Brexit, who will do your job now?

Well let's see, anyone within a 90 minute public transport radius, who is able bodied enough to do the job and is on benefits.

There has been much on the television and in the papers that we are going to lose our labour force now that we have voted to leave the EU (not that much appears to have been done yet to facilitate our exit), and employers who offer seasonal or living wage jobs will struggle to fill their vacancies.  The doom-mongers are wringing their hands and predicting wage rises which will be passed on to the consumer in the form of price rises.

Why?

We have a ready made labour force currently reporting to every job centre once a fortnight.  But why should they work for £7.20 per hour (£288 per week before tax and NI, £257 after tax & NI), when you can get as much, if not more, just for sitting on your backside all day?

We need to get the benefits system back to what it was originally designed for - temporary help for the recently unemployed or redundant.  It should be seen as a last resort and not a life style choice.

Years ago, going on benefits was seen as a disgrace and people would do anything to avoid it.

We need to get back to that.

Why Right to Buy is so popular.

There has been a report in the BBC that 1 in 3 Councils have not replaced a single council house sold under the Right-to-Buy scheme.

With the amount of student accommodation and other private homes being built in this City and its surroundings, including green belt sites, I would imagine that there is no land for the Council to build on!

But it is no surprise that the existing council houses are being snapped up by their tenants.

According to the Right-to-Buy calculator created by the Government, my house is currently valued at £92k, which seems a little low for a fully maintained and updated house, which a Council property would be, it would probably be nearer £125k but for the sake of this exercise we will let that slide.

If I had lived here as a tenant for the length of time that I have lived here as an owner, I would qualify for a 55% discount on the price of the house, whether I had paid rent or not.

This would leave a balance of £41k to pay, and using the mortgage calculator on the same Right-to-Buy website, at even 5% interest this is only £240 per month, easily affordable to someone on full benefits.  A bit of google research shows that it is your ability to repay the mortgage, whether employed or not, that will get you the money.

The house would then be sold with between £50k and £80k clear profit which could then buy a smaller property out-right, or a similar property with a smaller mortgage.  And believe me, I have seen this done.

I have no problem with someone who has lived in a Council House but paid their own rent being able to purchase their house as they will have probably paid more than its total value in rent, but why should someone who has never lifted a finger in work, or collected a wage, be in a better position than someone who works full time but simply cannot afford a mortgage?

Right-to-Buy should stop for those not paying rent, it will reduce the need to provide more Council Houses.

And we wonder why the benefits system is so abused.

Annual Tax Summary from the HMRC

I have just received my first Annual Tax Summary and I am not sure that I want to read it.

For the year 2013-14, £3527 was taken from my salary in tax deductions.

Of this, the biggest slice was for Welfare costs, an amount of £865, £247 was used towards interest on the national debt, only the interest notice, not the principal, £41 was overseas aid and £26 to the EU.

£428 was used towards state pensions, which probably won't even exist by the time I retire and £59 towards the environment.

There was an amount used for Culture, under which umbrella are sports (I don't take part in sports), libraries (I thought that they had all closed) and museums.  I like visiting museums but I would rather pay to enter the ones I choose to visit instead of paying for those which I will never know exist.

Have you received your summary, do you think it is the right thing to be sending out to the tax payers?  Do you really want to read how much of YOUR tax is being used to fund £1500 Christmases?  

Too depressed to work but not to party.

So 'White Dee' from that wonderful television programme 'Benefits Street' is in Magaluf to host a party for fans of the show. To be a fan of the show I am guessing that you have to be claiming benefits, no right-minded working person could ever call themselves fans.

Apparently she is not being paid for this shindig, but hopefully, as she is out of the country and therefore unable to work, I assume that her benefits are being cancelled and that she will have to reapply on her return to the UK.  (I know this is what happens as I was made redundant and had my benefits stopped for the week I spent in Spain, even though it had been booked 4 months before I had any inkling that I was being made redundant).

Apparently she cannot work because she is too depressed, obviously doesn't stop her going out and enjoying herself.

And she is not the only one.

I know someone who has not worked in all the years I have known them, apparently due to depression.  However that depression has not stopped them going out drinking, partying and meeting up with friends to go shopping to spend their hard earned benefits.  Although too depressed to work, they were able to meet someone and get pregnant.  They are not too depressed to go on holiday (I still don't understand why you need a holiday when you don't work).

My depression affects me in the opposite way.  I have always been able to get myself to work, apart from two periods of redundancy for which I received the absolute minimum in benefits (JSA and council tax paid), and the brief period which actually prompted me to seek help, but once I get home from work I struggle, and I mean really struggle, to leave the house.

I have lost count of the times I have gone to bed hungry, because although I could afford to buy food, buying food would mean having to leave the house.

Even now, after having my meds doubled, the only place I ever want to be is in bed, with the covers over my head. 

I can count my non-work-related nights out over the last 5 years or so on one hand.  

On an 'up' day, I have booked tickets for concerts, I have booked nights in hotels, all of which I have not turned up to as I just couldn't leave the house when the time came.

I think it says a lot about how you were brought up.  I was brought up to just deal with things and get on with it.

There are some days when I wish that I hadn't.

Save £1000 in a day!

As always happens around this time of the year newspapers and magazines are full of ways to save money so I thought I would have a go.

1.  Apparently if you have more bedrooms than people in a house, then you can save with a water meter.

My current annual water bill is £320, according to the Water Meter Calculator my annual water usage would cost £221.

£99 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

2.  You can claim a tax rebate if you wear a uniform which you are responsible for washing/laundering yourself.

I do not wear a uniform.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

3.  Check that you are receiving the correct child benefits.

I have no children.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

4.  Earn £125 by switching banks

Due to my credit score (which I am working hard to improve) I am currently unable to change banks.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

5.  Check that you are on the best energy tariff.

I check my tariffs every year and move as necessary.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved

6.  Analyse your budget.  Are you spending more than you earn?

I don't have a credit card, neither do I have an overdraft, therefore, if I haven't got it, I can't spend it!

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

7.  Sign up for free monthly tea and cake at John Lewis, or a free daily coffee at Waitrose.

I have neither John Lewis nor Waitrose locally.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

8.  Haggle down other utilities.

I phoned Virgin last year and said I was cancelling, I had £5 a month knocked off my bill.  Unfortunately this has been wiped out by the annual price increase.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

9.  Reclaim mis-sold PPI.

I have never been mis-sold PPI, I have always fully understood it and refused it if I felt it was not necessary.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

10.  Check around for better mortgage deals.

I do not have a mortgage, the house is fully paid off.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

11.  Check around for a better car insurance deal.

I do not have a car.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

12.  Check around for a better credit card deal.

I do not have a credit card.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

So whilst £99 is a good start, it is far, far short of the £1000 predicted, and frankly, by the time I have taken a day's annual leave to have the meter fitted, I am not going to be making a saving.

Has anyone else tried to save £1000 in a day?

Pay Day Loan Companies, My View.

There has been a lot in the news lately about Pay Day Loan companies but, personally, I don't have a problem with them.

Whilst their interest rates are extremely high, they are all advertised, they are not hidden.  I have, in the past, used their previous incarnations which were places where you could cash a cheque which would not be banked until an agreed date, this of course all came at a fee.  I haven't used this service for several years now having sat myself down and worked out a budget - so much on bills, so much for savings, so much for spending etc.

Now the issue seems to be that children can see the adverts for these services and pester their parents into getting loans so that they can buy them the latest gadgets and clothes.  What is wrong with the parents saying no?  Or is that word not acceptable these days?

I know that when I was little, I could ask once and if I was told 'no', that was an end to it.  If I did have the devil in me and tried to pester, I would end up with a smacked bottom and an early night.

But in these days of benefits, easy money and instant gratification, I guess that people will continue to get into debt instead of saving for something because that takes time.

The 2014 52 Week Cash Challenge

This is something that I am going to attempt to do, although I have altered it slightly.

I first came across the 52 Week Cash Challenge via a friend who is on benefits, the reason I mention this will become obvious later in this post.

The idea is that you find an empty jar or pot, and at the start, or end, of week 1, you add £1 to this jar; week 2 you add £2; week 3, £3 and so on until week 52.

Unfortunately, this means that over the last 4 weeks of the challenge you would have to put away £202 (£49 + £50 + £51 + £52), now I work full time and can't afford to put this much money away in just one month, so the fact that someone on benefits can means there is something wrong somewhere.

So, my little tweaks are - I am using a bank account instead of a jar, this is so that I can get a little bit of interest; and my amounts will be - week 1 £1, week 2 £52, week 3 £2, week 4 £51 and so on.  I know I could just put £26.50 per week away, but this makes saving more fun and will make me more likely to carry on with it.

Is anyone else thinking of having a go?