I went from working pt to full time. I did it because We were always scraping the barell with nothing left at the end of the month and I wanted to be able to not worry about money. I did all my calculations online, checked entitled to and thought we would be considerably better off.
Turns out not. I get no help with rent, no help with council tax and my tax credits have been cut by £90 a week. We are basically in the same position financially as we were before except now I'm completely exhausted and get to see my children a lot less. I'm a single parent so don't have much help from family etc and the child maintenance service are having a nightmare trying to get my ex to pay.
Not sure what the point of my rant is but it frustrates me that it doesn't pay to work. I live a fairly frugal lifestyle already. I shop at Aldi, we don't go on lavish holidays....we go camping. My car is a cheap run around. I have a sim only mobile. I've cut my bills to the bone. I kind of wish I hadn't bothered to get this job now.