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

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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.

I agree that there are problems with the system Twinkle but with two people there are more choices, certainly being a couple on a low incomes is a hell of a struggle too but you do have more options, like you say you and your DP COULD both work 16 hours each and juggle it that way where as a lone parent doesn't have that option,and as Colditz said if you WERE a lone parent living in your area you wouldn't be able to go and work anyway if there is no childcare available.

Oh I know, SB, believe me. I wouldn't swap for anything. Was just highlighting the pure economics, (wrongly as it turned out ).

childcare is an arse. you apply for a job with suitable hours (not many available), if you get that job then you have to look for childcare (no easy task), you try and get childcare near enough to drop off and pick up in good time, if you cant get the childcare you have to turn down the job. but you cant find childcare in advance, so dont know in what areas to apply for jobs...on and on it goes...

I think the funny thing is that I wouldn't say we were on a low income. My salary's only just below the national average. Which makes it all even more strange. Hey ho.

I do know a mum who rents privately and has to top up out of her benefits, she had to put the deposit on a credit card and got in a mess with that, then she started working to try and get of benifits and be better off but soon realsied that the reason her boss took her on was because she was a nice looking young lass and she was expected to 'keep him happy' to keep her job, she was so desperate not to lose the job that she did eventually she couldn't take having to do this to keep her job so she quit, and had to re-enter the sytem again, HB ended up owing her landlord and wouldnt back date, so now shes in even more debt, even more stress and worried about becoming homeless.

OMG, the poor woman.

I'm a single mum and work 30 plus hours a week. Worked out I wouldnt be much worse of working 16 but then I wouldnt be able to run my new car, Funnily enough I only need a reliable car for work. Anyway everyones circumstances are different. Agree with Kerrysmum re the situation in America. Thank god we have our system in the UK. To all you people with partners, that are happy you are very blessed, and dont forget that things change as your children get older re child care etc. And heavens forbid if you ever find yourselves on your own you know it will all be OK thanks to our fine welfare state.

Quattrocento. If it means that small businesses can set up and survive initially, thus enabling them to become bigger businesses able to then pay the higher rate of employers NI contributions, there will be more jobs available. I'm suggesting it be a 'break', it could even be in the form of a loaned 'payment holiday' which the small business would then pay back once established.

More 'silliness' I expect, though?

Good points Magdelanian.

i look at the papers around ehre and websites at jobs, just curious.

i've yet to see one that's not at least 40 hours/week and requires 'flexibility' - evenings, weekends, etc.

excepting the really high powered ones that require lots of qualifications/education.

Not forgetting the ubiquitous "experience". That's DH's downfall - he hasn't worked in a shop before so apparently he's incapable.

here too expat... unless you have a career you can walk in to, getting off benefits is horrendous

oh, yes, that, too, twinkle.

Hijack .... Twinkle, your post it dead on midnight!!!

Blimey - that was clever!

Twinkle, Thats crazy just get them to give him a one day trial, humiliating perhaps, but ffs carnt expect to have experience in every job applied for.

Too late Magdelanian, but will mention it to him for next time, though local jobs come up once in a blue moon round here.

And (sorry, ranting now - usually a sign I should go to bed) there don't seem to be many jobs you can just, well, "get" these days. They all seem to need formal applications, CVs etc. DH has 20 years highly technical and management stuff on his CV - it doesn't go down well. He had to go through the gut wrenching process of cutting most of it out - that was the job he nearly got but for the childcare issue. Grrrr!

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Harman - is that £1000 before or after your housing/council tax?

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For the record mine is approx £850 after rent and council tax. But that's because we're getting extra CTC and a bit of WTC as they've based it on last year's income when I was on maternity leave for 6 months. After April it will got down to around £700 a month - that will be, erm, interesting.

I get £470 a month (4 week month); Income Support (£100 a week) and £70 child benefit

I have to pay some rent and the council have screwed up my tax benefit so it looks like I may have to pay that too.

My monthly budget has about £30 a month for unexpected emergencies... every other penny is accounted for in some way or another and it is a right pain when things like Christmas come up - I think I'm going to buy all my presents for 2008 in the January sales (how cheap of me...!)

anyone want to give us all a house for xmas?

£30 a month LEFT I meant