I think this benefit family need to take a long hard look at themselves

[HungryHelga]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16812185

£20 a week in the pub

£15 a week for Sky

£32 a week on mobile phones.

A large pouch of tobacco AND 200 fags, plus 24 cans of lager.

£30,284.80 a year in benefits

And this family thinks they are hard done by?

Ridiculous. The benefits system in this country is totally out of control.

Huntycat, i can tell you that she may not eat the best (markies/waitrose? we only have tescos/asda/lidl/aldi) of food but I can assure you her 3yo dd (is my niece) is a thriving child and is no more healthy or unhealthy than my children or any other children i know. Actually i mind when i was single and dont remember spending anymore that £30 a week shopping for me and dc. Wishes I could only spend £30 a week on shopping now. I spend about £100 a week on shopping and that is for me, dp and 2 dc but without dp im pretty sure that my shopping bill would probably at least halve.

skimming through the threads, no-one seems to have pointed out that there are actually a lot of jobs for software developers - my husband is one and he's only been unemployed for 3 weeks in the last 20+ years. My guess is that there aren't that many roles in north wales and that like lots of other software engineers he would have to work away from home or move his family for a job.

many people have to move house to find jobs - why shouldn't this family?

Then I honestly have no idea how she manages it. My figure of £40 per person per week is direct from the CAB, who were helping me work out a new budget for shopping when my Ex-P left, and they told me that as a family of 5, they would expect me to need to spend £200 per week on food in order to feed everyone a healthy, balanced diet, and pay for cleaning stuff and nappies too. It has taken a LOT of hard work for me to cut that down, as I have very large travelling fares to school to include in my budget! I cna just about do it on £160-£175 a week.

You send £200 a week on shopping for 5 people. Is that 2 adults 3 kids? Holy shit, im sorry but i consider that a feckin lot. Fair enough i only shop for 4 (2 adults/ 2dc) and I spend about £100 a week on shopping and that includes nappies/household stuff/pet food. I think I would be hard pushed to find anyone, especially on mnw, who with 3 kids who spend £200 a week on shopping.

sorry just reread your post but even £160/£175 a week on shopping, for me anyway, is loads! Even if I had to factor in another mouth to feed, I still would not be anywhere near that figure!

If being on benefits means people can spend £175 a week on food shopping alone (bearing in mind school dinners are free for those not working) then it just shows benefits are set far too high. Most working people cant afford to spend £700+ a month on food alone.

Lots may not state they chose not to work but so many excuses are used that it amounts to the same thing. The simple fact is lots of people dont see why they should work hard when they can simply live a nice life at the expense of other tax payers. Thankfully not everyone feels that way and many work for less money than those they are supporting on benefits but do so as they see it as the right thing to do to support oneself and any children they chose to bring into the world.

hunty - reason intellectual workers get paid more than manual workers is about supply and demand. if there was an excess of people able and willing to do the intellectual jobs then the pay would be much lower. this is obviously not the case as not everyone has been prepared to work hard at school, go to uni and then work in relatively low paid jobs whilst they train and get experience.

take my husband and BIL as examples. the levels of responsibility and stress involved in intellectual jobs is often much worse as well in my experience - though no doubt you will disagree

I work and because on just above MW rely on some benefits, is working tax credit a benefit? I want my children see me doing my best, not just sitting around, it does benefit those on benefit to work, even if it's a few pounds, self respect is priceless.

I bet they live in social housing too.

stephrick, me and my dp both work and get the minimum tax credits. I dont have any problem with anyone who works and get tax credits. Fact is you are working. I dont really mind about people getting benefits neither. obviously the alternative would be homelessness and people dying in poverty. But I wont deny some claimants get more than enough to live on and I think the £26k cap is a fair limit. The claimant in the OP displays this ample. My sister doesn't get anywhere near the £26k limit (as a single parent of 1 she gets about £6k in her hand and maybe another £3k in hb/ctb) but she is fed, homed and has sky/broadband/mobile and about £200 a month to buy clothes/go out etc. Personally, the above poster who says she can't afford any luxuries but then says she spend £160 - £175 a week on shopping leaves me .

happymummyofone I have gone up thread to try to find the context for your quote of £175.00 per week on food.

We are two adults and two teenagers. I spend about £180-£200 pw at the supermarket - admittedly mostly Waitrose. We do not have expensive cuts and I cook a lot from scratch. It also includes things like toiletries, cleaning stuff and some pet food (Waitrose has it on offer regularly and I tend to stock up).

We eat well, there are lots of things like Penguins, cashew nuts, cake for the DC, wine and beers for the adults.

In perspective though, I am genuinely quite frugal and will buy a chicken rather than a double rib of beef (mostly) because I do try not to be "silly".

In context though that is a tiny percentage of our income and if I had to, there is plenty of slack to be cut - and if I had to (and didn't work and had time to shop around - go the Aldi, etc, which would take a disproportionate amount of my time at present), I'm sure the figure could easily be halved.

Ultimately though, in this house two adults go to work and work jolly hard so at present we don't need to make any cuts and actually contribute hugely to others. We try to spend our money wisely and I don't see why those to whom we make huge contributions shouldn't also spend theirs wisely.

We don't go to the pub, we don't smoke, we don't have Sky, we don't spend silly money on mobiles. I really don't see why we should contribute towards the unnecessary spending of others. However, I am very happy to contribute to those who are disabled, who are widowed, who care for disabled children and those who need rather than want help.

Do you smile though married?

I do see where you are coming from Catgirl. I appreciate that we have made our own luck and are lucky. There are also many more reasons why DH and I should contribute to sky, booze and fags for those who do not work for them than do those who earn only marginally more than 26k. That is what is so dreadfully wrong. Also we would be prepared to give a bit more if it was for those like Riven, and the lady who is looking after her husband, injured at war but who falls outside the parameters for help for ex servicemen.

Wow, I didn't realise I was frugal at the supermarket. I've always bought exactly what I want. I think that weekly amount must include an awful lot of non-food items that other people might buy elsewhere. Does it also include all travelling expenses?

:) DH and I probably spend about the same married although we dont have teens, just a 10 week old. 3 do have 3 cats though who will only eat those Sheba pouches so that adds up a bit little feckers

I just really find on the list of things "my" tax goes on that it shouldn't, some really unfortunate man buying a few cans of larger and some tobacco is not even close to the top.

I really must be frugal then as we have three cats too - who only eat Felix Marinades and Hi Science hard stuff!

I do get the point that if you have nothing a couple of fags and a bit of booze are drops in the ocean but they shouldn't be at the expense of your children.

Tonight dinner for 5 people was risotto rice, 3 leeks, 2 portobello mushrooms, 3 stock cubes, 400g of pulled ham (on offer), some fresh sage from the garden. A risotto. Not exactly the Tesco finest. Just good, home cooked, frsh food, and ensuring that every person in the house has their 5-a-day. It's the fruit and veg that costs the money.

Unless I am meant to feed them on shit from iceland with about as much nutrition as cardboard? What is wrong with cooking from scratch? I did it when I was working, and I'm doing it now I'm unable to work. Why should my dc's diet be devoid of fresh fruit and veg just because I am reliant on benefits?

Tomorrows dinner? Tagliatelle with a homemade tomato and basil sauce and meatballs. Again, not the height of luxury, just good, fresh home cooking. (Though have you SEEN the price of beef tomatoes at the moment!)

Sunday's dinner? Homemade sticky pork ribs with vegetable stir fry.

Monday's dinner? Trout that I got reduced, with lemon cous cous and peppers. Am I being extravagent or just trying to feed my dc a healthy diet?

Oh - though only one adult and 4 dc, DD is almost 14yo and eats an adult plateful, DS1 is almost 10yo, and due to the amount of sports he does, ALSO eats an adult plateful. DS2 is 8yo, doesn't quite eat an adult plateful, but it's a good 2/3 or more of an adult portion. It's only DS3 that eats less. But that is tempered by the cost of nappies and the fact that I need to eat an extra 500 calories a day because I am still BF'ing him. And then there's the fact that as I didn't expect to have a 4th dc as I was using contraceptives, I didn't have any of the older DS's clothes left, so I have had to start from scratch with clothing for DS3.

Obviously it's not going to cost as much for food if you have 4 under 6 as if your dc are approaching their teenage years. Clothes cost more, shoes cost more, (DD is in a ladies 8/10, DS1 is in age 13/14 clothes, very tall dc), When they do more sports, you have more WASHING to do - so more electric, more water, more washing powder. They're all bar DS3 toilet trained, so more loo rolls though I think DS2 eats it tbh.

The older they get, the more they cost!

Sounds lovely to me hunty. Tonight dd has had a macaroni cheese (packet) which she bunged in the microwave herself because she had a singing lesson at 6 and I didn't get home until 5.50. DH has had two fishcakes oven chips and peas, and I had a reduced innocent pot and some grape juice wine. DS is out.

Have gone up thread and noted your £40 per person. That makes me feel better - that's £160 pw for a family of four adults.

Tomorrow we are having lamb shoulder shanks (marinated in red wine , mash and broc and on Sunday probably a full roast.

Lamb.... Lamb is but a pipe dream. WAY out of my budget. Haven't had lamb for over a year. . It's my favourite meat, too. I'm not buying ready meals, or chips every day. I still did the same food when I was working, though I could have lamb whenever I wanted . . I do a roast 4 times a year. Can't afford to do it more often, I have to save up.

When I was at work, I used to spend saturday with the dc, and Sunday in the kitchen, cooking meals for the week ahead. The dc help me. They really enjoy cooking. It's really simple to make mac cheese and freeze it in single portion tubs...

The trout is the first time I have bought fish that isn't battered for MONTHS. Since Ex-P left, in fact. But it was reduced, and it was actually chaper than the dinner I had planned. So trout it will be. Bunged it in the freezer and will defrost in the fridge Sunday night.

But I don't spend that much more than 40pp and that includes all the other domestic stuff. The lamb was about £10 and the roast will probs be a £5.00 chicken.

Hunty that all sounds delicious.

Oh - remembered that I hadn't said that a lot of my food, though basic, is dearer because DS1 is coeliac, and on a GF diet. . I've been doing GF for so long it's second nature to me, it doesn't even occur to me any more! But it DOES cost more. Sorry - wasn't intentionally misleading!

But GF flour, for thickening homemade sauces, is £1.09 for a small bag, whereas value flour is 49p or something! It DOES bump the costs up!!