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How on earth did you reach that conclusion?
Because I left school at 15 with no qualifications and I'm generally not very clever.
You can always go back to school.
Education just isn't my thing, I'd much rather be surfing or mountain biking or abseiling or learning martial arts than studying some bullshit subject that I don't need or want to know about, it would be such a waste of time theres so much to do and see out there.
I tried a course in computer security about a year ago with Computeach which cost me almost £5000, I wasn't commited enough to study regularly and I jacked it in within 3 months and I'm still paying off the "career development loan".
When I said "I'm generally not very clever" I didn't mean I lack education but I lack the mental capacity to learn, I'm classic factory fodder.
I have no real problem with working hard low paid jobs, I'm a grafter, working hard is something I AM good at.
Don't then.
GWST was saying we were living and managing on significantly less than £750 a month.
As for being low paid, FYI on £6ph with a 35 hour week you'll come out with £11,000, which is about £750 a month after tax. Shop workers get that, and call centre workers get more.
The bottom line is: Struggling is no fun, I choose not to do it, especially when I wouldn't be much worse off on the dole.
Nuff said.
i lived with my partner in our own house, which we own (or the mortgage people own
so until ive saved up some money for a deposit im living back with my parents. since im still paying some money towards mine and my partners house (the rent doesnt quite cover the mortgage and we pay a letting agency too) and trying to save up for a deposit on my own place, i dont pay any rent to my parents. not that im not willing, but because they know im capable of living independently so its not a lesson they need to teach me, they don't need the money at all and because they want to help me in any way they can to save up so i can move back out and buy my own place, and im also putting any other money i can into paying off my car and by next year i will have and with the money we will hopefully make on our house and money i have saved i should have a decent deposit. i live in a small village in a not very big town so id have to get 3 buses to my work and then back again and the buses around here aren't well known for being reliable so i need my car.
i'm desperate to be independent again and live alone but i want to do it properly when i know i can support myself and im lucky enough to have parents who will do anything they can to help me. i don't see the problem with that at all.
Fair enough if you don't want to be living in a budget, that's your choice, but it isn't because you can't afford it, which is my point.
As for the dole, well, as a single man by himself you'd be entitled to £43 a week, plus a bit of housing benefit and a bit of council tax benefit. I earn that in just over five hours at work, and I'm not on a great salary. It's a big drop from £250 a week to £43, don't you think?
I couldn't afford to live in this place by myself because we've budgeted on two incomes not one, so I do see your point Sugar. But your situation is slightly atypical in that you are still paying for a house you don't live in.
A hard working person can rise through the ranks even in something that might appear dead-end like retail or bar work.There are plenty of people with no qualifications in reasonably well paid jobs due to hard work and learning their trade, rather than qualifications. Hell, most of my family are now in management positions in their 50's when they started out in workshop floors and building sites, and they're all living reasonably comfortably. And there's other people in my family the same age, who have spend most of their life saying all the things that you are saying, and they are still going from minimum wage job to minimum wage job, and having to watch every penny they spend. No-one will ever give you a payrise. You have to give yourself a payrise.
Get yourself on either a plumbing or electrician's training course thing. Learn a proper trade. There is a dearth of people with these skills coming through at the moment and the people that ARE working these trades are earning a good crust.
They are also crying out for people with these skills in Australia and so you could have the option of moving there with a good job in the future.
Is that the total price?
So how big is the house your living in? Not bad if it includes all the utility bills and theres alot of space.
So all in all the total cost of living for you including food is going to come to around the £100 PW mark which aint bad
It's a very nice house and I have a massive bedroom!!!!
People on the dole get their rent paid, lets call that £400P/M plus council tax, I have no idea how much council tax is so correct me if I'm wrong but I'm guessing it would be somewhere within the region of £100p/m on a band B property, then theres £166P/M to spend as you see fit.
Total- £666P/M
My salary-£700P/M
Difference-£34P/M
Now, when you take out my travel expenses to get to work (Atleast £40PM via public transport) I would actually be better off on the dole if I moved out rather than working for a living.
This is also why I believe that £700P/M is not enough to live alone on- I would be spending more than I earn just on rent tax and getting to work.
Perhaps "living below the breadline" was an OTT statement, but if you look at my above post you will see what I'm getting at.
I don't live an extravagant lifestyle, infact I rarely go out or even buy expensive clothes or gadgets except for maybe the occasional xbox game or a new part for my mountain bike when necessary- I'm trying to get a bid of cash behind me so I won't have to choose between having a pint or buying bread and milk for the week in the future when I do move out.
You are right- it can be done, I could live on £700 a month but its not easy and its bloody demoraleising when its clear that you could live the same lifestyle without having to work for it, courtesy of the good ol' working folk of britain.
1. People on the dole don't get their rent paid for them. They get allowance towards rent but if your flat is expensive you won't get the full lot, and the DSS definition of expensive is lower than ours. Also most private landlords will evict DSS tenants at the end of the tenancy. Usually DSS people end up in council accomodation. For a single male this would be in a hostel and then in a small flat in one of the town's less salubrious areas. It certainly isn't market rate. I wouldn't fancy living in a council flat on the top floor of some manky 60s tower block.
2. For a single person in our city the council tax at band A would be about £65-70 a month over 10 months. It makes a difference, sure, but not that much.
3. Out of that £43 a week you have to feed and clothe yourself and heat your house, and buy transport. When a bus pass for a week is a tenner, that's a tiny amount of money. If you think the dole is something you can live on then you're an idiot; I presume you haven't been on the dole.
If you earn £11,000pa, which is about minimum wage and is something a call centre operator would earn as a bare minimum, you come out with about £750 after tax. Rent for a good studio apartment in a desirable area of this city is £375pcm, plus council tax makes £450 a month. Guideline spending amounts at the supermarket is about £40 a week for a single person, including basic toiletries, and that's generous. Our shop now is about £55 a week, and that's for two of us and includes wine and expensive orange juice. Adding £30 for a bus card (which you wouldn't need if you live and work close to the city) and £20 for the utilities still leaves about £100 for the month to be spent on what you want after your bills have been paid.
It's hardly breadline, is it?
what?
no it means he has something called a life.
Buying fresh fruit and veg just all adds up, but it's the meat that is the killer.
£40 goes nowhere down here unless you buy the "value" or "economy" ranges, shocking, but true.
£40 being a generous amount for one person for a week - I have to disagree.
and the reality of it is i can't afford to spend anymore than that!