Please Please Don't Get Me Wrong

[jennyjoan]

Was watching a lady on a local station Stephen Nolan - I love him cos he represents Northern Ireland's problems.

A young mother with twins (I think) aged 3 is finding extremely difficulty living on £500 every two weeks.

Now that is £250 a week - can you live on that>

Excuse me if I got the amount wrong but think it was that.

[barry1010]

What are her outgoings? Rent, mortgage, council tax etc

[jennyjoan]

I don't know that Barry - all she said that after the bills were paid she was left with 35p

Not denigrating this girl Barry at all but I do refer to my own relatives and they can't manage money at all. But for my help last year and previous years - in fact many times - they had no food, gas, fridge, electric - yet they were getting benefits.

Is there a culture kids just don't know how to budget.

[barry1010]

If I only had 35p left after bills I couldn't cope, either.

[bednobs]

i suppose it depends on what "all her bills" means
if it doesnt include food you couldnt feed 3 people on 35p for even a day

[jennyjoan]

Bed - if you read the question - I did say after the bills were paid - she would have been left 35p - not 35p a day to feed 3 people.

[bednobs]

but does "bills" include food?
children grow. How would she manage when they need bigger clothes? even in a 2nd hand shop she'd have to save up for 3 months to buy 1 thing!

[Buenchico]

What we don't know is whether the mother is in receipt of Housing Benefit and, if so, how much of her income she has to use to top it up in order to pay her rent in full. (Housing Benefit is meant to cover the full costs of renting a property but it's rarely enough to do so, leaving people having to dig into money that they'd rather be spending on food in order to pay their rent).

£250 per week is equivalent to £1083 per calendar month. The average cost of renting a 2-bedroom property in Belfast is £837 per calendar month. If the mother is paying that (without any help from Housing Benefit), she's then only left with £246 each month after paying her rent. Current average fuel bills are around £150 per month, leaving her with only £96 per month. Her water bill is probably at least £30 per month, leaving her with just £66 per month to
(a) feed three people ;
(b) clothe three people ;
(c) buy non-food household essentials (such as toilet rolls and cleaning materials) ;
(d) pay her bus fares to get to and from the shops and to take her kids to nursery school ;
(e) pay her TV licence ; and
(f) meet all of the other costs associated with day-to-day living.
(I've not even mentioned her rates bill!)

[barry1010]

I agree some people don't know how to budget but it is impossible to judge if she is one of them without a lot more information.

[roopower]

I'm assuming parents still get child benefit, that should cover clothes. It's not expensive to dress children these days, unless you want designer stuff, all the supermarkets have their own brands plus Primark etc.

[jennyjoan]

while on here - just in from getting a rotten fry-up - soda bread fried and heated in the micro - same for all the ingredients only the egg and it was half fried and cold. Won't be back there. I never eat fry ups but felt like one today.

Anyway Pension Credits - are these allocated to State Pensioners only or even young people on low income. ?

[aelmpvw]

i'm not an expert but if think pension credit only applies to eligible pensioners

[barry1010]

Pensioners only, JJ. Younger people on low income may be entitled to different benefits

[jennyjoan]

ok - thanks LOL - do know of a few oul pensioners who have stacks o money in relatives accounts so that their "income" is low and get pension credits and get all the benefits from that too.

[barry1010]

Are you one of them, JJ?