To think this is a bad way to spend £1000 community care grant

[milliec]

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It cost me about £3000 because Community care grant took 6 months to be awarded and we were without ANYTHING so I had to borrow credit card from my mother and am still paying back interest on it. The system made it cost more than it need have.

Well, except she works somewhere where judgements are made. I mean someone, somewhere, has to make a judgement on what public money is spent on.

She hasn't had to replace everything with the £1000 she has had carpets, curtains and kitchen stuff,

OP was not passing judgement just thought it more sensible to buy beds and other vitals first before buying a sofa with more than half the money, we would all love expensive stuff but most of us have had to make do with cheap or secondhand at some time in our lives.

If she went off and spent her money how she like fair enough but to come back and ask for more when others might need that money not fair or sensible.

her sofa has, in an extrapolated sense, cost me a mattress and my friend from the women's refuge a cooker

No, judgements are made on whether people are entitled to the money, the judgement about how they spend the money I guess must be a perk of the job if you like that kind of thing.

I bet you most people here couldn't replace their furniture and personal belonging for £1k or anything close to that even if curtains, carpets etc weren't included.

I bet you are the kkind of person that uses the term jobsworth.

OP was looking for advice on what to say to her as she was going to be back looking for more money, she had spent time trying to help her, the woman was stupid with the money and expects to be bailed out.

To say

"the judgement about how they spend the money I guess must be a perk of the job if you like that kind of thing."

is a bit judgemental don't you think .

Indeed it is. Are you able to spot the difference in the two scenarios though?

I judge her, loud and bloody proud. I spent less on kitting my ENTIRE HOUSE than what she fritted on a sofa and clothes.

When you are poor, charity shops and freecycle are your friend.

I have been here a long time, and recognise a few of the names on this thread, and the people judging her for spending like she runs the banks of England are NOT the ones who have very comfortable amounts of money.

The feckless are judged most harshly by those who never get the bloody CHANCE to be feckless.

£600 on a sofa and no bed?

####### idiot.

blasted net nanny!

14 years after setting up home and I still have second hand stuff, still go to the sunday car-boot sale. I remember the days when my kids wore charity shops clothes and even had second hand toys as christmas presents, yes I will judge!

Actually I'm beginning to think that it's a bit unprofessional to negatively discuss clients on a noticeboard. I'd be really pissed off if I went to the council for help and then found out my circumstances were being discussed by a bunch of strangers.

Personaly I might not have been as specific with information; the tinternet has a strangeway of coming back and biting you on the bum .

yes - well i discuss things about work - i work in public sector also

cod is a magistrate - she does.

as long as the details are kept anonymous i dont see the prob tbh.

my opinion is that she spend 600 quid on a sofa. without buying her kids beds - shes obviously a twat.

Well a magistrate already operates in public so that's slightly different.

I think the problem is using a public noticeboard to reinforce and support negative opinions about clients who are probably under the impression that the only people who discuss their situation are those they actually deal with.

like i say there are no details so i dont see the problem.

we have soical workers, housing officers, benefits officers and people who have husbands as tv licencing officers, police officers, nurses ( or partners of all of these) who may discuss peronal things.

The OP isn't discussing her personal issues, she's discussing someone else's personal circumstances that she only has access to because of her professional position.

we have soical workers, housing officers, benefits officers and people who have husbands as tv licencing officers, police officers, nurses ( or partners of all of these) who may discuss peronal things...about other people

Not quite the same circumstances (not at all, actually) but when we emigrated to OZ we brought a certain amount with us & left behind stuff too, as we just couldn't afford the shipment of all of it.

We now have a second hand bed for DD (new matress, of course) second hand desks 2, second hand TV cabinet & second hand bedside tables & second hand cofee tables. For a while dd had (and still has) second hand toys! We also borrowed a bed from family until ours came over. This is after owing an enitre 3 bed house full of stuff.

We do have some savings, but they are for a deposit on house in the future, I can live with second hand stuff, it's really NOT that hard.

I think she needs to be told no more money & needs to actually realise how careless she has been with the money granted to her. Other wise she will always expect others to bail her out.

"I bet you most people here couldn't replace their furniture and personal belonging for £1k or anything close to that even if curtains, carpets etc weren't included."

No, Elizabetth, you're absolutely correct, I couldn't. That is why I have contents insurance. It would never cross my mind that the state should replace my belongings.

The sofa I have now is the nicest and most expensive one I have ever owned, and it even folds out into a bed. It cost us £150 second hand from ebay.

Sofas are one of the things that are easiest to get from freecycle. In that woman's shoes, my first priority would have been to buy matresses and essential clothes for my children. So I do judge her as being feckless and greedy. Chances are she will get more money now, where decent people in her position would simply have spent the money more wisely in the first place.

When I first set up house on my own, I was on crap wages(only benefit I claimed was single persons council tax rebate), living in a council bedsit. ALL of my furniture, my cooker and fridge were second hand. The only new things I bought was a cheap pc, a portable TV and video recorder(got a really good deal on them). I took out contents insurance. Good job really, since I was burgled over Xmas.
It was only a couple of years later when I changed jobs that I was able to buy new furniture.
The benefits system is there for people (like Pixie's friend, and my ils (who are both disabled) as a safety net. But I agree there are many people who abuse the system. When I got my first job after leaving Uni, I could have done the same thing, claimed benefits and sat on my arse. But I didn't. Even when I was made redundant, I didn't claim unemployment benefit - I rang around a few job agencies and took any old crappy job to tied me over. I then moved cities (causing me more financial difficulties) to take up a new permanent job. This has paid off in spades, as I now have a well paid job with the company I moved for. I work bloody hard and I resent the fact that the income tax I earn is not just spent on those who are in genuine need (which I fully support) but by the feckless arseholes who can't be arsed to find themselves a job, and sit their reading the Daily Facist complaining about immigrants taking their jobs (err why not try applying for them!). While we're on the subject - I've recently taken on to EU citizens, one Polish & one Czech, fab workers. They were qualified and more to the point hardly any British people bothered to apply! And it's a pretty good starter job with excellent career prospects!

OOps sorry turned into a bit of a rant I'm afraid . Any must go going to be late for work! You can tell I hate Mondays

Her budgeting skills are non-existent. Anybody who sees a sofa as more important than beds and so on needs therapy.

Community care grants are far too open to abuse. A better theory would be to have a meeting with an officer who will go through your needs with you, and help you source things at a sensible price, be they new or reconditioned.

People who have nothing are entitled to their pride, but they also have to realise that there are more important things in life.

Agnes