What can't you afford?

[Marleymerm]

Last week at work my colleague told me her recent eye test showed she needed glasses, but she couldn't afford them, she's known she's needed them for a couple of years but said she doesn't have the money. We both work full time in office jobs and neither of us have expensive hobbies or social lives, we're both pretty boring.
I realised this morning I haven't bought new shoes for months despite the ones I have coming apart, because I can't afford them. I've picked up pairs but put them back down when I've thought of what else I need instead.
When I asked this question to my friend about what she couldn't afford she told me her monthly prescription! She hasn't got it for 3 months.
It's a weird time we're living in so everyone's doing without something. But do you have any necessary things you need but can't afford?

buy my glasses in the upser market but I am old and I just need magnifying ones. My son buys his frames online - he or a friend has broken his current pair so has been wearing them with one side bit missing for a month - which seems to save some money on the frames.

@HellothereSH
What help specifically has been removed?

SafeMove posted a list upthread, and I'll add;
You can no longer claim carers allowance if you earn over £132 a week, or provide care for under 35 hours a week.

PIP represented an ideological change in the way disabled people are treated. DLA used to help with the associated costs of living with a disability, PIP doesn't do that. I need a carer for 13 hours a week and used to get DLA, but don't qualify for anything now because I don't get enough points.

Amazing that even with the massive hikes in people's living expenses, there are still people who believe that the fault must lie with the person not working hard enough/ spending frivolously etc.

Op, does your company have any assistance schemes for those struggling? I'm sure I will now get an angry response from someone asking why the employer is responsible but in my experience many are quite concerned with the welfare of their staff and they may be able to offer some help.

The heating on.
Hot food. I have a hot meal maybe once every two weeks.

Dentist and haircut is not happening.

I know it’s been mentioned already, but Vinted as seriously helped me dress my kids and has been a revelation. I have paid £2 or £3 for clothes that are either brand new or BNWT and have stocked them up for winter. You have to pay postage on top but I might never buy anything full price again.

@HellothereSH maybe read the room? Also. How does that make a difference as you have to buy food whilst on holiday. Ime it ends up costing the same.

Definitely check your company policy for glasses contribution. It sounds like Op’s friend has a mild prescription as she has only recently needed them and is managing without. Lots will pay a contribution (I’ve just checked ours it’s £49) plus cost of test. A none glasses wearer working on a screen all day saying she is struggling/eye strain should have box ticked necessary for vdu and be able to claim. If she’s not a glasses wearer she probably wont know about this. £49 would get her some glasses.
(I appreciate some cost a lot more mine do but I’ve worn since childhood, I couldn’t make do without mine no work could get done.)

Heating won't be going on, been going without glasses and dental treatment and really cutting down on food. I'm currently starving but trying to get through until dinner so drinking tea instead.

In case it helps anyone I was able to split my glasses cost over three months - complex prescription that is super £ - but that is with an independent optician who I also get lenses on direct debit with.

I keep reading about pets being abandoned/euthanised because people can’t afford food for them or vet bills.

We're just about keeping ourselves above water.

What upsets me is that both my DC need braces. Our old dentist kicked us all off the list as he was going private and that included kids.

I just cannot begin to afford the £8K + it will cost for both of them to have braces privately. So that will impact them & their confidence as they get older.

It's absolutely shit. And I have a relatively well-paid professional job.

I despair that families are unable to feed themselves or their kids and are
working every hr to do so but are trapped because of low pay and spiralling living costs.

The lack of empathy, or a workable plan from the Government, let alone what they have done to worsen this crisis, is despicable.

Amazing that even with the massive hikes in people's living expenses, there are still people who believe that the fault must lie with the person not working hard enough/ spending frivolously etc

Yes, this really annoys me too.
I often see this on threads where someone is posting about how they can't make ends meet. They are working in a low-paid job. First thing is always "get a better job", "work harder", etc. But it isn't always possible
And somebody has to do these low paid jobs. There are always going to be people on low wages because those jobs have to be done by somebody. So therefore it stands to reason that there are always going to be people who are struggling like this.
And while an individual could perhaps try to get a better paid job (though that might not be possible), there is always going to be a group of individuals who cannot afford the most basic things in life.

We can’t afford dental treatment. DH has a loose tooth which needs to come out and he will have a gap as we can’t afford a crown. Luckily it’s not a front tooth!

Its a disgrace that there is almost no help available towards the cost of glasses, hearing aids and dental treatment.

A lot of people are going without a decent diet. It's easy to look at someone who's overweight and think they're well fed but a decent diet is expensive, so to feel full people load up on bready sugary things because they can't afford good protein and veg that would fill them properly.
I can only afford 1 or 2 meals per day and I work full time doing academic interventions in a primary school. When I started one of the teachers said of the children 'you'll get to know which are the hungry ones.'. Using hungry to describe a permanent state, in the same was you might call someone quiet or sarcastic. In the UK in 2022. Vile times.

NRTFT

Prescriptions, she can go on the nhs website and do a prepaid certificate for 12 months, it’s £108 but you can spread the cost over 10 months for only £10.80/month. I did it last week, It was a life saver for me I have 4 regular prescriptions each month plus another 4 I take as and when needed. I only heard about the annual certificate through a support group when I admitted I couldn’t afford to take my meds.

At the moment we are in a “comfortable” position, we think we can manage with some increases. This is the first time we’ve ever been like this though. In the past, I’ve been in some difficult situations not being able to afford basics. For a long time my toilet roll supply came from work. I’d place a roll of toilet roll in my bag before leaving several times a week. This also doubled as my period pads as quite often I couldn’t afford to buy any and just used toilet roll. I’d do the same when travelling with work, I’d take the hotel toilet roll and clear out the tea/coffee etc… For a long time I’d use packets of salt & pepper, mini uht milks at home. I lived alone so no one knew. I have knickers older than my 10yo, I only recently threw a pair of pjs out that were over 15 years old. I’d re-sole and re-heal shoes as it would be cheaper than buying new. I’d shower at work, I use to drive as close as I could get for free parking then walk the rest of the way, about an hours walk and use the companies showers once there. One company I worked for had a fitness allowance, I used it on trainers to walk to work in and a gym membership, even if I didn’t use the gym regularly I would use the showers facilities.

Other things I’d do was fill up on free food at work so I didn’t need to eat at home, there was always leftovers from some meeting or other. I’d always happily take free logo’d clothes, it was nothing to do with proudly wearing my companies logo and everything to do with not being able to afford new clothes.

I was actually on good money but cost of living and other circumstances meant I couldn’t afford basics. I went I think 3 years without a hair cut once. Disclaimer, I wasn’t living in the UK at the time, there weren’t things like Poundland, home bargain or b&m to buy basics cheap, I would cost the equivalent to £3 for a small pack of pads, and this was over 10 years ago.

Clothes and shoes. Actually I tell a lie, I can tell exactly how much I've spent on clothes and shoes this entire year, £19. This was spent on a pack of knickers from Asda as my old ones were falling to bits, and two long sleeved t-shirts from Matalan to wear underneath jumpers for the winter, again to replace falling apart ones which I had already tried to repair with sewing. That's it. I'm embarrassed of my clothes, my particularly my shoes - I am currently living in a old pair of Asda trainers which I bought about 8 years ago, other than that I have a pair of black knee high boots bought last year from Deichmann for £30 which my DD assures me are totally out of fashion, so that's nice. That's it, those are my winter footwear and I can't afford to get anything new. I work really hard and am constantly trying to improve our financial situation.

I have a complex prescription and my lenses need to be thinned. Not as easy as it always seems

The bottom line and underpinning all of this, is that the country can't afford the Tories. It's not this bad for our neighbours.

Also, we desperately want a dog and have done for 10 years but we can't afford one. It's the vet bills we are afraid of - yes insurance covers lots of stuff but doesn't cover everything. We personally know people who have had to fork out thousands on vet bills for their insured dog as whatever it was wasn't covered. So many dogs needing a loving home at the moment, it breaks my heart.

You cannot just say someone in the family has it so you can get a free eye test.

I wonder if this varies by optician. I paid for my eye tests for years before my father was diagnosed with glaucoma - the optician I saw on my next eye test asked as a routine question if there was a family history of glaucoma; when I said my father had just been diagnosed I was told my eye tests would be free and given a form to sign to confirm this. My father doesn't use the same optician or have the same surname as me, so there's no way they could have checked this. My father sadly lost the sight in one eye, so it's something I am very aware of now.

@Kennykenkencat have you read the thread? Have you got eyes in your head? Are you for real? You reckon people are struggling because of an inability to budget effectively? I can 100% guarantee that every single person struggling on this thread can account for every penny, let alone pound that they spend. The fault is not theirs, its attitudes like yours that are at fault. You should be ashamed of yourself.

dental care. We were nhs patients but our practise went fully private, we decided to stay on as private patients and the monthly plan for check ups and routine care is pretty reasonable but I cannot afford any treatment if needed. My partner has just had 2 fillings costing hundreds of pounds. I'm worried sick I will need something done - but for now I'm okay.

I know this won't help everyone and certainly if you have pre-existing dental problems it won't help at all, but my private dentist sees my 2 DC free of charge. I pay £35 a check up (£70 a year / £6 a month), and we all have 2 check ups a year which involve a good deep clean of the teeth and mouth check. The DC also get an earful from the dentist to keep up with dental hygiene at home. It is money well spent in my opinion though I appreciate not everyone has £6 a month lying around.

Not technically a necessity I know, but due to the way things are I can’t see being able to afford to have a second child. I work full time as does my partner on above averages wages but I can’t see how we’d make a second child work at all. I feel like we’ve done everything we’re supposed to and yet we live month to month and can’t afford any of the treats or luxuries I thought we’d be able to at this stage of life

Worth mentioning there’s a list of medical conditions inc type 2 diabetes that qualify for a prescription exemption certificate. Worth double checking if you are struggling to pay. It’s quite a long list.