AIBU to be sad and shocked by this article?

[LittleDorrit]

Have just been reading this:

www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/18/child-poverty-labour-eradicate-promise

and I am shocked by the conditions this family is living in, but in particular how little/what sort of food they are able to afford.

It's not so much an AIBU issue, but just wondered whether others in similarly difficult circumstances think this is typical, or whether the mother could try to buy other types of food (e.g. rice, lentils, etc.) or perhaps be able to afford to spend a bigger proportion of her budget on food... £20 is very little.

If fathers not working csa can take £5 a week from his benefits to go to her direct........ Even that will help!

'they drift around from billet to billet - true, they are feckless, but I feel sorry for them too'

I can't get it up to feel sorry for anyone who abandons their own flesh and blood to fortune's whim like that.

Should also ask balloonslayer what am I missing by not having cable etc? Should I corral ds into the house to watch our tv so he has things to talk about at school? He seems to manage quite well without.

I thought she received a total of £85.00, I didn't read that she received other benefits on top. Well in that case I take back my other comments as she actually has a similar disposable income as we do.

I apologise MollieO, I have just re-read your post and realised that you were saying her payments for her TV licence looked to be too high.

I thought you were criticising her for wasting money on a TV licence.

Sorry.

Goodness there are some judgy people on this thread. I think she's doing amazingly well in difficult circumstances. Surely she should be commended rather than judged because she's bought oven chips. FFS people!

Salvation Army are very good at helping poor families with furniture etc. I suppose it is very much a question of knowing where to turn to to access help.

I think when viewed on a world scale, this isn't too bad. The children are fed/clothed/warm and have somewhere to sleep. Not everyone on the planet has such luxuries - there medical care is also seen to and they will not die from drinking contaminated water.

However, having said that. I couldn't do it. This isn't living, its surviving. I do wonder why she has TWO children when it would have been pretty obvious how tight things were with one and I also wonder why the father of the children is allowed to just walk away.

I think its complicated and I hesitate to judge her food choices because she may just not have the information/ability to buy raw ingredients and cook them. Not everyone has even the basics these days it would seem.

I have been lucky enough to have never experienced real poverty. When DH and I were at Uni we were pretty broke a lot of the time, but to be fair we could have run home to wealthy parents (and did go for dinner quite regularly).

It sucks, no question about it and the kids are the real losers, I do have sympathy for them but I just wish people would THINK before having babies. Also, even if it wouldn't be ideal wouldn't it make more sense for her mother and her to live together? If her Grandma is not working then she could do the school run while the mother works full time. Combining resources etc.

Whoops! Apology accepted ballonslayer! Everyone is entitled to some entertainment in their lives but I'd be a bit concerned if she was putting Sky over providing for her dcs.

Marla The fault is no-ones in this situation. I know how this woman feels.

It makes you feel shit that you cant get out of it as well.

She gets a bit of money though. Your telling me that she cant get by on £130 a week?

Jobseekers for a couple with a child pay less than that!

A few months ago I was meant to go back to work after MAT leave but my work turned me down due to recession then 3 months later my partner got laid off his £10hr job. This was heartbraking for our new family.
We managed to get the rent service to pay for 80% of the rent on our £595 house which we were paying just fine before hand.
We are on Jobseekers at £189 every two weeks.
Child Tax credit is £3.00 a week and child Benefit is £20. So in all we get about £128 a week.
Then we have to pay:
£25 a week in gas and elec
£20 of CB buyd dd her food etc...
£20 goes on debts as we had to go to CAB to get reduced payments.

£65 already gone by Tues.

Then we have to contribute
£30 to rent a week
So that leaves us with about £33 a week for food for two adults. Not easy in this day and age.

We regulary go without lunch or dinner so Dd can have what she needs.

I also have to pay £21 a week to insurance company for my car - Ive had to sell my other one.
£ plus petrol if we really need to be somewhere.

My mum has leant me over £2000 since dd was born.
She never gave me any money before dd was born.

She knows how much were struggling and we have both applies for at least 30 jobs in the last 3 months. All turning us down.

I would like to work, and so would my partner but no one wants us even tho were well qualified.

We dont drink, take drugs nor smoke. Im well educated. Circumstance takes the blame as I know we do our best everyday to make life better for us.

Some of the grammar and spelling in my previous post is appalling, sorry!

I didn't notice them having cable or not.

My point was (given that I thought you were saying they should give up the TV, which you were not) a lot of kids' games in the playground are based around TV programmes and children who don't have a TV can find themselves out on a limb. There was a thread on here a week or two ago about a family at last giving in and buying a telly because their kids felt so left out at school.

I know from experience that if I had got even £5 pw CA support from ex husband then my life would have been a million times better than it was.

I agree wholeheartedly with expat - lets start getting the dads to take responsibility for the financial upkeep of their children......or else tax the arses off them instead!

CSA (or whatever they are called now) can only attach benefits/earnings if they can find the ex-p. Even then they are useless ime.

And we own our own business but not able to trade at mo, due to the fact wed earn more from JSA now than the business.

nomoreamover - credit rating isn't just about buying a house - its about getting a bank account, getting low cost loans etc. My point was that stopping paying off her debts is likely to get her into even more trouble and make it more difficult to get out of in the longer term.

Marla it does state that she gets £85 income support and £51 tax credits.

What did she spend the council loan and lloyds bank loan on?

Lloyds bank isn't a loan. It's repaying overdraft foines and charges.

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