Finances

[mkm1083]

Just wondering how the single parents here make ends meet? I work full-time, pickup contract work on the side, and still don't even come close to covering basic living expenses. How do you guys do it? (Child support would be wonderful, wouldn't it?)

 

[littlekitten8]

Basically I work full time and do a whole lot of night shifts! Luckily for me there are extra shifts going atm so I pick up those too. I literally have enough money to pay my rent and bills and shop on a major budget. It's hard work though. God knows what I'd do if I didn't have a fairly well paid job. And yeah child support would be awesome!

 

[Laura2919]

I am in UK so we get help like Tax credits, working tax credits, child benefit, housing benefit, council tax benefit and others so there is plenty help in this country. Sometimes it doesnt give very well but we are lucky we have a system to fall back on.

Ive just been made redundant so sorting everything out until I get a job is hard work.

 

[mkm1083]

Sometimes I wish we had the government benefits you guys do. I qualify for absolutely zero assistance becuase I'm over the income limits. No joke - at my income level I would need to have 6 kids in order for the state to cover even a portion of my daycare bill. Daycare takes over half my paycheck already and they think I should have 4 more????

 

[Laura2919]

I know. Sometimes I wonder how you live over in the States. We get so much help really I bet at least 30% of people who claim it couldnt live without it.

 

[jessrabbit]

I agree no idea how you do it over in the states. I'm waiting to see how hard it is once I go on maternity and then back to work, I earn a decent wage and have a company car, which is a massive expense I dont have to pay for, but no pay rise for five years and the cost of living sky high, I only just scrap by now with just me.

No idea how it will work when I go back to work. But somehow it will

 

[Laura2919]

Jess, you should be entitled to some help anyway in UK.

 

[jessrabbit]

Jess, you should be entitled to some help anyway in UK.

I know, but because I 'earn too much' I wont be getting much towards childcare, nothing towards housing.

Hopefully FOB will step up which will help a bit, but short of winning the lottery, its going to be a tough few decades to come! x

 

[Laura2919]

Hopefully you will manage. Childminders are normally cheaper than a nursery. I hope all things fall into place for ya

 

[tina_h75]

I don't know what my finances are going to be like, because my husband has only just left, my single person claim is only just being processed and they said it could take 3 weeks. Apparently I will be entitled to ctc, income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit but I have no idea of the figures. I am also going to drain my husband of every penny he earns. Lets see how he can afford to set up his love nest now with no money !

 

[mkm1083]

The more I read on this site the more I wish we had a system like the UK has. Between your NHS and the credits and benefits it just seems like it works a whole lot better than ours.

 

[Peas]

I just about make ends meet working part time and with benefits. But my hours are increasing and im being promoted. Does anyone know what the 'cap' is on wtc? Im afraid I'll lose them if i earn too much

 

[Laura2919]

I dunno cos its not that easy really... I was working (today is my last day) I was made redundant but before that I was spending £300 a month on childcare, I never got any help with my rent, I got 25% off my council tax which wasnt an awful lot, I got help from tax credits and child benefit but it can still be difficult. Nurseries shouldnt be allowed to charge those ridiculous amounts. Its a joke.

 

[Mally01]

Ref Child support - I was under the impression in the UK that if FOB has a job and if he refuses/doesn't pay child support regularly they can go ahead and deduct it from his wages. Is that correct? I get the impression on here that sometimes, if he doesn't pay, he just doesn't pay and the mum doesn't get child support maybe for that month etc. I thought it was a bit more set in stone than that? Not sure how it works in the US but it sounds as if you can't get it easily?

 

[Mally01]

The more I read on this site the more I wish we had a system like the UK has. Between your NHS and the credits and benefits it just seems like it works a whole lot better than ours.

Uh yeah most of the time it's great. But the downside to that is that we get tons of immigrants coming over here just to bleed the country dry of our tax money because it's a nice free for all e.g. I know of a local woman from the eastern block who came over here to work, had kids here free on the nhs, then sent them back to her own country to live with the father and got away with claiming benefits for them and sent the money back home for their upkeep for years and years before she got found out by the local press!

 

[tina_h75]

Ref Child support - I was under the impression in the UK that if FOB has a job and if he refuses/doesn't pay child support regularly they can go ahead and deduct it from his wages. Is that correct? I get the impression on here that sometimes, if he doesn't pay, he just doesn't pay and the mum doesn't get child support maybe for that month etc. I thought it was a bit more set in stone than that? Not sure how it works in the US but it sounds as if you can't get it easily?

Its not that simple - my husband is self employed so he invoices for the work he has done and gets paid after 30 days -also, if there has been no work then there will be no money. He has already said if he can't pay then he will make an extra payment when he can so a lot will have to be based on trust, which is a bit of a joke after all the lies I have been told.

 

[mkm1083]

The more I read on this site the more I wish we had a system like the UK has. Between your NHS and the credits and benefits it just seems like it works a whole lot better than ours.

Uh yeah most of the time it's great. But the downside to that is that we get tons of immigrants coming over here just to bleed the country dry of our tax money because it's a nice free for all e.g. I know of a local woman from the eastern block who came over here to work, had kids here free on the nhs, then sent them back to her own country to live with the father and got away with claiming benefits for them and sent the money back home for their upkeep for years and years before she got found out by the local press!

We have the same problem with immigrants. Mostly the problem though is with the illegal immigrants bleeding the system. They aren't supposed to be allowed to claim benefits, or find housing, or work but somehow they seem to.

 

[mkm1083]

I dunno cos its not that easy really... I was working (today is my last day) I was made redundant but before that I was spending £300 a month on childcare, I never got any help with my rent, I got 25% off my council tax which wasnt an awful lot, I got help from tax credits and child benefit but it can still be difficult. Nurseries shouldnt be allowed to charge those ridiculous amounts. Its a joke.

Doing the conversion you pay roughly $435 a month for daycare. I wish we had it that cheap. I'm paying $300 a week One of my co-workers is forking out $250 a week for only 1 kid. I know you guys are more expensive in other areas though like gas so I imagine it evens out.

@Mally - In the US you can have child support taken right from the FOB's wages also. That's actually the preferred method here. I have an issue because the ex is in a different state and transient. I can't get any of the information needed to start a child support action. Also, when the guy doesn't pay and he goes to collect his social security check in retirement the money automatically goes to pay his back child support.

 

[teal]

Sometimes I have no idea how I manage, but I do. I work part time, I'm lucky that I have a job with decent pay and lucky that my son only has to go to a childminder twice a week. I can also claim tax credits and child benefit xx

I also don't receive any child maintenance..

 

[littlekitten8]

I literally have £8 to live on this month, including to buy food and petrol to get to work and back. Because I 'earn too much' I am not entitled to Housing Benefit, Income Support or anything like that. I literally get Child Tax Credits which covers about half of my childcare, and single person discount on my Council Tax. They don't take into account the fact that I am still paying off the debts that FOB left me with by refusing to pay them. So every month I have about £50 to feed me and James. And then if something comes up like this month where I had my friend's wedding, I am fooked! And this month I also was £200 short on wages cos I had a week's annual leave. Makes you not want to bother taking your holiday entitlement!