in getting so fed up of being skint and having to read about people who claim to be skint bbut are buying games consoles for their DC when mine will have to have whatever I can scrape from the charity shop or freecycle?

[conniedescending]

I know this is a bit 'living in a council house with flat screen tv' and I'v always been hugely against benefit bashing threads but I'm wondering if the worm has turned?

we are struggling to pay the essentials, my DH is working all the hours he possibly can in a job thats not going well at all (due to loss of customers due to aforementioned credit crunch) meanwhile I'm working from whenever he gets home till 1/2 am, 6 days a week trying to make up the shortfall.

Have had a disastrous week as washing machine packed up and my mum is on holiday so I can't use hers. I have a baby in cloth nappies so have had to buy disposables. Have spent all morning or the last few days handwashing clothes and deserately trying to get them dry which is impossible in this weather. Cant get to launderetter because car needs mot and we have no money to do that.

Then I saw some small toy items on freecylce that I asked for and hoped I'd get because the lady who was offering them has had several items from me (curtains, breadmaker and some hardly worn shoes). Anyway - she's not gifting me them (was hoping they may be okfor xmas pressies).

so I come on MN and read threads about people on benefits who are skint and have 'only' bought nintendos ds'or a wii...........

honestly have no clue how we are going to get through this - we have eaten into both our overdrafts, looking to increase income in everyway possible, have cut back everything to the bone. There is no safety net there now at all and I am starting to really worry.

We have a wedding we're supposed to go to next mth as well - god knows how we are going to make that, plus birthdays galore.

cant see the wood for the trees at the minute

Tinky,
we ll forgive you since it has stains on it lol

exasperatedmummy,
?????

When I was on benefits due to serious illness and lived in a council house, We had no carpets, a tiny portable tv, I went without food to make sure dd ate and we had nothing at all. I remember being mortified when the HV came because we didnt have carpets and she commented on it. The tv we had was a tiny black and white portable given to me by a neighbour.

So yes I was a scrounger of a single parent screwing the system inbetween having 8 very serious operations.

I know this thread isnt about council housing but in the street I was in I was the only one that didnt work, The other neighbours consisted of a law court manager, a florist with her own business, a builder with his own firm, a maths teacher and someone who travelled the world with something to do with sheetmetal.

I am at uni part time and work for myself full time now and claim no benefits other than working tax credit, still i do not go out, have a car etc. So it winds me up when people on here judge.

As I have said before the only reason my dd will get anything from me this year is because I have gone without and saved as much as I could since January.

"'My nanny wanted to have 10 min lunch. Bloody hell you must suck her'." !

hahah exasperated I noticed that but was too prudish to say anything

Oops. Lololol

It was because of multitasking and no 'Freudian slip' lol

Nanny's have all the fun these days.

I love this thread.
3 fucking days since dh was made out of work. and already mn is going on about benifits. and flat screens. brilliant

So are you saying you DON'T have pervvy fantasies about your nanny? Come on, we weren't born yesterday!

ermm 2shoes MN has ALWAYS gone on about benefits and flat screen tv's

Although we're now all having a giggle at pervy nanny's

Lolol Tinky

They are coming now armed with dictionaries to arrest me

FAQ oh that is ok then. makes me feel so much better. lets take the piss out of people on benefits then.
it is so much fun

FAQ - we're not taking the piss out of people on benefits - we were laughing at an unfortunate typo

And besides - even if we were laughing at them - does that mean we're not allowed to laugh at ourselves????

i'm going to buy you all dictionaries for your Xmas to go with your lumps of coal .

duh that post should of course be addressed to 2shoes not me

lol at FAQ talking to herself

Connie if you really are on your arses then get down to the CAB and find out if you are claiming everything you should be.
For example if your DH isn't working as of April 2009 you will get £175k of the interest part of your mortgage paid.
If you were on housing benefit, you'd be forced to justify how many rooms you have, move house if it was deemed you had too many and then live at the mercy of the landlord, who may or may not have told his/her lender he is letting the property, may or may not keep up repayments. You get the picture.
And if your tax credits have stopped, get back onto them and tell them you cannot manage without so what can they do to help, they might have a plan, may not of course but worth a try.

'For example if your DH isn't working as of April 2009 you will get £175k of the interest part of your mortgage paid.'

Provided you've been on certain benefits for 13 weeks or more and may not apply to all benefits (such as contribution-based JSA), in other words, you need to qualify for housing/council tax benefit and don't exceed the savings thresshold.

So it's not automatic.

Exaparetedmummy - liked you posts

Conniedescedending - i dont think you were actually having a dig at others more having a moan about your situation. It sounds like you have a lots of worries piling up with current ecomomic climitae and christmas often adds to it. How old are you kids? Ds1 is 8 and understands we dont have much money this year so he is asking father christmas for the pricey stuff .. obviously he isnt getting all he is asking for. I feel terribley guilty as i want to indulge him as he has had a tough year and is a fantastic kid.

I started a very dodgy thread a while back about private houses and the remainder then going over to HA. I got flamed and rightly so. Have to say i have some lovely neighbours and all seems well. There are a few who have moved in who appear a bit dodgy but that is my perceptions and i might be wrong

Anyway - I am not getting on your case cos i think what you wanted was a bit of tea and sympathy and thats ok, just it is easy to offend when you dont know others situations especially given current climate

no wonder I was confused her 2shoes

and KatieDD no you don't need to "justify" how many rooms you have the new LHA (or whatever the acronym for it is) looks at how many rooms you need, and pays you a set amount for the "size" of house you need - if you rent somewhere that's more expensive then you just have to make up the shortfall yourself, but will still get you HB.

do you think a lift counts as a room?
I always wonder.
we have a through the floor one

Yes I appreciate that, but as you say if the rooms are not required, by the LHA criteria then you have to a). Move or b) cover the shortfall, the point is if you have a mortgage on the property nobody cares how many bedrooms you got for your money.
And yes of course you have to be entitled to the benefits, I rather thought that would go without saying.
Just worth finding out/double checking if things are that tight.

presuming you have a shortfall.....

exasperatedmummy- I do see your point, but what you are fighting for is what i will be fighting for when I am no longer receiving benefits and that is to never go back to the time of being worthless and undeserving of anything in the eyes of some.

If you work,own your own home,have car/s and holidays,then you get so much more respect than anyone on benefits will ever get, regardless of how much you are struggling to make ends meet.

For me, getting benefits is a daily swallow of pride and I can't wait to be working because the big difference between struggling on benefits and struggling when working is respect and everyone knows who gets more of that!