To think work no longer ‘pays’

[Cuppasoupmonster]

This is a controversial topic so I’m expecting a few biscuits to be thrown at me so I’ve got my hard hat on. Inspired by the ‘benefits overhaul’ thread.

I often see on here that working and owning your own home is always better than claiming benefits and living in social housing. But it seems like the perks are long gone if I’m honest.

It feels like every day I’m dragging myself up at 6am to take my daughter to nursery (when I would much rather have her at home with me), just to pay our enormous mortgage and bills, before breaking even at the end. We haven’t had a holiday in 5 years. A few months ago I went into my overdraft for the first time in about 6-7 years despite the fact my spending is no different. What are the upsides again? Is it just that we get to choose the care home we die in (perhaps)? Because right now I’m feeling pretty pissed off with the whole thing and wondering if anyone else feels the same.

Hence moving house. Keep up!

Of course it is. Either way I’m not sponging off the state am I?

No, you’re sponging off your bank.

😆

Oh please that’s a shit ‘comparison’ and you know it! You just look a bit silly.

Plus I pay it back, in fact I have to. Should people have to pay their UC back then, pumper?

They do, everyone pays in advance and after- it’s this innovative sort of payment called “taxes”

Of course it pays. I live in my own home, where no landlord can dictate what I do, run monthly inspections, put my housing costs up, evict me etc. I’m not at the mercy of a benefits system that can change as the wind changes. If I don’t like my working circumstances I can try to change them.

None of that would be possible if I didn’t do my job. Yes, my job is very tiring (I’m currently on reduced hours due to burnout) and I don’t have a lot left over, but the value of my personal freedom is incalculable.

Wages should absolutely be increased across the board though. Nobody in full time work should need their rent paid - public money shouldn’t be paying off a person’s second/third/thirtieth home’s mortgage for them. I’d also support universal basic income.

Being directly liable for your own debts is not the same as throwing a few quid into a pot that you then take £100 out of.

You don’t have to start slinging insults, this is a friendly space. I’m just asking you to reflect on your own financial choices before getting stuck into someone else’s.

But again, thinking of your own choices - could you have pre-empted the £20 of overdraft and sold the furniture first? Do you have an interest-free overdraft? Would it be financially viable for you and your husband to cut to four days per week instead of full time, and save two days of nursery fees?

But my financial choices only affect me. I will suffer the direct consequences of not paying my mortgage, or going into an overdraft. It’s not the same as just getting handouts from other people which you don’t pay back and don’t earn. If you can’t work that out you’re literally not up to having this conversation.

Also, my house has increased in value by nearly £100k in 5 years, despite me doing absolutely fuck all. One of the biggest perks of home ownership - you can trade up in very little time. Much harder in council housing and impossible when renting (if anything it works the other way in renting - of the 8 properties I rented over the years, the nicest was the cheapest, and the first one I rented).

Well, you and your family. Particularly your kid, if your poor financial planning means you can’t afford to send them to nursery any more.

Well private renting isn't great. We had to move 4 times in 6 years . You are welcome to try it if you like

And even if you get some or all of your hb paid they aren't going to pay your moving costs.

Obviously the council may then re house you , usually after you've spent some months/years in a homeless shelter

Then when your child is older you will need to try and get back into the work place and work your way back up again

You’re trying to be all cutting and ‘see! See! You have a MORTGAGE YOU CANT AFFORD!’ Like that is any comparison to free state handouts. It isn’t. And we all know it.

Well aren’t you just better than everyone! Yet you still can’t afford your home or a holiday and you are due to have another baby soon too. Your children are also affected by your money. Do you not get child benefit? Isn’t that money handed out that you don’t pay back?

No, im saying you don’t have to worry about benefit claimants because they’re not affecting your already precarious financial situation. But what you can do is think about how you can make your own situation better.

Would you prefer handouts, having to constantly prove you're looking for a job and go for interviews, not affording the basics never mind meals out, holidays, and never having a way of increasing this potential. Or would you prefer having a job that you can work your way up in to earn better to make a better lifestyle for yourself?

Haha; another one trying to compare the general high cost of living to getting free handouts from.. oh yeah, me 🙄

No I’m not comparing the 2 I’m pointing out you are just full of rubbish. Thinking you are better than everyone else here and your finances are in control because you don’t get universal credit but they clearly aren’t, and you are no better than anyone else.

They are under control. All payments have been made but we are moving somewhere cheaper so we don’t just break even every month. That’s called taking responsibility. Not cutting my hours to get a state handout. You just don’t like the truth.

Looking at another life stage - how easy is life for someone with children and on benefits?

A friend of mine is a single parent and was lucky enough to get social housing - a nice house, in a good area of town close to the childrens' school and withing walking distance of the shops. Jackpot, right?

But then her children passed the threshold for sharing a room and she was deemed to be overcrowded, so they moved her. To a less nice house that needed significant repairs (and decorating, including new flooring that she had to pay for herself - not all the costs are paid for you), in a village several miles away with no shop and little public transport. So she had extra costs for heating a larger house with poor insulation and bad windows, and needed to use the car a lot more. Then one of her children died and she was hit with the spare room charge. She couldn't find a swap to downsize that was within reasonable distance of the school. Then her older child went to university - 2 spare rooms, 2 x spare room charge.

There are very few social housing properties small enough to avoid that charge for a single adult so she's stuck in a house she doesn't like, in an area with no jobs, paying a penalty for extra rooms - one of which she didn't ask for in the first place.

Isn't she fortunate?

What exactly IS the truth? All you’ve done is talk in circles.

You could cut your hours to get state hand outs if you like, you must both be on really low incomes though

And you wouldn't be any better off financially

The baby years are hard OP. Coming out the other side now and we have 1 child, I stayed in work and went back when he was 4 months. He's now 9 he loves the expensive holidays and nice house we have as I've climbed the ladder as I didn't take to much time out. He can't remember the baby years, the memories he has will be from now. Because I'm senior I get most weekends off vs trying to get my career back if I had wait until he was at school.

In the baby years I think it's about surviving and keep your career alive so once they are school you can give them the best life possible.

We are likely to be unable to retire before DS has kids (we had him at 22) so will look after any grand kids around our shifts and likely pay half of his childcare bill (assuming his wife's family pay the other half). I think the government fails woman by not offering free childcare from the end of maternity leave for the 1st child. Even allowing them to deduct the full cost of childcare from tax they pay would be a massive benefit