Hi all in need of some advice, without any judgement, as feeling overwhelmed regarding getting back into work and the reality of expenses. I’m 25, suffer with mental health and have been out of work for the past 5 years, I have my own council property.
Currently I’m receiving universal credit, pip and limited capability to work benefits. My mental state is still bad and prevents me from working, getting out the house and even basic things like self hygiene and eating. However I had a browse at apprenticeships and saw one where you work from home and only go into the work environment 1/2 times a month…that gave me a bit of motivation as deep down I’d love to earn more money so I can do things like save for a car, which will help get me out the house more, and I think a remote job would be good for me considering my circumstances, so I applied for it. Currently waiting to hear back from them but it made me also realise how much my benefits, discounts etc will be impacted if I was successful and I’ve become rather overwhelmed and anxious with it all as these types of things are quite complex for me to fully understand.
The apprenticeship would pay £28k a year so roughly £2.3k a month however with taxes etc (which I completely forgot about) would become £1.9k a month…I’d still get my pip benefits which is £500 so altogether I’d have £2.4k a month. To me that type of money sounded exciting as it’s a lot more than what I currently get (£1.3k a month) but then I also realised I won’t get discounts anymore so would have to pay my full amount rent and council tax not to mention my water/electric bills, food shopping etc. I’m rather vulnerable and naive due to my mental health so please don’t judge me but reality started kicking in and I realised that if I did this apprenticeship all my bills would go up and once I’ve paid for all my expenses I’d probably have £100 more than what I currently get, not making it much easier for me to save than it currently is. I now really understand why so many young people stay home because it’s so much easier to save, even if you contribute towards rent etc, I’m feeling overwhelmed with having my own property and all these bills to pay but now feel anxious to one day get back into work and for the bills to go up.
I spoke to my partner of just under a year about it and he said I’m better off not working as if I do this apprenticeship I’ll be doing all this work just to earn a tiny bit more than what I currently get once my bills are paid and he also said how he knows people who were on benefits and it’s better to just stay on them (I don’t agree with this). He also thinks it should be easy for me to save money on the £1.3k I currently get however he forgets I have my own property so have to pay bills etc which a lot of my money goes to, he still lives at home and makes a large income from multiple businesses he has so hes able to spend a lot of money and dosent understand what it’s like having to pay bills. In all honesty I know I'm not ready for work right now as my mental health is a mess and i previously attempted…last year so I need to work on that first. But I feel like such a bum when I have to tell people I don’t work and would love to be working again and having a routine. I’m hopeful I’ll get this apprenticeship as I think it’s a good way to ease myself back into work by working at home, it’s just the reality of having to pay full price bills and how much it’ll all come to is overwhelming and my once enjoyment for having my own property has turned into stress not to mention what my partners saying isn’t really helping to motivate me.