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Original poster

to expect to have more disposable income than single mums claiming benefits

1050 replies

newnails · 09/11/2007 20:21

i no longer know why me and dh bother, he works full time and i work part time so that i can juggle the child care.

i know of 3 single mums who stay near me who seem to have more money than i can dream of, out every weekend, always shopping and 2 of them manage to run cars.

i know the benefit system is needed by some people but it seems to be a complete joke these days, the wasters in this country are leading the life of reilly while the rest of us are left to slog our guts out to pay for there existence.

no doubt i will get flamed for this post but i have been out xmas shopping today trying to work to a budget then i stand next to these people at the school gates and hear about all the grants they are entitled to so they can buy xmas presents, one of them has even cut back the last 2 months and managed to save £800, it would take me bloody months to save that up.

ok rant over, deep down i am glad i am not one of these people and i do actually work for what i have but it still pisses me of.

OP posts:
colditz · 09/11/2007 22:46

thank you very much KK, I must have missed your earlier post about it, sorry.

Kindersurprise, 2 small boys winging their way to you 1st class as we speak

susiecutiebananas · 09/11/2007 22:47

COLDITZ: someone said earlier that in their area, surestart had a babysitting service for single mums to be able to go out, or do some shopping on their own apparently.

To which I was responding that I wold not begrudge that to anyone ( basically )
I mean, god forbid should a mum or dad, living alone with their children 24 hours a day with NO respite whatsoever, be enabled to go shopping alone, or go out with friends alone, for their sanity and therefore the overall welfare of the DC?

Stunned I am... absolutely stunned at this thread. I also notice that the OP, having well and truly offensively opened and scattered the can of worms all over the place... has not made any further contribution

GodzillasBumcheek · 09/11/2007 22:48

She made the OP hours ago, Suziecutie, she's probably gone to bed!

colditz · 09/11/2007 22:49

have found your post kk

No, there is nothing like that around here, this I know for sure.

kindersurprise · 09/11/2007 22:49

3andnomore

I think that you are perhaps not quite objective about this because of where you are living. There are areas like this in every town, in every country.

Are you in army accomodation? I have heard that it is sometimes abysmal standard

GodzillasBumcheek · 09/11/2007 22:49

And also she was actually mad because they were talking about having loadsa money when she was working hard for every penny. I can understand it, really, but everyone isn't like that and the general consensus is that if they are that well off they are defrauding the system.

expatinscotland · 09/11/2007 22:50

'honestly don't you people know people that get pregnant to get that council house, to get this or that benefit, people who will tell you all about how you can get a certain benefit you never even heard about?'

No I don't, even though my SIL was on benefits for about 12 years and we once lived in one of the most deprived estates in Edinburgh.

Because everyone there now knows there is FA council housing available, and having a baby or becoming single with children means a long stint in temporary accommodation, B&Bs or even hostels.

And that it's now quite difficult to get on Income Support in some places.

Ever filled out a DLA form? Oh, those are so fun - NOT.

Forms and forms and forms. Then questions, interrogations, you have to show everything, over and over again. Fair enough.

And so some know how to claim certain benefits.

Good!

There are a lot of people who could use some extra help and didn't know it was there. I'm glad I was well-educated and found out about pension tax credit for my ILs.

Hell, I know a lot about benefits and I'm not a single parent whose lived entirely on the state.

I'm an educated working poor who just finds that information helpful and helpful to others.

colditz · 09/11/2007 22:50

She's not gone to bed, she is sat sniggering at the explosion that just happened. It was boring until she posted, I have no hard feelings about it.

expatinscotland · 09/11/2007 22:51

I was in shite accommodation.

Really, really, really bad.

As in, the book Trainspotting was written set in this estate.

I was just glad I was educated enough to get out.

I certainly didn't begrude single mums on benefits their lives.

No way.

susiecutiebananas · 09/11/2007 22:52

Hello Godzilla! It seems this is all moving far too fast for me! i'm posting about 10 posts behind all the time! I think i'll sit back and read from now on...

expatinscotland · 09/11/2007 22:53

Oh, and the author Ian Rankin very cunningly merged this estate and the one next to it in his books to form a fictional one, Pilmuir, where he set some scenes of his Rebus books.

kindersurprise · 09/11/2007 22:53

hear hear expat.

My DB and his fiance are on a waiting list for a council house, my future SIL has a DS. They have been told it could be years before they get a house, if at all.

GodzillasBumcheek · 09/11/2007 22:55

True...i have been waiting for a good ranting thread so i can complain alot about still being in a two-bedroomed house. Honestly...blardy council housing? Chance'd be a fine thing.

3andnomore · 09/11/2007 22:56

Forms are never fun, are they...especially here...now I know they always complain about german buroucracy, but at least tehy bloody know what they are doing, lol!

Kinder, nope, we have are in private housing,,,, morgage.....and we had to buy in a poor town and crap area, because we have 3 children, were first time buyers...so space aswell as money was a bit of an issue...although I still have my idealistic believes that if we bring them up right it doesn't matter where we live, but of course our oldest ds is only entering teenagehood at the moment.....
our army quarters....well, we have been pretty luckly really....Kindersurprise...so, my "bitterness"£ is not from them days! Hnestly, i know a lot of eople, the majority, here that are, I suppose, defrauding the system!

GodzillasBumcheek · 09/11/2007 22:56

Going to have to go to bed....can we suspend this thread until i get on next? no? Bummer.

expatinscotland · 09/11/2007 22:56

There are more than 100,000 families on housing waiting lists in Scotland.

The wait can be extreme in some areas, particularly those of high cost which are also, unfortunately, areas where work opportunities are plentiful.

Everyone I knew on that council estate was well aware that it was nigh on impossible to get housed.

Many had spent long periods in B&Bs and hostels.

GodzillasBumcheek · 09/11/2007 22:57

And before i go...i am already living in a crap area...just wouldn't expose my kids to the bouts of depression i have when living in worse. Bye all!

kerrykatona · 09/11/2007 22:58

my army house is lovely, off the point i know but wanted to share

MissZee · 09/11/2007 22:59

All these posters who are outraged at single mothers getting benefits or babysitters or anything - you realise that taking these things away from others, making their lives worse, isn't actually going to make your lives better?

Though I guess it may give you some twisted personal satisfaction. "Now they're unhappy too, just like me!"

3andnomore · 09/11/2007 22:59

bad army housing tents to be a problem in, surprise surprise....lower rangs...met my dh when he was already a corporal, lol!

3andnomore · 09/11/2007 23:01

Miss Zee...people are not as such outraged at them receiving it, but, well...by people CHOOSING thisd...NOT finding themselfs in it!

kindersurprise · 09/11/2007 23:01

I often listen to BF radio and they mention it a lot her in Germany that the housing is not htat great

expatinscotland · 09/11/2007 23:01

the way British soldiers and their families are treated as far as housing, wages, medical care, etc. is appalling, IMO.

shocking and sad.

LittleBella · 09/11/2007 23:01

Maybe the single mums on benefits are just better at managing their money than you are, newnails?

Or maybe, perish the thought, they're not actually on benefits? You don't say they are in your OP, you're just assuming.

Ooh 2 of them run cars. LOL. I'm a single mother and I run a car too. I expect some of my neighbours are livid about it.

If you're that jealous of them, why don't you leave your husband and live high on the hog like they do?

HTH.

3andnomore · 09/11/2007 23:04

expat....imh, army life is easier then cicistry life, as such...but then, that is all I have know over here, I suppose....found the housing in Germany much better, but more because german houses and flats just tend to be build more spacious, and space is my thing....

howeverr, no not looking forward to the possibility of dh having the honour to stay in the army for past his 22 year for him to be posted in gwrmany, whiolst I will be here and will be going to University whilst looking after our 3 Kids on my own...but....well...you got to do what you got to do, and it will be worth it in the end!

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