What is considered on the bread line in England?

[MrsWho]

Just wondering

I honestly think the cost of living in the UK is so high and many people don't earn enougth for the basics let alone any luxuries.
My DH earns about 14K and I have a part time job bringing in about 5K. We have our own house but only because we got on the property ladder before the prices rocketed. We could definitely not afford a car. All our and the kids clothes come from sales or places like primark.There is no money left for luxuries at the end of the month and we havn't really got any big debts. Money is tight but I am sure there are people much worse off. Because of the high cost of living we are currently in the process of selling our house to move abroad.

fruitgum - (munz?) think cos I mention going on holiday, it sounds like I am spending money I haven't got but just that I am getting stuff very cheap /free! (or Mam and Dad/Grandparents are paying )
Last time I went away kids had their own money , I had tesco vouchers and apart from the Hay tickets I spent about £100 (still too much but was 8 days doing expensive from my POV things!)

that's what DH keeps telling me pink when I moan I can't have somthing I want/he can't have the latest mower etc. he keeps saying yeah but at least we both have food to eat, and somewhere warm to sleep - when I moan about not liking his cooking he says yeah well some people have nothing to eat at all - kinda gets things back into persective again cos compared to most we have a lot. nothing flash or fancy but enough for what we need

I know the feeling - even a week down at mums (a holiday for me now a days! lol) can work out exoensive. sun holidays are v v good thou apparently, and v cheap.

Think it depends a lot on what area you live in too, most places I couldn't afford to live like I do.Its very cheap here compared to ther places, loads of cheap shops, loads of competing supermarkets/petrol stations, housing is a lot more than when I bought my house but still affordable in some parts of town.

i think it depends on where in the uk you live.i honestly couldnt have managed living on benefits as a single mum in london where my mum is.i dont know why but the cost of living down there seems so much higher.yet i managed fine on benefits where i am now,when i was on my own.i could pay all the bills,buy plenty of food,and as long as i was careful managed to get the dc new clothes,shoes etc when needed.

lol-x posts

same place too!

In poverty and debt, there are different levels. Those of us who can get credit cards, and probably most of us who have computers and internet access at home to be on mumsnet, may not have much spare cash but we're probably not generally as broke as those whose only access to credit is the door to door loan sharks who charge interest at 3 figure annual percentage rates.

I was unemployed for several years in my early 20s, but I didn't have kids and either/both of my parents (they divorced when I was a baby) would have always bailed me out in a real financial crisis - my mum once lent me rent when my housing benefit was delayed for several months and didn't take the money back when it finally came through. I lived in some pretty difficult situations (shared houses and as a lodger) but was never likely to end up sleeping on the streets.

ooh and I also look out for deals - did you see in tescos they had the free entry tickets again? i've managed to get 3 now so we've kept one for a day out to the aquarium and given the others away. (can't see a 15 month old fancying's alton towers ) but they're good.

agree even on DH's money we'd really really struggle in london. in the south the meat's more exppensive than in wales as well - so it's menaing a bigger food bill or less meat - we're going for less meat.

ooh where in wales are you?

We don't eat meat so think that helps

I ahve lived under the poverty line and for me it meant I lived on my child benefit alone, so I basically had money for dd nappies and food fer her and that was it.

What is the actual figure that is considered the poverty line? does anyone know?

Agree also on the point about where you live, I am sure it is 'cheaper' to live in certain areas to others. Property is cheaper in certain areas to others for example, but it may be the case that earnings aren't as much too!

dh works for an insurance firm and they have employees from London comuting, they get paid more than dh as they are on 'London' wages and not Norfolk wages lol! This is because they had to transfer them to Norfolk from the London office and couldn't drop their pay.

Credit scares the hell out of me because I always worry about losing my or dh job and not keeping up repayments etc. I do have a credit card and an overdraft which I am constantly trying to pay off!
Trouble is I can't see any other way to juggle my money around!

Slight deviation here:

Do we consider having a computer and internet access a luxury?

Given that many jobs are apply online only, and that benefits info/council tax bill payment, etc. are all available now online what does this say about the real luxury of being 'online' at home.

As I was getting at in my earlier post, it costs to be poor because, let's face it, many of the long winded ways one has to go about doing things when one is short of cash actually cost more.

It is cheaper to go online and make calls, look up telephone numbers, communicate via email than it is to spend all day on hold to numbers that you've had to call up 118 to get.

When I was living in the women's refuge I spent an absolute fortune because I had only a payphone or my mobile and a stack of benefits/legal stuff to sort out. That proved to me that in my new place, getting a phone and internet sorted was a priority even if it does cost me about £40 quid a month. I spent that on mobile top ups and phonebox calls in a week!

When I left home at 19 I was working a temp job. I lived with dh (then dp!) in a 3 bed council flat. We had no children.

When my job finished I went to sign on for benefits. I was honest (later realising I should have lied to get my money) and said I lived with 'a partner'.
I was entitled to nothing.
Dh earned just £100 a week in those days.
As I couldn't get any benefits we couldn't get help with rent, council tax, decorating allowance etc etc as I needed to claim to get money!

I had to live on fresh air. I did not exsist. Even thought I had worked since I was 16.
I have vowed never to queue for dole again and to not rely on benefits.

For being living under the breadline meant going hungry and not having anywhere to live,

newlife - computer access appears to have become a 'norm', therefore to be without it can be classed as some as deprivation.

But, as with tv, mobiles phones etc, it is a choice. A previous poster put it really well i thought - same money, different priorities.

Libraries have online connections now, i used these for a long time. Local tax offices can help with benefits and claims (plus you get to speak to a person and resolve actual queries!), i rarely use my phones and only have a mobile so that my ex can call me if there is an emergency with the children while they are with him and he needs to contact me.

They is so much in our world that we could consider to be a 'need' but separating needs from wants is one of the uncomfy but very revealing life lessons

Have only read the OP.

If you are posting from your home PC then you are not on the breadline.

The 'free school meals' posse around my way have more holidays and Sky TV than we do....

I'll no doubt be called 'fascist' for even posting that.

I agree squidette. I used to listen to dp's brother go on about how much money he didn't have and yet he was going skiing, nights out clubbing in Manchester and had the latest mobile - not free on contract! He also used to surf via mobile phone!

I don't holiday apart from an educational camping trip last year - first holiday that I've paid for since I was 20 (I'm now 32).

I would love to think that not having internet/computer at home was perfectly do-able but 2 hr apps at council/jobcentreplus/CAB nearly killed me! Joking aside, it is very, very stressful and depressing trying to do everything the hard way.

Mercy -thats sort of the point, I don't think I am poor , just low income.

If I didn't work I wouldn't get much less money (will try working that out actually) and then would have free dinners/uniform help/morgage ehlp etc.

according to entitled to .com I would get 10,793 if I didn't work. So last year I got 10.500 before Tc so am better off!

Sorry MrsWho - I didn't mean 'you' personally but in a general sense.

Its ok just thinking it all from my personal POV.

What I class as poor would be less than 10K definatly but it definatly depends where you live.