is much better off than we all used to be say 150 eyars ago then bottom 10% is not necessarily poverty at all as absolute not relative poverty is the correct measure.

My sky costs about £70 a month and I pay separately for my broadband and land line and netflix.

What was interesting about the latest episode of the programme was that instead of the rich person this time being working class lad made good like most of the other episode these were 2 barrister and you could see the class difference, trumpet lessons, grand piano, parents not letting the children have games consoles, loads of debates over dinner tables, children reading, parents supervising homework - not that working class badly off families don't visit the public library of course and anyone can go along to their local church and join the choir even if they cannot afford to hire a trumpet or learn an instrument. That kind of cultural capital does not have to be expensive.

And if they have kids as many of them do who's gonna look after them? I don't know why I'm even replying anymore cause it's clear you just don't understand the situation many families find themselves in.

Save it for a rainy day. You could save up to do a college course to try and help with job prospects to help you improve your skills/income. Then you'd be able to afford sky without breaking the bank smile

MN has become a farce.
Most of the threads are fiction and so many of the posters are just here to provoke.

It makes the chances of having an intelligent conversation pretty remote.

What about the people who have the education, have the degree, but for some reason can't work, or can't get a high paid job, what about the single mother who has no childcare in the evenings to do this hypothetical college course that will solve their problems?

Do you have any idea how long it takes to get decent, useful qualifications?

What happens if your nearest college is miles and miles away and you can't afford the fuel,costs or the bus fare to get there?

Or maybe you are just so fucking knackered at the end of your 12 h day that you don't actually want to go out in the evening for a fucking college course that may get you a qualification in 5 years time that is good enough to get a better job - except where you live there are no jobs so you either have to move or suck it up in your crap NMW job for longer because there's no other option and your shiny new qualification gets you an internship only.

I want to say grow the fuck up to some of the people on this thread. I'm an educated, middle class, professional and yet I've lived in abject poverty. I don't any longer, but I'm aware that I'm very, very lucky and I had the privileged upbringing that many people don't have.

Remember my flies to shit comment? Well, there you go. Spot on, TheFirstMrs.

Educated people become disabled, too. Imagine that!

@expatinscotland I know that and I feel very sympathetic for people who are disabled and those who can't work for reasons they can't control. However people working/not working is not the issue. The issue is- do I think that poor people can afford Sky? And I still think no

'I don't understand how an Xbox is more important than a laptop for homework but I'm well educated and have a job where I'm constantly looking for solutions to problems and ways to save money/work more efficiently. '

My son was given his Xbox. A little boy who still has a cancerous tumour in his head and knew my daughter from the unit chose to give it to him when he got a newer one (via a charity for kids with cancer) rather than sell it on. The treatment for his cancer has left with him a great deal of disabilities. He's only 11, but due to growth stunting from the treatment he will lose all his adult teeth, there's no room for them to come in straight, his jaw is very compromised and he needs surgery on it next month. His sight is very severely affected. And that tumour is still there, like a ticking time bomb. He's already had proton beam treatment, which means they can't do it again, if that cancer starts to grow again, and it may well do when he begins puberty, the odds of his survival are very, very slim. So yeah, they buy him games and a telly for his room. Try to make his life a little better.

Okay, then, Mrs, I take that on board. His family are poor, mostly due to his condition and that of his father, who did not become disabled until he was an adult and injured in combat. But they should just be miserable, I guess. There's not a lot to do out here and they can't afford to go out a lot.

Thank goodness most charities don't think the same way.

We've had holidays due to them. We're going on another one in October. A beautiful caravan at Butlins with a full pass for the week. A charity set up in honour of a little boy who died from heptablastoma 6 months ago. Wonder what people think. Actually, I don't. Fuck them if they judge. The holidays were offered to us as a family bereaved by cancer. If anyone begrudges us a little bit of joy, I really don't want to know them anyway. Thankfully, I don't have friends like that.

@expatinscotland firstly, I'm so sorry that your son is ill and I hope he lives a long and happy life.
when you quoted another poster, it was obvious that she was talking generally about the value of education over games consoles rather than the issue of expensive gifts given as a one off in very specific cases with very distressing circumstances such as your own

Mrs have you name changed and are actually camel from the £280 a week food bill thread that I got utterly frustrated at with camel 😳
If not then I think you should both have a chat about how obtuse your opinions are...

It don't meant they aint poor.they probably got all the tv's and console on a catalogue and pay off. But I do agree they should put certain things 1st like a laptop for homework.

Using some money when you are not well off on Sky is a savvy investment I think. A lot of bangs for your buck....

@SluttyButty no I haven't seen that discussion!

My son isn't ill, Mrs, he has autism. My daughter, however, is dead. She died from leukaemia nearly 6 years ago. There will be no long, happy life for her, she is forever 9. I can't tell you how much that has fucked me up. I struggle really hard, because I have my son and another daughter, but I really don't have time to judge someone in the lower 10% of income from having bloody Sky. I find that petty and what little pettiness I had, which was not much to begin with, vanished the day my daughter was diagnosed. You realise a lot of people waste their lives being judgy and stupid about FA. And that's a waste.

When I was a single parent on income support it was actually cheaper to have a sky package than for broadband alone!

@expatinscotland sorry, I thought it was your son who was ill. I am sorry about your daughter, honestly and I do understand what you're saying about how this is all insignificant in the long run. However it was an opinion thread and I don't think I was in the wrong for giving an opinion

@LaurieFairyCake this is a very good point. We don’t have sky (can’t afford it) but do rely heavily on our fire stick for films etc for DS and us