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Original poster

Sign here if you're below the minimum standard of living

45 replies

mybabysinthegarden · 03/07/2008 10:05

Which is £201/week after housing costs and childcare if you're a couple with 2 children according to this. I just worked out we're on about £140/week (only the one dc though. Until October) How about you?

OP posts:
davidtennantsmistress · 03/07/2008 10:07

£201 is what you have left over?

jesus, I don't even have half of that!

davidtennantsmistress · 03/07/2008 10:08

my weekly budget is £210 apparently oh to have that much. i'd be rich! lol.

BandofMothers · 03/07/2008 10:08

What 201 of spare money after everything is paid for?????

reethi96 · 03/07/2008 10:15

Well after mortgage is accounted for we are left with £250 per week but dh spends £130 on commuting costs so we are left with £120 per week to pay for food, household bills and everything else.

Jux · 03/07/2008 10:15

'Twould be nice to have that much.

Incidentally, how much is the dole nowadays (might be better off!)

fryalot · 03/07/2008 10:16

fecking hell, I think we've got about that before we pay for housing!

shee-iittt!

AnAngelWithin · 03/07/2008 10:16

well i can only dream!! we have 4 kids and weekly budget is supposed to be £508.18!! not including housing costs!

why as well, is the food and drink budget for couple with 4 children less than couple with 2 or 3 children according to that graph??

DanJARMouse · 03/07/2008 10:17

Me.

Currently have approx £150 a week, should be over £400 according to that.

ssd · 03/07/2008 10:19

we are well below this

ssd · 03/07/2008 10:20

why do they come out with this crap?

micci25 · 03/07/2008 10:22

i have £160 pw week but that has to pay bils etc. if i took all that away i dread to think how much id have left. bills are generally paid late, when they can be afforded. food comes first! am classed as a single parent though as dp does not live with us. although he eats here a lot and rarely contributes to food, though he has given me £40 this week for food as im really struggling!!

hoping to have a job before we move in with dp as there is no way we could afford to live together on his wage!

OverMyDeadBody · 03/07/2008 10:24

Well the weekly budget for a lone parent with one child is quoted there as £409! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Yes that includes rent and childcare costs, but they've quoted rent at £107 per week. What part of the country are they basing that on? My rent is more than double that per week.

I have exactly £80 per week after rent is paid. That has to pay all our living costs, including bills and council tax. We are definately living in poverty.

miffymum · 03/07/2008 10:25

This is in about the third paragraph of the article:

"Film tickets, a bottle of wine and a bird feeder were on the list of goods people need to participate in society."

A BIRD FEEDER!!!

Clearly our household has never participated in society with our total lack of avian feeding arrangements. Oh and we don't have any money either.

daisylaisy · 03/07/2008 10:26

Aren't you all misreading this?

Looking at the coloured table, it says, eg approx £250 per week for a couple with one child, then shows how that is spent, between housing, food, fuel bla bla.

Mercy · 03/07/2008 10:27

£90 a week for social and cultural activities?

BlueDragonfly · 03/07/2008 10:28

spare money>??? what is that?!

themildmannneredjanitor · 03/07/2008 10:28

and film tickets are a luxury! 20 quid for 2 people to go to the cinema these days!

micci25 · 03/07/2008 10:28

wtf!! £409 pw!! id be over the moon if i had £409 pw even if i did have to pay rent with it! and i have two dc's! id be rich!

nervousal · 03/07/2008 10:28

if you look at the budgets in detail they are quite entertaining. Apparently a couple with kids can buy one pair of boots at £45 and they should last 3 years. And they spend 12p a week on marmite and over a pound a week on kiw fruit....

people get paid to do this sort of thing????

themildmannneredjanitor · 03/07/2008 10:28

walking boots and a bicycle?????

themildmannneredjanitor · 03/07/2008 10:29

and nobody actually NEEDS a mobile phone.

BlueDragonfly · 03/07/2008 10:30

bird feeder?? wtf? you can get those for £1 in poundstretcher but whatever happend to a bit of bread in an empty marg tub?

nervousal · 03/07/2008 10:30

and they seem to think that 2 pairs of pjs would last a man 10 years..., but 2 nighties would only last a woman 1 year.......

PeachyHidingInTheShed · 03/07/2008 10:33

not yet but from the end of this week, as now on carers alowance (for ds3) and ds1's dla ending but they havent processed new claim yet

our rent @ 125 a week for a nice terraced cottage so can't complain really

PeachyHidingInTheShed · 03/07/2008 10:35

mmj mobile phone depends where you live- local news today bt removing almost 1000 payphones, but lots of our homestart clients weren't allowed landines due to debts so mobile only phone they could have (even then they rarely had credit)

however

you dont need credit to dial 999- most important phone usage- and t4esco phones start arond £20