Could you live on £53 a week

[tommy.irene]

£53 a week? I can survive on ONE POUND A DAY says cash-strapped teacherKath Kelly ate at free buffets and picked fruit from bushes 
Teacher started challenge as she bet her friends she could live on small sumIain Duncan Smith was challenged to live on £53-a-week on Radio 4

A teacher who survived for a year on just £1 a day has backed Iain Duncan Smith and said 'anybody' can live on a daily budget of £7.

Frugal Kath Kelly, 51, ate at free buffets, shopped at church jumble sales and scrounged leftovers from grocery stores and restaurants.

She picked fruit from bushes and trees and collected a staggering £117 in loose change dropped in the street - a third of her annual budget.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304042/Iain-Duncan-Smith-right-You-CAN-live-just-53-week-sa...

[tommy.irene]

I never tried it ..but there is some days i dont spend any money as i have everything i need in the house to feed me..

[bankhaunter]

So she was a beggar for a year, many people have done that, it doesn't prove anything.

There is nothing in that article how she paid for heating, lighting and water and all the other costs involved in day to day living.

The article reminds me of all those holier than thou people going on about living on waste food stating how anybody could do it without allowing for the fact that there is only so much of it, certainly not enough to feed a large number of people.

[margaret*e]

Is this supposed to be after bills are paid, it makes no mention of housing costs or bills to pay,where did she live when this was going on and where are all these free buffets that the hosts are admitting strangers in to help themselves.

[mustard-tree]

Depends what the £53 a week is to be spent on.

On such a low income, rent and council tax should be paid by benefits, but Water rates and energy bills are not and could gobble up £20 of that

[tommy.irene]

Lets see..all bill paid example..rent electric water rates and other bills that you get money for..so no car..no Sky TV..no phone ..mobile yes..lets hear from everyone ????

[dr-whos-assistant]

It would be hard but it could be done, life on benefits isn't supposed to be easy otherwise where's the incentive to earn your own money 

[tommy.irene]

It would be hard but it could be done, life on benefits isn't supposed to be easy otherwise where's the incentive to earn your own money 

There isnt one ..some people are getting more on benefits than they would if they were working..it pays not to work..

[tommy.irene]

£5 an hour by 40= £200..pay tax ..pay rent ..petrol..dinner..rates  electric water..money left £20..dont work and every paid for left with £50..

[tommy.irene]

Claim Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) online or by phone - you can get up to £56.25, £71 or £111.45 a week to help you while you’re lookin...

How much you get depends on your circumstances and the type of JSA you qualify for.

[aernethril]

As someone who was on JSA on and off as I struggled to find work that lasted more than a few months, or even a few weeks as temping was all that was available, I can categorically say that it is not possible.

Even with Housing Benefit and Council Tax paid, the job seeker still has to have phones and internet access to be able to conduct meaningful job searches and to respond as quickly as possible to potential job offers.

However, when JSA was introduced, it was never intended to cover such 'luxuries' as phones.  If you need an emergency loan, it will be for utilities and food  - phones are a luxury.

Then for those who do not live near a Job Centre, they have to pay pubic transport (or petrol and parking) to get to their obligatory signing on appointments.  Anyone living near a JC doesn't have to pay that - so many lose out.

Then, there's the business of what happens when your clothes start to look worn down but you have no funds to get something that looks smart and helps you keep your confidence at interviews.

None of the charity shops that I've ever come across will sell anything remotely resembling a good smart working outfit for a woman to make a good impression at interviews and even then, the clothes still have to be purchased.

Then, other things start to fail and you cannot get them repaired or replace - or you apply for a loan from the emergency fund - but then that is removed bit by bit from your weekly JSA whether you like it or not - so you have even less to manage on.

Then there's the cost of attending job interviews - no help with those unless they are at least 35 miles away and you apply for help with the fare beforehand.

As the months tick by, and you've cut your food, got ill because you bought something that was reduced because it was at it's use by date, but it wasn't good.

You keep buying and eating the same foods because they're cheap - but eventually your body does not like having the same food over and over again.

Whilst it's one thing to go on an "I can live on a sixpence and in a matchbox" holier than thou, trip - being on benefits over time, when you don't want to be but you cannot get a job, slowly saps your self-confidence, self-belief, self-respect.

You cannot do the things that 'normal' people can do. You drop out of clubs - you don't go very far because you have no extra funds for getting out and about to enjoy yourself.

Yes, if you want to be some kind of uber-efficient eco warrior - but that would be your life-style of choice and you'd most likely be with other like-minded friends and social scene.

But even people who live off-grid eventually have to find some way to replenish those items they cannot provide for themselves, such as clothes and utensils.

Yes, there are areas in the country where people are better off on benefits but if you look at those areas, this will be almost entirely because they live in deprived areas where there has been a paucity of job opportunities for a very very long time.

There are those who are and have been working the system for far too long - there are wads of immigrants who are, and have been for a very long time, handed luxuries on a plate.  There are those who have been getting DLA for a very long time without anyone checking to see if they are still (or where ever) entitled to it.

But benefits is not an easy issue to dissect and make simple sound-bytes about.

Having spent weeks and weeks at the JC, watching and picking up on the way other claimants behaved, yes, I saw those who were quite blatantly swinging the lead and the JC were not good at dealing with.

But I saw by far, far more, those who were desperate to get work, to not have to claim anything but to have their own money and dignity returned to the.

IDS and all those other politicians just add insult to injury with their arrogance and ignorant posturing.  If they're so sure they can live on less, let them A) take a pay cut and B) far more importantly which very few people know about - have the amount they contribute to their pensions increased in line with the rest of the civil service.

Benefits - look at what benefits the MPs are raking in and then decide who is getting something for nothing!

[aernethril]

£5 an hour by 40= £200..pay tax ..pay rent ..petrol..dinner..rates  electric water..money left £20..dont work and every paid for left with £50..

I think you'll find that the adult min wage is more than £5 per hour, plus they will also have Working Tax Credit.

The unemployed most certainly do NOT have everything paid for whatsoever.

Some have for a long time now, (not due to recent changes) had to find a top-up for their rent or mortgage as the way LHA was worked out was changed and the number of rentable properties taken into consideration was reduced to the lower third in any area.

That means that all the council and housing association houses are included at a much lower rent compared with market value, yet there are none available for anyone who loses their job, becomes out of work for any length of time and who lives in privately rented accommodation ( no matter how small), or who loses their own homes through repossession.

[bankhaunter]

Crisis loans have finished and those in need will be directed to a food bank or given food vouchers.

Payday loan sharks are going to have a field day.

[joe_bloggs*]

The true grim reality of life on the dole,very eloquently put aernethril

[crazy-bargain-store]

As Joe Bloggs said The true grim reality of life on the dole,very eloquently put aernethril

I suggest you send a copy of that to Iain Duncan Smith, George Osborne and David Cameron

[mepixin12]

Hope you don't mind my joining this thread.

It would be impossible to live on this amount for any length of time, as astute posters have already mentioned.

Not everyone gets all the benefits, If you suddenly loose your employment and have a mortgage, your really in trouble, if you need new specs...after all these are not free, the cost of dental bills are astronomical, fares are very expensive and just to look and apply for work as other poster mentioned you need computer access, broadband, telephone....that's before turning on a light, having a shower, doing laundry, buying newspapers to further your job search, god forbid you should want to eat healthy, 5 a day with what? fruit and veg are expensive so is lean horse, sorry, lean meat and fish is so expensive now.......these prats, really need a reality check.

If you had to live like this for any length of time....it would really wear the individual down, poster was right in saying you can not continue to socialize, things like gym, hobbies...and so on,  forget it, they wonder why the youth of today can be so bad, perhaps it's because they are sick of seeing their own parents struggle to put food on the table. 

If you have kids, there will be no new togs, clubs, sports or hobbies for them, so what do they do sit in front of pc or tv, healthy pursuits cost  money for kit or classes or petrol or fees and fares.

People need work, for there own self respect and that of their families.

Stop throwing our taxes at banks who mess up, countries who pay no tax but are willing to take hand outs....

Britain was Great, they should realise it is not and hasn't been for many years, put your own house in order first.

I'll finish with something my late mother used to say....Charity begins at home, and give to the needy not the greedy.

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I hope for better times....I don't always believe things will change....but I hope for better...

[barbara.1482]

After what I've read on here I can now understand why people who are not normally dishonest, would work on the side. They have to survive somehow,short of going shoplifting, and raking through peoples dustbins, some can't see a way of improving their lot, especially when they've been trying for months, and even years to get employment.

It doesn't take much to realize the way things are going CRIME will go up (even higher than it is now) so where exactly are this Government saving money? They cut peoples benefit thinking 'we'll get the lazy work shy back into work' but once all of the lowest payed jobs are taken, then what!!

[mr-expresso]

£53 a week....?

I couldn't live on £53 a day...

[*.*..lola..*.*]

There is nothing more vomit-inducing than listening to clueless idiots like Iain Duncan Smith, with their pampered, privileged lifestyles, proclaiming that they could easily live on £53 a week.

Even if IDS were to accept the challenge to live on £53 a week for a year, it still wouldn't be REMOTELY comparible to the utter hopelessness and despair faced by people who live year in, year out in continuous grinding poverty with not even a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel - the man is a fool!

#10 #15  Damned good posts although I must say.........

Then for those who do not live near a Job Centre, they have to pay pubic transport

.... I guess it would be slightly cheaper if they bought a return thicket  😉

[aernethril]

Here's a very good article on the actual topic:

iain-duncan-smith-53-a-week

I had forgotten in my first post on this the effect on having to decide when to take a shower - it goes down to once a week to save as much as possible on all the utilities - and the damage that using very cheap toiletries has on a more mature woman's skin and hair - your body does not recover!

You skimp on so much that you suddenly, one day, look in the mirror and realise the mess you have become.

As for TV?  I was lucky in that I don't have one so no need to find the money for the license fee - but maybe that is why there have been so many who are caught out are within poorer, run-down areas of the country and it's so often young women with children who are the easiest to target.

And here's another one on the darker side of anyone trying to emulate those who are totally disenfranchised from society for whatever reason

Film maker for the homeless

Bank - I didn't realise that crisis loans had ended competely.  Not surprised though, they were very badly handled and were open to abuse by the unscrupulous as I so often witnessed when I had to apply to have my fare refunded when I had to attend extra 'supportive' sessions at the JC.  It was a standing joke that those were my only 'social outings'.

But it leaves those who are in desperate need floundering as I believe you can only have handouts from a food back once a week??

And the other very bad downside to all of this is that those who are 'doing all right' start to develop an increasingly unpleasant approach to those who are not.

I found neighbours became demanding - wanting to know what I was doing to find a job, why hadn't I got one?  Why should they go out to work so I could stay at home - and yes, I had that said to me by some young woman up her backside who has money from her parents to go on holidays - someone I paid my taxes for to provider HER with an education and health care etc!

I had a neighbour who decided that I needed handouts and that I had to be taken shopping, whether I wanted to go or not - whether I was busy with my job searching or not.  It became not just intrusive, but effectively in the end, bullying as her behaviour changed to become downright aggressive if I didn't do what she wanted.

I stopped talking to all of them to save my sanity - but it gave me a whole new perspective on how society thinks, can be manipulated by the media and soundbytes that come from these eejits of politicians!!

Now, I'm retired - my life is my own again in many more ways.