How do people do it financially on benefits?

[DollyHouse]

Does anyone else (particularly people on income support with one child) find it a struggle financially? I do have a few costs due to illness that probably affect how much I have to spend on a few bills etc but even without those costs I just don't see how people manage.

It's draining. Now I know what my mum means when she said she was always worrying about money when we were younger :/

I'm in the same situation, one child and on income support. It can be a struggle, and it's depressing when you go past shops or restaurants and you know this stuff is just not for you anymore, because you have to use every penny you have for essentials.
I've cut out all the expenses I can: we don't have a car or a TV, we do free things everyday and a paid activity or meal is once in a blue moon. I can only afford to partially heat our home, just dc's room. I can see my breath here right now!

Do you get any money from your dc's father Doll?

That sounds very severe!

That sounds really severe Please!

There have been lots of cuts to benefits but you should be getting your rent paid (housing benefit), make sure you have gone through all your direct debits and have the best deal on everything.

How old is your dc?

Are you def getting everything you are entitled to?

I'm on lone parent benefit but heat our house sufficiently, eat well and do paid activities occasionally. Yes I am often broke but that's because I'm not fantastic at budgeting! I think you might be missing something. Income support, child benefit, housing benefit, possibly child tax credit or working tax credit? Check out everything.

No I've got everything, and yes my rent is paid by housing benefit. I just thought this was the way things were, my mum was an lp and I grew up in a non car owning, unheated home! Sorry, I'm not trying to garner sympathy or hijack the thread, just agreeing with the op. My ex has started paying some maintenance now so things are improving! My DS is two btw.

My ex pays some maintenance so I'm lucky for that I think. He's had to reduce it for a while (work cut his shifts) so that's another worry. I'm just so tired of eating toast and things on toast to make sure we are full. I think it's probably because of the extra costs that make it so hard right now. I'm so excited for potty training (still far off though) because the money saved on nappy and wipes will help so much.

In fact, toast doesn't really fill you up at all!

No it's not a troll thread for fucks sake. 40p bread that lives in the freezer is cheaper than fruit or veg. I can't afford a balanced diet for the both of us so I'm stuck with spaghetti or beans on toast atm to make sure the fruit or veg I can afford goes to dd.

Fucking troll thread. I wish it was.

How much do you spend on food?

It depends on whether my family have helped me out. Sometimes they lend (well, give really) us a bit of money so we can have a good week and we spend £30-£40. Usually it's &20-£30. My illness limits what we can buy and how I can cook so I'm sure that contributes to cost as I can't batch cook.

Dollyhouse.

You should be able to adequately feed yourself and your child on benefits. Not the finest food but a good healthy varied diet all the same.

Something is clearly wrong for you. Are you paying back large debts each month? Are you sure you're claiming everything you can?

I have a few costs due to my illness that I think are probably contributing. I'm definitely claiming everything I can. CAB have advised applying for PIP too but after looking into it further I don't think I would qualify due to it being geared towards physical rather than mental illness.

This sounds terrible but I think you should try to prioritise healthy food for you too. It's the beginning of health, whether mental or otherwise. If not, it will continue to be a vicious circle...

When I was a lone parent on income support with one child around the same age I was getting:

• £70 a week Income Support
• £50 a week child tax credit
• £20 a week child benefit
• All my rent paid
• All my council tax paid
• Healthy start vouchers for fruit and veg for my toddler.

So I'd have £140 a week to pay bills, food and other bits. Which was adequate. Not great but I never went "without" managed to pay bills to heat the house and eat a decent diet. I never felt truly "poor". I had no debts though which made things easier and I never had any big expenses during that time like the washing machine breaking etc.

This was a good few years ago now though and I know now there's the "bedroom tax" and you probably have to pay a small amount towards Council Tax.

I do know now you can claim for half price bus and train travel card if that might help you out at all?

I know what you how you are feeling, I'm dreading buying a new pair of shoes for my LO.

• My advice is budgeting, and know your limit and stick with it. It will be hard but it's better than getting into dept.
• Don't waste a thing, it can always be used again, think of any waste being as money thrown away.

-meal plan, it will help cut down the waste.

• keep the heating on only when needed. It's cheaper putting on another layer.
• candles, can be a great way of saving money when the kids have gone to bed. You can pick up loads for £2, they give out light and heat too.
• go food shopping at the end of the day, and get stuff that is reduced. You can always pop it in the freezer for later.

-energy saving light bulbs, are amazing!

I don't know if you are able to do this but, a friend of mine is in the same boat. So I bring the food to her place and she cooks it at hers. It's great as I save on heating and cooking, and she saves on food. Plus I look after the LOs while she cooks, so we both get adult conversation.

Wishing you luck.

I'm bowing out if this thread now. I always thought it would never bother me being accused of trolling but now it's actually happened, I find it does. It's such a shit situation to be in and to be accused of making it up just makes me feel even worse. And then the arseholes don't even consider apologising.

Thank you for the posters who tried to help. I appreciate it.

I'm sure there is another thread on helping with the bills. Try checking mumsnet classics.

Sorry to hear your going. Just ignore the trolls.

£30 a week should be able to feed both of you healthy meals easily. I'm not on benefits but feed us on that amount.

Have you looked this blog, it's written by a lady who learned to cook healthy meals for her and her toddler for less than £1 a day. It's very good agirlcalledjack.com/tag/budget-recipes/

I realise times are tough and hope things improve for you soon. It's nkt easy to live on benefits but it can be done without going hungry or cold. Are you making sure you are getting everything you're entitled to?

Try & see if you are entitled to the PIP, I know its hard, Im a LP as well, Im sorry your upset x

I was on IS for years as a LP (no maintenance either) and found it tough, but always enough to eat/pay bills. Best advice I'd have is to keep an eye out for discretionary funds, things that aren't part of the usual benefits set up but you're often prioritised as a single parent. There was a local charity which gave grants for household goods, and I got help for holidays, a laptop for DS, energy bills, theatre tickets, our local leisure centre etc. None of these things put food on the table but it made life feel a bit more normal, and meant I could spend benefits money on the basics.

I also have ill health and got DLA after a couple of failed applications and a tribunal. It's well worth persisting with that if your ill health means you have care/mobility needs. My illness was MH related and it's hard to get DLA for that, but I did a lot of research and got advice on how to fill out the application and it paid off (the Benefits and Work website was really useful for me, it's a small subscription but my first DLA payment easily covered it). You also get a slightly higher rate of IS if you get DLA (though it would be PIP if you applied now).

That's good advice about the discretionary funds Green , I'd love to be able to take my DC on a short holiday this year, must look into it.
We manage a healthy diet, but some weeks I have less cash than others so have to compromise. In my case I find the heating is just simply too expensive to be able to put on in all rooms. It'd cost at least £30 a week to heat our home properly, this is too much. But I invested in lots of warm clothes earlier in the year so we're OK.

Dolly if you're still reading this I completely know where you're coming from. Hope things improve soon. X

I just asked if it was a troll thread. I didn't accuse you of anything and I'm not an arsehole at all actually. I can see now that it's not a troll thread at all and I understand that there are issues I was not aware of. I'm sorry for asking you that question. I'm just a health freak when it comes to food so I couldn't understand why someone would be living on toast and I thought it was one of these weird threads that you sometimes see as a joke. Benefits can be a touchy subject on Mumsnet and in RL. I was wrong.

I think people need to remember that food costs 40 per cent more than it did a few years ago so to cast people's minds back to when they were a single parent will most likely be when food was a great deal cheaper.....!

Dolly don't worry. There are a load of arseholes around at the minute. Have a seaech for the budgeting / meal planning threads. Some great ideas in those.