Could you live on 60 quid a week?

[EternalOptimist]

Well I think if you're not wokring, you have the time to use terry towelling nappies and wash them.

Cost = zero!

plus
if you have kiddies, there are other benefits, like family allowance. There are a million ways to economise, but, trust me, you never want to have to do it for real

[BrilloPad]

Well I think if you're not wokring, you have the time to use terry towelling nappies and wash them.

Cost = zero!

They need a boil wash which is expensive. Drying them in the winter is not easy.

[EternalOptimist]

They need a boil wash which is expensive. Drying them in the winter is not easy.

They dont need a boil wash. Quarter fill the bath with luke warm water, get a knife and shave some toilet soap into the water, clothes in, then trample for an hour. Who needs a washing machine ?

[BrowneIssue]

Could you live on 60 quid a week?

Heating, clothing, food?

Been there, done that, the last time the IT contract market turned sour. Gave up smoking, sold the house, stopped going out, etc. We did our damnedest to live on nothing. And the answer is:

No.

All you can do is delay the inevitable.

You cannot give no cards at Xmas or birthdays. You cannot give no gifts to young relatives. You cannot walk to shops that are miles away. You cannot not get your clothes replaced and shoes repaired. You cannot refuse to attend family weddings and funerals. You cannot leave the heating off in the winter. You cannot keep clean using cold water. You cannot leave your car on the drive and not pay tax on it. As the months drag by, big expenses roll through the letterbox: will you cancel the contents insurance? Things run out that have to be replaced but mean you cannot afford food: cleaning materials, sanitary items. And things start wearing out: will you replace the broken vacuum cleaner and use a hand brush instead? Will you live without a telly (we did)? Fancy a bag of crisps? Can't have one. Just a small bar of chocolate? Nope. Fresh fruit? Still no. Stay home and have a cheap bottle of wine between you as a treat on your anniversary? Or use that £3 to buy a piece of meat?

It is a desperately miserable existence that grinds you down; it destroys your morale, health and humanity.

And them some stuck-up, expenses-thieving MP lives in a bedsit for a week and gets paid £500 for writing an article for a sunday paper about how easy it is to live on benefit.

With hindsight, we should have changed nothing and gone bankrupt. You don't get any assistance for going without stuff. We would have been better off than we are now by struggling at the time.

[EternalOptimist]

Been there, done that, the last time the IT contract market turned sour. Gave up smoking, sold the house, stopped going out, etc. We did our damnedest to live on nothing. And the answer is:

No.

All you can do is delay the inevitable.

You cannot give no cards at Xmas or birthdays. You cannot give no gifts to young relatives. You cannot walk to shops that are miles away. You cannot not get your clothes replaced and shoes repaired. You cannot refuse to attend family weddings and funerals. You cannot leave the heating off in the winter. You cannot keep clean using cold water. You cannot leave your car on the drive and not pay tax on it. As the months drag by, big expenses roll through the letterbox: will you cancel the contents insurance? Things run out that have to be replaced but mean you cannot afford food: cleaning materials, sanitary items. And things start wearing out: will you replace the broken vacuum cleaner and use a hand brush instead? Will you live without a telly (we did)? Fancy a bag of crisps? Can't have one. Just a small bar of chocolate? Nope. Fresh fruit? Still no. Stay home and have a cheap bottle of wine between you as a treat on your anniversary? Or use that £3 to buy a piece of meat?

It is a desperately miserable existence that grinds you down; it destroys your morale, health and humanity.

With hindsight, we should have changed nothing and gone bankrupt. You don't get any assistance for going without stuff. We would have been better off than we are now by struggling at the time.

Pretty accurate. You were unlucky in that you started high and were brought low but you were lucky that you had a fair amount of 'fat' to live off.
I was in the opposite position, started low, then dropped a little but I had very little 'fat'. I did ten years on the dole and I knew all the tricks (even though Tay did not/does not approve)

[AlfredJPruffock]

Are you talking JSA? (Job Seeker's Allowance)

It is survival money. The whole point is that you find another job and then you can once again afford varied drugs/addictions.

The benefit system (IMHO) is very good. Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are the two life savers. If you haven't taken on lots of debt (a mortgage is a debt) then these two claimable amounts will keep you going for a long time. There are upper limits obviously, but as long as you live in a property suitable for your needs, it is all covered.

Correct - as a householder sans mortgage Ive lived on JSA before between contracts - I could still save a tenner a week, in season I used to pick some local haluceogenic mushrooms to feed my mind.

Walking through the trees of my local forest I was happier than those with thousand of riches.


I would enrich myslef in the library every day , we have a superb library, what a gift it is being able to read.

Who needs a car when I have that wonderous invention - a bike ?


15 years ago I was homeless for a spell in Londonium and lived on no benefits at all.


That was before I ruled the World.



(dont try the above at home kids- Alf cant really fly )

[bobhope]

You're missing the obvious solution: use the CUK time machine to go back to 1890. Then you can live on £60 a week quite easily.

[Mich the Tester]

It’s quite an adjustment for Tester Palace having to live on less than 60 pounds per hour. Mrs Tester has stopped buying hand made Italian shoes and bought a pair of DMs.

Seriously though, I don’t see how anyone can actually make themselves presentable in the job market on 60 pounds per week. Think of the costs of decent clothing, travel, books and courses, stamps and an internet connection that you need to get yourself an interview and a chance of getting the job. People pay through the nose for social security and it just doesn’t deliver when they need help. Either set up a proper social security system that ensures people don’t end up on the streets when their income falls away temporarily or abolish the whole damn thing and let people save up for a rainy day; oh, and stop taxing savings.

[EternalOptimist]

Seriously though, I don’t see how anyone can actually make themselves presentable in the job market on 60 pounds per week. Think of the costs of decent clothing, travel, books and courses, stamps and an internet connection that you need to get yourself an interview and a chance of getting the job. People pay through the nose for social security and it just doesn’t deliver when they need help. Either set up a proper social security system that ensures people don’t end up on the streets when their income falls away temporarily or abolish the whole damn thing and let people save up for a rainy day; oh, and stop taxing savings.

pay attention to the spec.
He asked, can you live on £60, heating, food, clothing

now just think hard about that for a minute.

[s2budd]

Could you live on 60 quid a week?
No. It's not possible.