If food prices have risen by - what? 20% - and fuel is sky rocketing then tell me WHY...

[objectivity]

...are those dependent on state benefits still subsisting on the same paltry weekly allowance?

As a lone parent I have been in work and out of work from time to time, sometimes supported by Tax Credits, other times dependent upon Income Support. The money never really stretches far enough, but how on EARTH are we supposed to survive if everything is now costing more.

An annual review isn't good enough. My weekly costs are rising and rising, from week to week pretty much, so if my allocated benefit is the minimum I need to live on in April, and prices have risen since then, how am I supposed to be surviving in June?

Anyone else REALLY struggling- more than ever?

I struggle with this concept of 'can't afford to work'.....its a total red herring. We have 4 children and we cannot afford childcare but also cannot afford for me not to be working so I work doing whatever I can from home and if necessary would go work nights/ evenings.

I am also at posies money saving tips when she has no clue how much things cost

enid

buy cheapo plain yoghurt and add frozen fruit

eat less meat

reduce prtion sizes (even a wee bit helps)

meal plan to within an inch of your life

use cheapo bog roll (its only for arse wiping then it gets thrown out)

dont buy organic stuff except milk

dont eat olives

hmmm i dont buy organic milk but i buy organic meat and fish and chicken

free range stuff

just once oa week or so instead of crap every night

why cant eveyone work from home?

and if i was a single parent I'd be looking for a likeminded single parent and do free childcare swops so that we could both work without childcare.

total cop out somtimes - if people really really wanted to work then they would.

Sitting around and stagnating on benefits is appalling.

not everyone finds it esay to get paid employment

lidl and aldi have an organinc range btw and its cheap!

i was imagining what might be bumping up enids bill

PMSL at me working from home

get real connie!

"why can't everyone work from home?"

Am Rofling at the idea of my divorce clients forming an orderly queue in my hallway, and judges coming to deal with cases in my living room.

Yeah.

not everyone has adle shops either

id rather have organic meat once a week than crappy stuff every day

asda do really nice organic chickens - they are not v popular and alwys have some reduced

Connie: working from home excludes many professional jobs. Any many work-from-home optionsa re poorly paid (as is shift work), so doesn;t help the childcare issue. I'm lucky in that I can work part-time (4 days) and DH helps with the childcare, but many people don't have that luxury.

everyone can get paid employment with a bit of persistance

ive tried working from home

it didnt make me any money at all and was socially isolating and left me with nil experience of team work etc which is a requirememtn for most jobs

I must admit that we tend to spend between £120-£160 a week on groceries. And we don't buy alcohol and we don't smoke! Two adults, two teenagers and a three yr old.

I just can't go into Waitrose without spending £50....must stop popping in for bread!

its not that easy connie

lots of factors mean people can verge on unemplyable

"You have to change what is normal" - someone said above - that's exactly it.

A year ago we would go food shopping and while we weren't extravagent we wouldn't worry about paying for the essentials so if we needed it it just went in the trolley and we would pay the bill, whatever it was.

These days we still don't have a budget as such but I am more aware of what we are spending and there are a lot more "Well do we really need it?" type conversations. We try and get to Aldi first to get what we can cheaply from there and then go on to a bigger supermarket to get the rest. It all takes time though and poor dd gets tired of traipsing round the shops.

I reckon our shopping bill is something like £50/week for everything for dh, dd and I. Perhaps a little more if wine is involved

it also depends a LOT on where you live. If you are a small town or rural area with limited access to transport (and running a car is expensive) there aren't many options. It's the low-paid, long hours jobs that are available, which are the very jobs that throw up massive childcare problems.