to not understand why so many poor people...

[nybom]

...are being called "poor" if they can afford:

• cigarettes/drugs
• dogs
• large amounts of takeaways/ready meals
• ready cut fruit, brands, air freshners and other superfluous crap, kids drinks/other products specifically tailored to kids
• to go out drinking
• FF babies
• to leave lights on, have electrical appliances on standby, not to use energy light bulbs, to keep the water running, to put on half a load of washing, to leave heating on at night
• to maintain artificial nails, to have hair extensions
• buy loads of beauty products
• to leave their car engine on whilst going shopping/standing in a traffic jam
• to have themed children's birthday parties with loads of props
• and most of all: have CREDIT cards so they can overdraw

i'm talking of regular habits not just occasional behaviour...

several of my friends are on benefits, so the observations are firsthand and not just assumptions.

a friend of mine (single mum on benefits) got a party bus for her DSs last birthday party (besides loads of presents), this year he's getting a wii (and loads of other presents). WTF?

why don't these people simply save more?

i on the other hand spend less than 100 pounds on a family of four (whilst buying high quality, fresh, organic products) by buying 50% of my shopping reduced/offers, at local markets and a lot of things (like toiletries) from pound shops or discounters. we buy value toilet paper (amongst other things); and i go to the hairdresser twice a year, and only to the beautycian for special occasions such as weddings. the children don't get any toys or clothes from us, as there are enough family and friends who don't know what to buy for christmas/birthday parties. so the kids basically don't cost us anything. we have one credit card and we make sure NEVER to overdraw because of the high interest rates.

i simply don't get it...

Yeah, but if someone earning £30K a year puts their name down, somehow I don't think they will ever reach the top of the list... albeit possible for everyone to apply, not everyone will actually qualify.

Council lists aren't income dependent.

Really VS well i ended up poor and living on benefits(many years ago) because i decided to leave my cheating DP because i was sick of his affairs, maybe he should have had more self control and kept his dick in his pants

I am hoping that VS was being sarcastic rather than serious

Skyblu - I can bale out of this now - you are saying all the right things for me! Especially the post about categories 1 to 3!

VS, quick come back to clarify before I waste my ire on a reply...

Assume VS was joking.

oh f*ck off - VS.

Fuckety fuck - is it all the "poor" who you feel are like this VS?
If so, you are also welcome to accompany me on the visits to the homes where cheese is a fucking luxury.

Haven't been on for a couple of hours, looks like the arguement has changed what is this all about now......has VS upset people or is it someone else just need a quick catch up so I don't have to read the whole thing

Its funny how the "poor" of this country have such extragavent lifestyles and get the class divide is growing wider each year.

Has the OP looked in her friends cupboards, im sure it wont be organic veg falling out of them. Yes maybe a tin of heinz baked beans. Did you consider that them beans are maybe to make beans on toast for the main meal because she hasnt got anywhere near £100 pw to spend on food.

OK people on benefits might spend a lot on cigerettes "if" they smoke. But it is a habit which is hard to break, and for a lot of people in this situation, its all they have, they often feel its the only way that they can cope.

People on benefits cant go ahead and just buy wii's they have to save or get them on credit such as catologes or shops like crazy george with charge extortionate rates or they get provident loans who again charge stupid rates.

If you want to know why they do this for their kids, its because they just want their kids to have more than what they had as a child. So why dont they save it? whats the point in that? It would never be enough to put them through uni or put a deposit off a house, and something would always come up that they needed. Like a new washing machine or fridge or the gas bill.

I could carry on all day but whats the point! As seem as im lucky enough to not be on benefits Id best turn my computer off and save electricity.(thats a luxury only for the "poor.") Goodness me they will be giving clean water to the poor of Bangladesh next.

Lets just go back to the good old days of Thatcherism.

Anybody who uses the phrase "scumderclass" to define human beings doesn't deserve a job working with anybosy.
Truly depressing.

That is a disgusting way to refer to the people that you work with VS

Ok, ok, i stand corrected on the council list issue!

Just trying to illustrate the point that some people who claim to be on low income actually appear to be better off than me, and I manage ok.

However, I'm taking it at face value, and think it is just about individual choices and priorities - where I can't afford £200 a month for a brand new car, perhaps these people can. I just don't understand why, cos I earn a good whack and don't smoke, so I must be going wrong somewhere! LOL!

I still do think its unfair that someone I know has managed to have 2 kids with neither her or her partner EVER having a job since school, and yet they have been housed (through whatever scheme) in a brand new 3-bed house where they even got to choose their tiles, yet if they don't work, how do they pay for it??? They are not disabled, they got pregnant in school and never even got to the work place. I know there is no hidden reason for their lack of job as it is a friend of the family. It is a classic case of them being looked after too well by the state and having no real need to get a job.

While I, instead, bust my ass daily to afford my mortgage and childcare costs, because I have worked all my life and would not qualify for any benefits at all, and I had to wait til I was in my 30s before I could afford to take the time off work to have a baby.

However you look at it, that is just not fair.

I was suprised when i first started working for abudget supermarket, how many people pay for their full weeks shopping with healthy start vouchers, coupons out of magazines, supplier coupons and high street vouchers. It really was quite alien to me and we are by no means well off

I think these new cars are most probably those free cars that the disabled get (please read the sarcasm)

Well lets get real here. There is the working classes-those who have poorly paid jobs and struggle but yet get themselves out of bed in the morning to provide food/shelter for their families. I feel for those people as it's hard to improve your life chances when you get locked into poorly paid jobs when you're young.

And then...there are the Scumderclass-those who really are unwilling to do anything about their circumstances and mooch around in bed till the afternoon when they wake up to down a tinnie or two, whinge about the world, and yell at their kids before lying back down on the sofa to watch re-runs of Jermey Kyle. These people fail to take responsibility for themselves and always look to the short term solutions.

You can shout "FUCK OFF" to me all you like. Some people just wont help themselves IMHO.

VS - I agree. I see both in my area, and the second half make my blood boil.

I think some people don't encounter these people and don't really believe they exist, but the absolutely do. Sloping off to the pub in their slippers at 11am everyday with baby in pram, a can of cider in one hand, fag in the other, and another can in hoody pocket. And that's just the pregnant teenager who used to live 5 doors from me. Her mother was worse, as were the numerous "dads" that frequented the place. And not one job between them. It's a joke.

JustWannaSay, why does said teenage Mom need to go to the pub at 11am when she has 2 tinnies secreted about her person???

I don't really see people like that, you're very right, I am fairly naive about these things, I freely admit, but to call a group of people "scumderclass" is disgusting, VS.

VS, so what in your opinion is a low wage or badly paid job, how much?