Anyone else live on this?

[pinenuts75]

My rent has just increased,I’m single live alone I’ve worked out after I’ve paid rent, bills, and food I’m left with £175 for the month, does anyone else live on this?

Possibly an agency might assist with costs? Worth the OP looking into it if she’s interested

Yes I eat fruit and veg

but how do you go about it?
There is a wealth of information on the internet, you need to start googling things like this!

Also look up lots of CV’s and start doing some work on yours, then get someone to review it or help you with it, there are even CV templates online that you can use, your time would be better spent doing things like this that spending your time doing surveys that have earned you £7 in nearly 5 days which is a total waste of time.

You are 49 not 79 and have nearly 20 years of working life in front of you, you need to be more proactive and put yourself out there……what do you think everyone else is doing

I’m doing surveys but only earned £7 since Saturday what’s online game testing?

Please @pinenuts75 read this and apply!

I will have a look thanks

What's putting you off Universal Credit application? What is your current job in? For babysitting a good place to advertise is local Facebook group or find a mum and baby group.

Sounds tough and I do empathise, having also been there. Totally understand why you wouldn’t want to move into a house share.

As you work mornings there’s plenty of extra time in the day to do something else as self employed such as cleaning and/or babysitting - loads of families struggle to get a trustworthy person for this. Or pet-sitting at home - register with the council and sit dogs at your house (about £15-20 for an overnight). Walk the dog in the morning and again as soon as you’re home, then play/feed and another walk in the evening.

You need to make the afternoons work for you - a few regular cleaning customers and you’d be looking at £15/hour.

edited to make it make sense!

I just feel bad claiming it when there’s worse off people than me I guess.
Just shop work

Yes I will have to look into doing something

Well, there are many people better of than you claiming it! It think having 25£ per week to spend on food is utterly depressing and you can't have a healthy, varied diet on that.

Eh? Is that even possible? We’re a household of 7 with three kids who want constant gaming/internet access. I pay £80 a month with BT for super fast broadband. Could I get it cheaper?

You basically download mobile app games like monopoly go and word games and you earn money when you get to certain levels. Im doing it via an app called testerup but there are others. You have to download the games via the app. Just dont spend any money in the apps. You dont earn fortunes but its a an easy few extra quid while you watch tv. Surveys I eould sign up to several as some pay 2p and some 20 to 50 quids.
There are loads of other things, I have done work on peopleperhour.com and fivr too.

Thanks will have a look

Its possible to do a free paediatric first aid course online with St John's

Absolutely you can get it cheaper BT is very expensive. I’ve just moved from BT to Virgin and getting 110 mbps for £23 per month.

So what about holidays, days out, social events? I’m imagining £175 wouldn’t go far. What about toiletries etc? I’m guessing you can’t afford to save so what about emergencies dentist etc? There are so many other expenses to factor in

The issue is you’re working part time. We can’t afford to work part time so we work full time.

A couple of thoughts:

Your outgoings are already very low. I don't think you can cut these, really.

I mean, sure, you could move to £5.99 Netflix instead of £10 Netflix. A saving of £4 PCM is still a saving, but it's small fry and isn't going to make a massive difference.

Your Internet seems cheap.

My only thoughts for outgoings is rent. You said your son moved out two months ago? Does that mean you have a 2 bed? Could you move to a 1 bed? Would that save you anything? Not necessarily doable with moving costs, deposit, etc. Just an idea. £750 is quite cheap for rent these days anyway. So perhaps any saving would be negligible.

Is that part of the reason you're struggling now, rent increase, and no more contributions from your son?

Obviously, it's worth applying for Universal Credit.

But the biggest issue is that you only work thirty hours. It's hard enough for people to survive on one full-time minimum wage income, but yours isn't even full time.

I think you need to be more proactive in this area. Lots of your answers have so far been combinations of "no full time jobs," "experience needed," "what's that? How do I get into that? What do I need for that?"

You need to do some research (googling). Get your CV sorted. And apply. Keep applying. PP's are right there must be plenty of minimum wage jobs you can do that require little to no experience. And if you've worked all your life in retail, then you'll have plenty of transferable and customer service related skills.

I know the job market is tough at the moment. (See my username!) I've been hunting since February for jobs and only now have one - due to start in September. You just have to keep at it.

Not read it all but are you on a water meter?

Apply anyway. Use your life experience & transferable skills. Think about what it takes to run a household and raise children.

If need be, take advantage of coaching / help with your CV and applications via job centre or local charities etc.

Look at additional bank work in NHS or volunteering to get a foot in the door.

Do you think you could be peri / menopausal? You would benefit from some HRT 👌

Well no, 6 hours a day isn't full time.

£4.01 over a year adds up to £48.12!

Not sure when you can rest but you can get later in the day shifts in Tesco and McDonald's. Do your first job and then go onto the second.