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...

[bankhaunter]

Community care grants and crisis loans paid through job centres, as part of the social fund, will end on Monday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21968962

[blackburn_stevie]

aernethril's post at 10 of 20 ..... Around of applause is due, methinks. Maybe even a standing ovation.

[al**bear]

aernethril's post at #10 of 20 ..... Around of applause is due, methinks. Maybe even a standing ovation.

Well said Aernethrils,  Anyone can do it for a week , but try it for a month

Wonder if IDS has seen this -

Film-maker Lee Halpin dies during homeless probe

Aspiring documentary maker Lee Halpin has been found dead while sleeping rough as part of his research into homelessness. He is believed to have frozen to death.

Lee Halpin had decided to spend the week living on the streets in his home city of Newcastle to experience what it was like to be homeless and sleeping rough.

Speaking in a YouTube video of the eve of the project, he said he wanted to give an example of fearless reporting, as part of an application for a Channel 4 investigative journalism scheme.

But after just three days on Sunday, the 26-year-old was found dead in a derelict building in the Westgate Road. The coldest recorded temperature that weekend in Newcastle was -4 C.

http://www.channel4.com/news/lee-halpin-homeless-sleeping-rough-newcastle-investigation

[welsh.goddess]

well, after reading the opening link, a few observations.

Her utilities were included in her rent, so they haven't even been included. They would be for anyone else.

Free food at buffets.  I'm guessing that she got access to some of these free buffets via her work and through training course, so they don't really count do they.  There aren't that many places that regularly offer such fare to anyone that drops in. (When I wasn't working, I did do this, but they are rare)

Ditching the mobile.  that isn't such a major problem. Hate the things, and my new one I haven't even used yet. I'm normally without one. (never had one when I wasn't working)

TV.  When I wasn't working, I never had one, and I in my head, I do think that they are a luxury.

Visited supermarkets an hour before closing to  pick up items nearing their use by date
 Most savvy shoppers do this, but there is only so much available. And it's not always that cheap:|

Shopped at church jumble sales - Lucky lady. Very few churches round here have them any more. Quite a few do however have charity shops, in which they charge far more money.

Picked fruit from trees and bushes

I've always done this, part of being a country girl, but I don't think I could get a healthy diet from it. This also depends on where you live, if you're in an urban jungle, your choices are limited. The other risk of scavenging, is that many people really don't know their plants, as are proved every year by people that poison themselves:-(

Visited free events such as public lectures and  exhibition openings instead of socialising in the pub
Good for her. She had a bit of a social life at a pub before the grand experiment. Many don't. As to free events, again, it depends on where you live. And you've got to get yourself to them.

Cycled

Which proves that she's fit and could afford a cycle. I'm guessing that she got that before the experiment?:|  Most don't even have that, they only have shanks's pony, which limits how far you can go, and also means replacing shoes more often.

Scrounging and begging for left overs.  Proves that she's confident in herself to do so, and could go home to her nice warm home to eat.  Many don't have the confidence, or are to embarrassed to show others how down on their luck they are.

Casting my mind back to when I was living on a very reduced budget - NOT THROUGH CHOICE, the reality was much different.

Not TV or a phone were a given.

Reduced food was a given.

Clothing was what I had in the wardrobe, but after a period of time they wear or you weight changes due to poor diet.

A staple diet of pasta. - on a good day it may even have had some kind of sauce

Never went to the pub (still don't go)

Clinical depression. A feeling or worthlessness. Sometimes it was as struggle to get dressed.

Not wanting to go out. Not wanting to face the world.

Having to put up with the ever cheerful people that wanted to help. I had no problems with their motivation, but it was still hard to bear.

And if you did manage to get out to some 'free' event, you still had to return to a cold house, but you couldn't afford the heating.

So, the Mail stating that she lived on a £1 a day is inaccurate, due to her extra hidden elements- heating and utilities, and she really is clueless about the darker side of seriously not having the money to do even basic things.

[aernethril]

Thank you guys for the kind comments.  It certainly was a very trying few years. :-x

Welshie - you too  :-x - it changes your perception, it changes your life one way AND another as nothing is reliable any more.

You go from thinking you can cope, to denial, to beating yourself up for not coping, to depression, to isolation.

So yes, being in work where you feel appreciated and get some kind of half-way decent pay is by far the better option, even if you're not that much better off because you know it's your money.

However, I'll make one last downside to this unemployment / benefits issue is that so often, and increasingly more so, people are taking whatever job they can to try and stay employed and those jobs are often neither suitable nor healthy.

You lose skills and experience - the only steadfast thing in your life is that you become less employable, caught in ridiculous vicious cycles such as being too experienced versus not experienced enough.  There are many other reasons/excuses given - if you ever get a response to an application at all.

You become, quite simply "unsuitable" for everything you apply for.

Employers are being given more powers to just hire and fire at will, which leaves any intermittent job seeker / worker feeling even more depressed and in a downward spiral.

Each time you go back on benefits it becomes harder to find a job and then you are so self-effacing to get anything you can, you become someone you no longer recognise in yourself.

There is no easy answer to any of this as it requires more creative and constructive input from so many sides of the equation.

I also very much fear that those who manage to stay in employment will also suffer in other ways, mentally, physically, socially.

We do need changes, but not what this Government has done.  There was so many other opportunities to create jobs - but they've spent billions already which they've failed to talk about on a totally new set-up which was not necessary - just stringent updates and changes to what was working and how it was applied.

They've paid millions at least to 'cronies' in unaccountable quaisi-governmental companies to provide ways and means of kicking the most vulnerable off benefits yet failing to reach any targets on getting people back into work.

And - yet - they managed to vote to maintain their low level of pension contributions for themselves when every other government agency, civil service, police etc had to make large increases.

So - benefits?  Yes, those MPs are managing on their self-awarded benefits very nicely.

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

Employers are being given more powers to just hire and fire at will, which leaves any intermittent job seeker / worker feeling even more depressed and in a downward spiral.

Aerne you are so right -  there are very few full-time jobs available these days. The majority of employers are only hiring part-time staff on 12, 15 or 20 hour contracts.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2144597/Part-time-work-trap-revealed-Number-men-looking-time-positions-doubled-years.html

I think there was a 'Tonight' documentary on TV recently about this situtation aswell.

The luckiest of these part-timers can have their hours bumped up in overtime although when it comes to sick pay and holiday entitlement etc. they still only get paid their basic contracted hours.

The unlucky ones (who don't get overtime) and who have to rely on working tax credits and housing benefit top ups etc. are now having all these benefits cut.... even though they still have absolutely no hope of finding a full time, well paid job.

Another thing I've noticed a lot of employers are doing recently is only employing staff on short-term temporary contracts - which means, as you say, they can basically hire and fire at will while employees have no long term job prospects or job security.

I know of people who are too scared to take time off sick because they are only on temporary contracts and they know their employers will simply just get rid of them if they are perceived to be taking too much time off even if they are genuinely unwell - it sucks!

[electric*mayhem*band]

Could you live on £53 a week ?

No, and neither could Idiot Duncan-Smith or any of his other Bullingdon boy cronies. To trot out a statement like that is mere (inane) posturing on his part.

[spawnjohnuk]

the most unfunny thing about this nonsense is IDS and co are paid from tax payers pot so are benefit scroungers too,and imho should do exactly that, and live on 53 a week... all civil servants should.

A good government is supposed to create wealth for all and renew and/or remove non policies no longer agreed to by the electorate they represent.

Having a corrupt self helping institution at the helm will always result in malevolent despots only interested in social engineering schemes that please an elite section of a society. 

(waves to Ids and Osborne and co)

All of the so called different parties of this country are part of this self help institution why they leave their 230,000 pound a year wages alone every so called skint recession days, spouting they are in line with private sector pay  ? ? Private sector arnt paid out of tax payers empty pot now are they ....

Very very ignorant arrogant people ie IDS who make quotes of what he could do but doesnt should not be in charge of of anything remotely connected to human beings and also people who don't live on 53 who 'Do it for a week' for publicity should take a long hard look at what actually motivates them and compare themselves to genuine people (as joe wrote) the young lad that froze to death attempting to show reality of having nothing.

[renomarvinm]

Well, you can live on that amount, but it does require a certain agility.  

Step 1 - Somehow acquire an old pair of leather boots.  Doesn't matter if they are wearable or not.  

Step 2 - Cut out the tongue of one of the boots.

Step 3 -  Punch a hole at each end of the tongue.

Step 4 -  Tie a shoe lace at each end of the tongue - you now have an authentic David and Goliath sling!!!

Step 5 - Go to a river, and collect many, many pebbles, preferable all the same size.

Step 6 - Practice, Practice, Practice using the sling.

Step 7 - Hunt Pigeons!!

Step 8 - go to a fast food joint and beg or borrow salt, ketchup packs, and perhaps hot sauce packs.

Step 9 - cut down a tree.

Step 10 - cook the pigeons - apply sauces as desired.  (Hint!  Remove feathers, beak, and other unedible parts first!)

Step 11  -  Go to nearest hospital because of expected gastronomic problems...

[al**bear]

A petition of over half a million is being delivered to IDS today, demanding He shows everyone, That He could live on £53 for a week.

He is ignoring the Petition saying 'It's just a stunt' 

Oh Just like his ridiculous statement, does He mean

[bankhaunter]

Of course it's just a stunt to expect a politician to show they can do what they say they can and what they expect others to do.

We can't really expect such people to put their money where their mouths are.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Where does this figure of  £53 a week come from and who are these people who have to survive on just £53 a week?

[al**bear]

Creeky

People on basic jobseekers allowance, once you take away housing costs

[stryver-1]

I think this was the original question:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21993453

[upthecreekyetagain]

Creeky

People on basic jobseekers allowance, once you take away housing costs

I'm not sure how you get around this problem.  Jobseekers allowance has to be sufficient to allow people to survive, it also has to provide enough to make finding a job plausible.

On the other hand it also has to be low enough so that working, even on the minimum wage and in many cases part-time, makes an individual substantially better off financially than not working.

If £53 a week is not the right figure then what is?

[spawnjohnuk]

in this day and age 53 after bills is fine...before means electric, gas, bus fares, water, council tax around 49 is just stupid talk...no one can have a healthy diet or not one on 6 ish quid a week.

so the answer is no bills and food vouchers, a saving of zero to all working tax payers as they would have to supply (i assume) a healthy diet of 3 meals a day which at morrisons is about 50 quid for the very prudent .

No one is having meals everyday after bills on jobseekers 53 and looking for work (ie travelling ) or heating the house and washing...which will please some sections of societies thinking as being a jobseeker in a country of more people to jobs is not supposed to be fun.

Keep signing the petition to make him do it for a year and eventually he will have to by law as they do in USA if enough people sign it they have to . He is just a civil servant in a job to look out for public interest. 

[upthecreekyetagain]

Isn't this figure of £53 for those under 25?

In which case a lot of the costs you mention should be shared with parents.

I accept there will be youngsters where it is physically not possible for them to share a household with their parents but the way this figure of £53 is being bandied about you would think that every jobless person, regardless of age or circumstances, is being asked to survive on this amount.

[spawnjohnuk]

ps...its a sad day when people agree to starving, freezing,making homeless or just demoralizing other humans for the sake of feeling higher up a class chain without same people giving a monkeys that it will not change their lot one jot.As it's also attacking lowest paid as well this includes working people thrown into ''their all phillpots''.

.... an after thought is 'its one way to put the eastern block off coming here having death or suicide rate up 75% for poorer'' perhaps thats the motivation by the tories ? make it just as bad as what they wish to escape 🙂

[bookhunter2007]

"70% of the country says they could not live on £53 a week - but rich people are more likely than poor people to think they could"

http://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/04/04/53-week-no-way/

[spawnjohnuk]

Hi creeky, I think it's 69 a week for over 25s .

 ,I think the council tax percent from all was sufficient for the benefit claimers (about 70 a year) its paying into the community you live in ...,why are the mps not halving their salaries and living the lifestyle of a skint country is my biff... there was no need to go mad and then expose yourself to your real nature as IDS has done . 

Also the countries financial mess is that institution doing so another reason they should hit themselves first and hardest to recuperate and set an example,this will not get any better imo it will be added on and added on until misery and desperation is going to bring this country to the exact point the millions of people worldwide ran here to escape from.

Touche EU 🙂