I honestly cannot afford to live

[Inkdrinker]

I work 40 hour weeks, yet I was paid 6 days ago and I'm already completely out of money. My rent is more than half of my pay, council tax is a further 250 pounds, my energy bills are ridiculous despite trying to cut down on using so much.

I have 3 kids to look after. How are people going survive this? This is by no means a ploy to ask others for money, I do not want anyone's money. I just want to know I'm not alone in this situation

I would be in a very similar position to you, @CriticalAlert , if I wasn't still working p/t.

I'd be entitled to £15 a week reduction in my council tax if I only had my pension income, but would still have to pay £70 a month. I wouldn't be able to afford to run my car, and we have a really pisspoor bus service, so it would be hard to manage without it.

I really feel for you. I feel like we will need to re-mortgage our home to get them through Uni ! We can't help 2 and not the third. I honestly wouldn't mind if they can get decent jobs as graduates but my ds1 is putting in 90 hour weeks for a job paying 22k and paying £350 in petrol costs each month !

I think many people will first use up any small savings they've managed to scrape together then it will be using credit cards and bank overdrafts loans etc until eventually it will all become impossible to manage. I'm so sorry to hear of so many peoples struggles but can't offer any advice sadly. I've lost hope of things improving in the short term.

It may be but all students get over £5k maintenance loan so it is only the top up which is expected from either parents or working. Students get plenty of holiday time to work if they can’t during term time. No family needs to give their student £1k pm.

In about 1970 my uncle and his wife emigrated to Tasmania. The generation before that 3 of my grandfather's brothers did the same to Canada (one ended up a US citizen as moved on). May be it is time for people to consider those kinds of moves again www.movehub.com/blog/easiest-countries-to-move-to-from-uk/

Make sure everyone struggling uses a benefit calculator to check entitlement to either universal credit/ council tax reduction. Entitled to. Co.Uk is best one.

please also remember if you qualify for any amount of universal credit with housing cost element or housing benefit if your rent is more than the local housing allowance you can apply to discretionary housing payment from your local council to help with the top up

Xenia, you’re talking to people who can’t afford the bus to the food bank. They definitely can’t afford visas and flights to Belize.

Yep, I would like to have a second baby but will have to wait for the 30 free hours at 3 years as it would be simply unaffordable to have two in nursery. How anyone can even afford three children unless you are a high earner is beyond me.

We have four but they are all late teens/ early twenties now. We worked around each other for years so had very little in the way of childcare costs to pay. DH worked days 9-5, I worked late shifts, weekends and nights ( nursing) so only occasionally had to pay for a few hours childcare in the afternoons. I have no idea how people manage now if both working full time, although a friend of mine works condensed hours so five days condensed into four and like you is waiting until 30 hours funding for first child kicks in before having a second.

The UC we will get is about 100 a week less than tax credits as we get disability credits at the minute.

This gem
One major plus for anyone moving to Australia from the UK is how easy it is to buy a home out there. 🤣

Yep this. Three is not affordable and only for the high earners I’m afraid unless you’re will to scrimp all the time on an average salary. With our nursery being close to £100 a day we simply can’t afford to have more than one child at the moment. I’m choosing to wait so we can afford our mortgage (got caught up in the interest rise with the remortgage this year) utilities, bills and some rainy day money for dinners and a holiday. Sounds mean but it’s true, who’s going to pay for me to have more children when my partner and I can’t afford to?

I dont know if this will help but British Gas have a fund for people to apply for to wipe off their debts on energy regardless of who your supplier is, it could be anyone who supplies your gas and electricity, British Gas just advertise it, It might help someone to heat and light their homes again. I am really sorry for anyone struggling its awful.

ok thanks,why will you be changing im guessing your both on ESA
do you both get pip

i know when i have to change,no idea when i lose the severe disability premium cant remember how much i lose but wont until transitional rate ends

Yeah similar. I’m pleased my youngest has no intention of going to uni tbh. I have been teaching him about saving a little each month starting as soon as he has a job after college. I reckon he’ll be much better off than his uni attending brother

You still get child disability element on UC.

My ds2 is the only one of mine who hasn't gone to Uni or planning to go. He managed to get himself a good apprenticeship and not he has just completed it has secured a job earning much better than my ds1 who went to Uni. My friends kids who haven't gone to Uni have also done well by working for local council etc and working their way up.

I'm 60 and have a small mortgage following a divorce. I was doing really well for myself until last year. I was planning on working part time and taking it easy a bit maybe having a holiday. I've been working for 40 years.
Now I'm having to work 6 days a week to make ends meet and DS and DiL are having to move into my house because they can't afford their rent.
I'm fucking sick of it all. When am I going to catch a break?

same here, I work around 50 hrs a week, self employed running two businesses, my main one and a smaller sideline business. Both have taken a hit since covid, and I’m struggling to pay my bills.

Your partner should be contributing towards the three children. One person would need to earn a good salary to support themselves and three children and be anywhere near comfortable.,

You are not alone! Sadly you have plenty of company. We have plenty of company!

You’re taking @roarfeckingroarr out of context and unfairly so. They are not saying people who have there are bad. They’re saying it’s unfairly become a luxury. How do you not see that? Reading comprehension is clearly not your strength.

I think more will do that babyroobs. Who can afford it given the price of everything? I hate that so many people are going cold & hungry.

I work in an industry that has been really short of workers since Brexit/pandemic. Suddenly we are getting a lot of applicants - after struggling for ages - which makes me think the job market is getting tougher as well.

@Happygirl79 @CriticalAlert I’m a pensioner too, a bit older, I retired before 2016. Subsequently the basic state pension (even if I got a full one) is at least £40 a week less than retirees in their 60s get. My state pension is further reduced because there were no NI credits when I was a SAHM. DH gets the old basic pension, around £150 a week.

Because I have a small occupational pension, we don’t qualify for any benefits, heating costs have been particularly tough this winter, we’ve both been ill. Thank goodness for blankets and hot water bottles! There has been no outcry about the differentials in the state pension.

Having said that, I’m so sorry for young families who are struggling. Especially those where the burden seems to fall almost wholly on the resident parent.

So sorry to read about people struggling like this...hurrendous.
I don't mean to sound patronising or daft...I expect people know about these things but Olio is good for listing cheap/free food in your local area. Also paid survey apps ..Curious cat and Lifepoints. Sometimes you can make £5 on there in a couple of days. Not much but it's a few meals. I've used 'survey money' to put petrol in the car when I've been really skint so it adds up.
Sending strength x