Widows benefit stopping in August. Help!

[CareBear50]

I've been a single mum for thirteen years since my husband passed away in 2006. It's been a tough journey.

I have two girls ....one at uni and the other currently doing A levels.

Widows benefit has been a godsend to me.... Honestly don't know how we would have coped without it. I work full time and earn about £23k per year.

So munsnetters I really need your help. Any ideas what I can do to supplement my income by about 70 quid per week from September?

Ps In the past I have rented out a room on Airbnb but have now stopped doing that due to insurance problems

Help! 😀

I'd do bank care work or get a food hygiene certificate and pick up kitchen/restaurant work.

I use top cash back for everything.

What do you do for a job? For example I’m a PA and when I book travel or order stationary etc I go via TopCashback back. In the last year I’ve made about £1500 from it.

I was reading yesterday about a woman who does secret shopper, and online surveys. She makes about £100 pw.

I do online surveys and am lucky to make £100 a year. What kinds of surveys is she doing?

Supermarket shifts?

Widowed parent benefit has dropped to £100 a month for 18 months now. It was based on the deceased parents national.insurance contributions which they'll never gain a state pension from. The government just keeps the NI contributions now. It's despicable

I think your best bet is to look at your current work situation, and go for promotion. For one thing apart from improving your current salary it will be a way of increasing your personal pension, which is something you need to be thinking about and planning for. If you think dropping £70 a week is tough you are going to have a shock when you retire!

At least you got it until your children were 16. I’m only getting if for 18months so i too will be screwed by Xmas.

PS when you lose your widows pension make sure it is done properly! My friend had a nightmare few years with HM tax people after her widows pension stopped, can't remember the ins and outs but they said she had been overpaid, owed tax etc etc and she hadn't and didn't. Took a couple of years to sort out .

Go to jumble sales/car boots/cheap charity shops and buy decent quality leather shoes, especially mens. I have bought shoes at jumbles for £1 a pair and sold them for £20-30 a pair if they are Clarkes etc and not too worn.

@Mirali it isn’t £100 per month. I get £350 per month I have two kids but only get for 18months.

I would have thought it would be easier trying to cut spending on things like food and bills first.

Widowed parent benefit has dropped to £100 a month for 18 months now. It was based on the deceased parents national.insurance contributions which they'll never gain a state pension from. The government just keeps the NI contributions now. It's despicable sad

It's £350 for parents. The £100 is for widows or widowers without children. The scandal of that is that the removal of the age limit for people without children (previously you had to be over 45 to get anything) was sung loudly about, whilst at the same time the 18 month limit was kept as quiet as possible. It's horrid.

Pop over to the £10 a day thread on Money Matters most of us are earning about £500 extra a month. Lots of ideas there.

Awhhh thank you @BummyKnocker ! You beat me to it. That's what I get for not reading the full thread.

OP (and anyone else) I promise we can help you earn a decent amount from home. No MLM's or scammy bullshit.

I was reading yesterday about a woman who does secret shopper, and online surveys. She makes about £100 pw.
I do online surveys and am lucky to make £100 a year. What kinds of surveys is she doing?

I can confirm that. I've been doing online surveys for years. Nowadays I only do one or two surveys a day, but when I started I did all the surveys I could find, spending two to three hours a day on them, five or six days a week. And my earnings then were around around £150 - £200 a year.
So, a hundred quid a week from online surveys? I don't think so!

I've not tried secret shopping, but I've never heard that it paid all that much.

Thanks sorry got the amount wrong, but i still think it's shitty that it's dropped to 18 months as the deceased parent will never get State pension so for 18 years it was used to benefit their children for longer instead. Until Theresa May came along.
It's not as if much tax is spent on children anyway and that was from NI contributions the dead parent had paid

Sorry for 80 years not 18!! From the 1940s to 2017

Another who would suggest looking at cutting expenditure.
When my teens aren't around, electricity, in particular is used a LOT less. Shopping bills drop a lot.

But rent a room is an option if you can get involved with a local company, or theatre that have people touring or working away from home during the week and go home at weekends.
Language schools are often looking for paid hosts.
Babysitting or bar work a couple of evenings a week.

Have you considered moving to a smaller, less expensive home?
Maybe you have a few little habits (fancy coffee, etc.) that could be changed?

When I needed extra income to pay off some debts, I got a second job working for PurpleBricks as a Viewing Assistant, I showed people around properties 2-3 evenings a week and all day Saturday and a few hours on Sunday, I took home around £500 - £1000 a month, so it may be worth your while contacting your local PB estate agent to see if they are looking for any viewing assistants?

Great ideas guys. To be honest I am really careful with money.....rarely buy coffees out.. don't buy expensive clothes......but yes, I'm sure I could cut back more.

I'm v v grateful that widows benefit has been there for us for so long. I'm also thinking about selling my house and downsizing.....but that's another story.....I live in same down as elderly parents but work 30 miles away.....about an hour and a half to work in rush hour. If I move to closer to work my work life balance would be easier but houses where I work are more expensive and I wouldn't be so close to parents for support for them! Oh decisions decisions!

Electoral registration canvasser? It won’t make the whole amount but it’s quite a good thing to supplement income without encroaching on your life too much. You just fit it in when you like.

I think it’s disgusting that widows benefit is stopping. My dad died when he was young, I was 7 and my sister was 4. It’s hardly the widow or the kids fault that they end up in that situation.

I’m sorry that I don’t have much to add, other than look at doing some courses to improve your career and salary, now that your kids are older.

Best wishes though, it sounds like you’ve done a good job in bad circumstances.

Not sure if you are near a language school,but many foreign students are here in the summer months approx £100 pw per student.This would help you out a little bit .Otherwise maybe look at remortgaging this would decrease the monthly repayments a little .Most home based jobs dont pay very much sadly.

I would second language schools. You have people short term, so take breaks etc and if you don't like the person they are gone soon. Only take women etc.. Th remuneration isn't great around £120 where I live and you have to provide breakfast and dinner for that but the school keeps the students pretty busy so they aren't at home much. The local sixth form colleges also have International A level students looking for places, around the same money as the language schools but you do have to interact and keep an eye on them more. My friend does this, she gave up her largest bedroom so she could have two beds and two students, they tend to mate up then so expect less from her and aren't so lonely (and she earns more, although not double).