UK Life Costs At least £13,400

[DanJARMouse]

According to this here

Says a lot me thinks.

God it's bloody depressing - especially when there are people here saying they have much less than that

How?

we certainly have a lot less than that.

We do gas and electric on a meter, which is costing us about £15 a week between them both.

Fuel - put £40 in yesterday and think i will prob have to put more in by monday. v

Food - did a shop yesterday but already thinking need bananas,milk and possibly bread tomorrow.

just wondering if it will be cheaper to go to the greengrocers in town for fruit and veg from now on or whether we should stick to morrisons?!

My currentl monthly income = around £970 (housing costs come out of that)

Monthly income using those figures = £1515 (excluding housing costs)

I told you earlier - I'd be on my way to Barbados (never mind the bank ) if I had that much a month even if it DID include my housing costs!

Bras for £6 each?

yes hunker - not everyone can afford to go to fancy bra shops to get their bras.......which is why Matalan, Primark and co have a selection...........

That report is a joke. We haven't had a holiday (excluding paid for weekends down to the IL's) in over 5 years. We can't afford to get a passport for ds for a start.

I love the way they assume everyone lives in social housing as well - "the rent on a modest council home". PMSL. What if you are paying premium rent on a private house because you have to live where the work is and you can't afford to get on the housing ladder? Don't we count then?

Oh no, because we're just one of thousands of disenfranchised "well-off" young families who've been screwed again and again and again. The government won't do anything about it though - why the fuck should they? They're laughing all the way to the Bank of England.

Do they sell 34G or 34H in Primark?

I live in Primark, Asda and Tesco for clothes for the kids - oh and the occasional purchase on my dads NEXT account.

Shoes are bought in Brantano - cant afford Clarks.

DD1's latest pair of trainers were £4 from Tesco

They don't go above an F cup IME. Nor do they sell nursing bras, from what i've seen.

H&M do though

Hunker, Try Asda, Jordan has a line in there now which I believe has large cup sizes because I was gutted she didnt cater for the smaller lady (B/C cup)

oh Hunker - you can't buy something which is endorsed by Jordan!!

Seriously - get thee to H&M and Step Away from the vacuous bitch celeb brand names.

oh yeah, forgot about MN being against Jordan, but the underwear is pretty IMO

Will have a look at Asda, thank you (how are you, DJARM - not seen you around for yonks!).

No harm in looking, UD

Will also try H&M.

(Im ok hunker, just pissed off with no money and no life - hence being back on MN to entertain me!)

i notice that report didn't seem to think broadband was an essential!!

well of course Broadband is essential, when you get discounts for paperless billing etc, you need to have access online!!!

i can't afford nursing bras. i'll have to use the cheapo sports bras from Tesco and Primark and unfasten them all the way to feel DS1. i'm wearing one right now and need to wait till next week to go across the water to buy another one and some food because this is getting small. but just having paid rent and nearly £500 in quarterly gas and electricity bills, we're skint until the child benefit comes in next month.

that's life.

can't afford to get fitted and spend over about £5-£6 on a bra. i use a tape measurer and go from there.

most of the childrens' clothes and DH's clothes we get as gifts from family, i shop in Primark or Tesco.

DH wears a uniform to work so there's savings there, and he has to get his hair cut in the barber's for about £7 every six weeks. DD1 goes, too.

but i do mine at home.

still, don't know what we will do when we have to turn the heating on, i really don't.

sorry, next week. next week the child benefit comes through .

roll on tuesday - tuesdays are money days in this house!

ours is coming in on tuesday, JARM .

Lidl run!

yay!!!!

going to see if we can get to the meat man on the market next week too.

we get about 8 weeks worth of meat (we are big meat eaters unfortunately!) for £30, which includes 2 joints for roasting that once cooked, there is still enough left for one or 2 meals.

expat - is there no-where "across the water" who'll measure you for free??

The shop in our town (small independent place but very good) will measure for free.

It's a really interesting report and a really interesting idea... the issue with the standard measure of poverty is it is not specific enough, nor does it take into account different kinds of expectations: eg a working family might NEED a car but a retiree might not etc. Poverty is typically calculated at 60% of median income, so it is always relative anyway: I think this report just opens up the debate about what policy makers should lobby for in terms of minimum incomes.

And it is also interesting in terms of what aspirations a society has for its members: why shouldn't we aspire to say everyone is entitled to 13 grand a year? It's a good, social aim. Some of the responses to this item on the BBC website were entirely opposite to those on here: 13000 isn't nearly enough as a minimum they were saying (if you live in London for example). This just further highlights the vast income and expectation inequalities that are rife in our society...