money~!

[purpledahlia]

I had to leave my job and i cant get mat allowance or mat pay.

So im not working just now, just relocated, etc. Is the ONLY thing i can claim at the moment job seekers allowance?? im so poor.

 

[Emma1980]

yeah, and it changes to income support at 29 weeks, its so crap, i dont know how anyone lives off it.... you get housing benefit and that on top but still!

 

[purpledahlia]

I hate this. Nobody will take me on because im pregnant, even babysitting jobs, people are too worried something happens to either me or their kids because i am less mobile as i used to be.
Not claiming HB or CTB because im at my mums, but we were talking, imagine i did have a flat, how do people pay bills and buy food on 50 quid a week??
anyone know how i can make some cash!? lol. I am applying for the healthy eating vouchers for fruit and veg and milk, which helps its 12 a month. But thats it. i dunno how to survive. i didnt get paid much before but it seems more now!

 

[purpledahlia]

Income support is only like a tenner more isnt it? How do people manage? any tips.....

 

[Emma1980]

its about the same, £64 a week, though i take it you're younger if you're getting around 50?

the vouchers are helpful, i really would love to meet the man who said that this is how much we should get!

had you not worked at your job long enough to get MA?

 

[purpledahlia]

I got money today and i got 101 for two weeks. So yeah, 50.50 i get. Does age matter? i didnt know that. I had worked there for 14 months but she refused to register me and paid cash in hand so i cant proove ive been working,She wouldnt of paid me whilst paying someone else to be a nanny aswell. its really annoying. she gave me 100 quid when i left - for baby things, one fekin hundred. I was totally scammed. I've learnt my lesson. Managed to save a bit tho but i dont wanna use it i need to keep it to live off next year cos how can i live off like 50 or 60 a week with a baby? i cant stay here forever either.

 

[Kirstin]

When your baby is here you will get £60ish ctc, £20 cb and £50ish income support so it wont be this bad when shes here. No idea what you can do in the meantime though.

 

[purpledahlia]

yeah it sucks. I'll have to just hope my flyers for babysitting get noticed! even 130 a week.. how do people manage bills and food and stuff with a baby on that? I thought i'd be ok but now im actually ON the JSA and nothing else its really not a lot.
Need to get a nanny job soon as where i can take baby!

 

[kit603]

It is definitely hard! I had my hours reduced to just 5 a week in february, and got a job offer from somewhere else so I handed my notice in and then the other company went bust! (Doh!) So I was left with no job...

I wasn't allowed to claim anything because I willingly left my job (No JSA) and I couldn't get income support because my partner works (even though he earns very little) but we really struggled for bills etc. We didn't get any help with C/T and just £80 a month housing benefit...

In the end, when I couldn't find a job, I joined Kleeneze (catalogues similar to avon) and became a distributor because there's no application/no interview etc and anyone can join. I had to pay for catalogues/registration but earned £250 in my first 4 weeks for like 10/12 hrs a week work and i've been doing that ever since and its steadily gone up and i'm earning quite a bit from that now.

It wasn't ideal because I had to pay to join, and i'm not the most motivated person in the world so being self-employed with no one to tell me what to do was quite difficult because its very easy to wake up and think meh lol. But it worked out in the end. I'm not sure if that helps in your situation though because obviously with being pregnant you might not be able to deliver catalogues and things, but i thought i'd let you know that you're not alone in the money struggles *hugs*

 

[purpledahlia]

Kit, how do you go about these self emplyed jobs?? Id be keen to do that actually. Even once baby comes its a job i can do with her with me.. surely its just driving around dropping off catolouges? am i right :S and is the rest online and stuff?? i dunno how it works!

 

[kit603]

Kit, how do you go about these self emplyed jobs?? Id be keen to do that actually. Even once baby comes its a job i can do with her with me.. surely its just driving around dropping off catolouges? am i right :S and is the rest online and stuff?? i dunno how it works!

I don't know how it works with other companies, but with Kleeneze you have to be "sponsored" or signed up by an existing distributor. I was signed up by my mother-in-law who has been doing Kleeneze for a while now and basically I signed up because I was desperate and I saw how easy it was for her. She actually did Kleeneze around having 3 young children so I know it can be done if you did decide to

Here's a typical week for me with Kleeneze:

- Deliver 150 Catalogues on Saturday (Max. 2 hrs)
- Deliver 150 Catalogues on Sunday (Max. 2 hrs)
- Collect 300 Catalogues on Tue (Max 4.5 hrs)
- Rebag all the catalogues and take out any orders (Max 1.5 hrs)
- Place the orders via internet/phone/fax/post (20 - 30 mins)
- Sort the delivery into bags when it comes (30 mins)
- Deliver the goods, get cash on delivery (1 - 2 hrs)
- Pay Kleeneze their cut, Put rest in my account.

Total time taken

Minimum: 10 hours
Maximum: 14 hours

Benefits:

- Choose your own hours and do as many/few as you like
- You don't pay Kleeneze for the goods till your customer pays you
- If your customer doesn't want it just send it back (free postage)
- If your customer changes their mind after they've paid, Kleeneze pay you for the item BEFORE you even send it back so there's no waiting.

 

[DizzyMoo]

Tbh hun it is hard but if you realistically think what you are going to spend on food, leccy gas & water you can afford it, You have to live within your means which does mean maybe cutting down on posh food or takeaways , shopping isn't on the cards.
Whilst baby is newborn you obv don't need to buy him/her food so its just you, which i'm sure you dont eat £50 a wk lol
You can do it but you just have to shop wisely & be careful what you buy

 

[Kirstin]

Theres 3 people in my house and we dont spend more than £50 a week on food and the heating is on all day in winter and hasnt come to more than £20 a week and thats for a 3 bed house, yours will be smaller and you can easily turn some radiators in your flat to low such as the bathroom and kitchen where it doesnt really matter if its cold as your baby wont be in there, if your baby is in your room you dont need to heat a 2nd bedroom and I know I'm not with the cheapest provider as I checked uswitch a few weeks ago and could have been saving around £200 a year. Stop worrying

The self employed jobs and work at home jobs... I often see a lot on the jobcentreplus website once you pass the jobs local to you and it starts firing out random results to make it look full theres always ones mixed in that are work at home, yesterday I found 3 or 4, I just didn't apply as I'm entitled to MA so theres really no point for me at the min esp with starting an OU course. I'll have another look and PM you the job ref numbers if you're interested?

https://www.reed.co.uk/job-details/...4104&k=self+employed&l=stirling&ns=True&lit=1

 

[purpledahlia]

Yeah ill have to do some kind of work at home jobs soon as i have a routing with baby. Was speaking to my mum tho and basically the Kleeneze ones and avon etc u need a car to be able to distribute the catolouges so i cant do that yet.. But maybe after the new year i could. I was reminded today that i shouldnt start anything now because i dont know how my hip is gonna be at all and i dont really know when the baby will come, So unless its something i can do from litterally.. my bed.. then itll have to wait till after new year, but its def something im gonna look into for the first few months with baby, always been a terrible sleeper so im sure when i cant sleep it would be much better to do some work than sit.. on here ? lol.

Im not too worried about the heating as such its just an added thing, all of it together is pretty scary. If i just had an extra 50 or so a week i woulnt be worrying really.

 

[Celesse]

I have a mate who used to work at home, for one of those adult text message companies. I think it's done via an online application and you send the msg to men's phone by your pc. Dunno if sex texting is that appealing, and I guess you need a very good imagination. At least you don't have to talk to them.....

 

[purpledahlia]

hmmm.. interesting but i think ill pass on the sex texting haha!

 

[Celesse]

hmmm.. interesting but i think ill pass on the sex texting haha!

hahaha I thought you may say that!

 

[purpledahlia]

lol!!!

 

[laura3103]

you will be suprised how you will cope when baby is here as the LO only needs £7 a week on milk and you'll be ok for clothes as everyone buy new babys clothes of all different sizes.

I know its hard i was on really good money and brought rubbish i cant even tell you where my money used to go!!!

then i feel pregnant and had to cut my hours and demote myself from my postion so i had to learn to live on basic money i now know where each penny goes and my little one dosen't go without as i get alot of things from ebay for next to nothing!!!