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?

people who do spend more tend to be people who have the means on the whole tho

DDF, DON'T GO TO WAITROSE, YOU NANA!

By Nailpolish

"there are plenty jobs out there that you could do

have you actually looked?"

Totally agree.

My friend's husband, who has recently arrived from the caribbean, has been working as a kitchen help. He works 8-12 per day for £7 per hour. It is hard work but someone has to do it and good on him for doing it and not sitting around expecting others to support him. He actually enjoys the camaraderie with his colleagues.

My cousin has come from Jamaica to study here and to fund her way she works as a cleaner. This pays for her bedsit (£70 per week), bills, food, books etc. Some months she clears over £1100 (when she works 7 days a week). She starts work at 5am, goes to college for 9am, works again in the afternoon and evening.

There are lots of jobs like this but too many of the indigenous population who claim not to be able to find work refuse to consider work like this and imho, the benefit system makes it too easy to choose not to work. The benefit system should be there to help people in need, not help support a lifestyle choice.

sigh....yes I'm aware that some jobs cannot be worked at home. I have a professional qualification and cannot work doing that because of my childcare issues so I have had to find something working from home.

Enid I used to spend that much.. I have consciously cut down. I'm quite proud I've gone from a regukar soend of £150 to a ragular spoend 0f between £20 and £30

no, a lot of people dont, fio you are right

i work night and dh works days

soemtiems i only get 2hrs sleep then i have to go back to work!

someone said to me "cant you ask your mum to babysit?"

if only...

what do you do connie

exactly - DH works from home (freelance) so can do drop offs and collections from CM

I work an hour away (public transport)

I love my job and would be very sad to give it up (plus I'm using my 5+ years of higher education, funded by the taxpayer), but it isn't easy.

MUmblechum....I try....but the other nearest shop is M&S Food ...

The weekly shop is delivered by Oado and is normally about £85-90. But we alsways end up popping in to Waitrose at the weekend.

Must forget to take cards with me next time!!!

i dont have childcare issues but it doesnt seem to help get a job

There's nothing wrong with frozen veg. Ask any nutritionist. It's frozen very close to the place and time it's picked. It probably contains more nutrients than veg that has been flown half way round the world and then sat on a supermarket shelf for a few days. I wouldn't be without it. Brilliant stuff. I use frozen fruit as well.

Tis an interesting OP

Not sure how people are supposed to really survive on the basic state pension either as things increase

My biggest crime is to live in a so-called 'affluent' area of the country - hence we have no Lidl, netto, Aldi.
Twould cost us a lot in petrol to travel to nearest one

Our town struggles to sattract funding for help for those on lower income because statistically, everyone is driving round in rollers
And the vocal minority (with huge houses) keep protesting against cheaper food shops like netto

yes I worry about pensioners (who are also less likely to apply for pension credits). Come the winter things will get really hard for many older people

council tax has risen hugely too

fmf: you should her the local uproar over plans to open a (shock) Nandos

Oh dear the thread keeps moving on without me!

I would imagine that it would be very difficult to find a job that works from home unless you are already employed. The fault is not on the individuals seeking work but the companies doing the hiring as generally they are unwilling to be that flexible.

I do a job that could easily be done from home but I am expected to be in the office. My previous job, I did work from home for half the week and the company put a halt to it because they didn't think my job grade warranted a laptop or mobile which I had been originally issued with - these were taken from me on the pretext that "everyone else doing your job will want one". So why would it have been a problem for everyone to do it then, not just the parents of young children?

Are they really that much cheaper? It seems to me that the real saving is in buying
n what you need when you need it. I wonder if the big value stores encourage people to buy things they don't need.

a lot of the lower paid jobs are in service so obvs they cant be done from home

it must be hard for those who cant work for sure- the food bill has pretty much risen by the same as my carers allowance but atm there is just enough leeway in dh's wages to cover it, won't if it goes up any more though, ds1 will have to come off all his anti asd food programs, we've already scrapped his therapy for a year

It's equally hard for anyone at all on a low income though, and at least if we were on benefits we could ditch the car dh uses for work, or cut down on petrol / bridge tolls (dh is looing for local work but not lots about)

unless you are an entrepreneur and a successful one rather than a total failure what are these home based jobs?

zippi - i do whatever I can get! Telemarketing, database cleansing, phoenix cards, ebay, cleaning sometimes if they let me take the baby, audio typing,

not all at the same time and not these things don't pay as well as my other job did, but if I do as much as I can and keep sourcing new things all the bits and bobs soon add up into a fairly worthwhile salary.

spokette - your friend's dh/your cousin - good on them for working hard. But surely you can see that it's easier if you don't have sole responsibility for children? Working at 5am - 9am is fine in theory but if you are a single parent then that would be nigh on impossible. I don't think it's much of a comparison tbh