how do I live on benefits??

[sparkybint]

Help! I've just been forced to resign from my job (a long story) and am looking forward to the prospect of relying on benefits until I can find a job. I need inspiration from those of you who live on benefits and how you make it stretch.

I have one DD of 9 and get no help from her dad. I reckon I should get job seekers (although since I've resigned I believe they can withold this for up to 6 months), child tax credit plus a council tax rebate. It'll add up to about £160 a week. Luckily I have no mortgage but I'm still bricking it! Any thrifty budgeters out there who can teach me some good habits please!

I'd sugest a few things.
Tell gas/elec/water that you are on benefits. They may have ideas to help you from budgeting if you are on monthly DD to having a weekly amount deducted from you benefits to pay that bill for you.

And my biggest one that I swear by... get a diary. Just a cheap week to view one and write down what comes in and out on what days.
Then you will know how much you can spend that week and learn a budget that will carry on when you start work again.

Here you go.This will help to start with

www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DoItOnlineByCategory/DG_172666

www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DoItOnlineByCategory/DG_172666

Bah -every bloomin time

thanks very much, a good place to start! I love eating out and clothes, so will have to adjust But I know I can do it...

Ask you energy providers if they have a tarriff for low incomes. They should all have one but often need prodding

Housing benefit is a big one - are you getting that? You may be entitled to Income Support too, although I'm not sure if that is just up to age 7. I think currently benefits for a single parent with one child are about £117 a week, not including Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit because CTB is deducted straight from your bill and HB I just found easier to keep separate (it depends how much your rent is but should cover it unless you live in a 3-bed or bigger house)

Remember, it's temporary - think of it as a challenge rather than a hardship and it becomes less daunting. Budget strictly and remember to give yourself an allowance for treats or you will go mad one day and spend the lot on something huge.

Thanks Bertie. I'm very lucky, I own my house outright , otherwise I definitely wouldn't have resigned. I am thinking of this as a challenge and on my first day not having to wake up and go to work, am feeling very contented. I get the odd surge of panic though....

How long were you out of work? I do have some savings if things get really tough (not enough to affect my benefits) and am thinking of down-shifting sometime next year.
I'm looking forward to finding new work that's actually meaningful to me and might even retrain for something.

hi sparky!
i know you're tough and you'll get thru this it takes alot of guts to just leave a job esp.when you're a Lp but sometimes you just have to do it don't you?
hope all's still good with your lovely chappie?
am assuming it is as you haven't posted for a while!!

hi asbm, yes sorry haven't posted for a while! Have you ever left a job? It was getting so bad, I'd been off for work-related stress and they still weren't prepared to do anything. Anyway, I'm quite excited, maybe this is the opportunity I need.

My lovely chap is lovlier than ever, how happy he makes me! And how are things with you and yours? Hope it's going well with your man

hi sparky!
yes i've had to leave work before and am still struggling to find anything which fits in around the dcs but we manage somehow!
so glad to hear that you're all loved up
after what happened earlier on in the year
yes i'm still with my lovely man too
who'd have thought we'd both find decent ones eh?!

We deserve it!! I know this is off-topic,
but when did you introduce him to your kids?
Any thoughts re: moving in sometime in the future?

hi sparky!
just catching up with my MN fix lol
i introduced my bf to the dcs about a month after we'd started seeing each other
at this point we'd spent alot of time together and i'd met his family and closest friends so i had reassured myself that he was actually the genuinely decent bloke that i thought he was
they have never met any of my previous bf's so i decided to introduce him as 'mummy's friend'and we met him at a local event so it was all relaxed and fun
the cover was blown tho a few weeks later when they caught us kissing
but they all get on brilliantly and they love having him over
ds1 who had always said that i wasn't allowed a bf has even said that he regards him as his SD!
as for living together....well...

..yes we are going to
my house is currently on the market and we've found a house we like and all being well it should happen soon
so what's the latest with your lovely chappie?

It's impossible to live on benefits.

Use up all your savings then sell your kidneys.

In the meantime, be filled with more and more hatred every day as you see the Labour Party give away our taxes to those trillionaire bankers.

At least, that's what I did, and do. (Apart from the kidneys. Hnh.)

Wow, moving in together, how lovely
I assume you're both putting money in? We
talked about it at the weekend and he suggested us buying a place together. If I sold my house (which I own outright) I'd have quite a lot left over. I know it's the right thing to do, even though we've only been together 2 months. Wouldn't be till the summer though.

I'm so happy for you, considering the first time we "met" you were still with that muppet who lived miles away and I was with another muppet who lived miles away, we've both come a long long way!

Adjust your idea of a 'treat' - instead of clothes and a night out have 'afternoon tea' out with nice tea and a cake somewhere. Won't cost most than a fiver and makes you feel like you've gone 'out'.

Use the library a lot, consider an allotment or a community project or voluntary work - you can do a bit of that while on benefits.

the key thing for me was to get out and about and live as if i still worked, (and not get trapped at home watching daytime tv).

good luck