Ideas please ?

[Solutionssought2026]

Income - 600 universal credits
710 child support
104 child benefit
Outgoings - Mortgage 663
Gas/electric/water £130
Petrol to school £40pw 240pm
Insurance £47
Internet £40
Mobiles x 2 £40
Life insurance £100
any ideas how we stay alive on £204 a week or how to make some super fast money please? I’ve got everything I can think of on Vinted if it’s not nailed down.
I have sciatica and a broken great toe which limits my mobility
I’ve had corporate roles HR/Finance for the last 30 years and I can’t even get an interview.

That’s a good idea. I will run it through ChatGPT. I’ve got Claude on a free trial too
I don’t know, the work I’m doing in the background could suddenly result in me having 10 grand by the end of the month but it’s just also precarious and uncertain

Is your UC right? I get £1100 approx for me and my child, I also get limited capability for work as I MH/back issues. You can apply to UC for them to pay your mortgage interest, it will be repaid back plus 3% but will give some breathing space.

Yeah, I’ve checked it. It’s 400 for me and 300 for my son and then they deduct 100 for the initial loan so that that’s not forever but it is for now
I presume you get some sort of help towards the rent which you don’t get for a mortgage but it does cover the capital element of it so then I’m just paying the mortgage interest

I have applied for SMI under UC to pay my mortgage interest. When I sell the house (divorce) it is repaid plus 3% it was just an idea to give you breathing space just now.

It just doesn’t really it’s £333 SMI and the mortgage is 973 for a two bedroom terraced
I seem to be paying more and more and more for less than less space.
I wonder why you’re getting £400 more a month though I’m definitely missing out on that whatever it might be

You, I and most of our generation were fed a falsehood op....that, if you're quite clever and work hard, you're guaranteed to do well . You'll be very comfortable and stable financially. Unfortunately the world is changing fast.

Do you have no savings? 80k and 600pm child support is a lot of money.

I couldn’t be claiming universal credits if I did, could I?

Remarkably you only needed to be three or four years older than us to have done quite well out of the situation. The only friends that I know who are financially secure are married to men that are five years older.
And then of course you’ve got to find one that sticks with your family.

My bank RBS has a COL option to transfer to interest only for 6 months, I think you can extend after if proven inadequate earnings.

I had that a while ago, nobody mentioned. Not a word and they knew nothing had improved

So go back to them, they can do longer terms they just dont publicise it.

Just started to read and something jumped out at once.

40 per week petrol isn’t £240 a month. It’s £160

so that’s another £80

will now go and rtft so apologies if someone has already said that

Yay, I like you you can stay

Bows down 😂

sometimes diff phone companies will buy you out of contract

im now with Labara which is vodpahone. I was with o2 for years and paying almost £28 a month - now pay £2,50

referral Code here

https://aklam.io/vFBRCJbn

if on uc you can get by WiFi for £23 - you have to ring them up an give ni number so that will save £17 a month

I get you are applying to any nmw job. If near a town I would apply in person to any places saying wanting staff so they meet you

I am not applying for waitressing jobs. I am 50 years old and knackered.
Unless I can stand behind a counter directing 20-year-olds but I strongly suspect the owners of the establishment have got that privilege.

Luckily, today’s been a bit more productive and hopefully a bit more fruitful
I will look into the broadband suggestion though, thank you

Whats wrong with waitressing do you think their beneath you which is pretty rich coming from someone who sits at home claiming benefits. You need a job any job. You have a child to support, you have no savings, loads of debt and you're living in a home thats unliveable. You need a serious reality check.

awww thanks for the support. Come back to me when you’re 50 and let me know what kind of a waitress you would make.
I’ll give you a clue, not a very good one

You don't think their are waitresses in their 50s and 60s

I’ve never seen one in real life no
But if I have, I wonder if they’ve got a broken big toe and sciatica that means they have to spend three days in bed at a time and their son has to bring them a bucket for them to piss in

You're coming across really lazy and dramatic a broken bone takes 4-6 weeks to heal and a toe is barely worth mentioning. Upto 40% of adults in the UK have sciatica me included its not an excuse to never work again or to piss in a bucket

As for a reality check, I spoke further to a friend today who had applied for a role. In the exact same location as the one that he just left.
The man generates £350,000 in revenue for his current organisation but because he’s 51, they decided that he was too old for the job
They know they can’t say that, ha ha 🙄
And it would be too far for him to travel despite the fact that he has been travelling to that location for the last 2 1/2 years
It is actual madness out there

10 weeks later and my toe is still not healed. It’s almost as if we’re all different isn’t it?
I’m going to unfortunately have to take the doctors advice over yours random person on the Internet.
How lucky that the other 39.9% of people with sciatica are able to get out of bed I wasn’t and I’m damned if I’m going to set it off again
We can’t have overflowing buckets

Give her a break, clearly states she also suffers sciatica so waitressing is no good. I rhink being 50, being senior level and previously warning 80k gives her a bit more of a right to be choosy. Chances are shed never get a job like that anyway as shes unlikely to be fucked about with shifts etc.

Sorry it sounds really stressful OP. I wish I had some clever advice for you. I appreciate you have a big network on LinkedIn. Have you made direct approaches to everyone you know personally in your network about potential vacancies? The other thing I would do ( and apologies if this was already said ) is run the CV through AI and compare with every job description to ensure the key words are prominent and the the relevant experience is front and centre. As someone who has worked in a public sector role I was able to secure an interview with an American tech company when the vast majority of my relevant experience was not within the last 10 years. The style of CV I ended up with was just vastly different to what I was used to. ( and I had recruitment experience ). Good luck.