Welfare - Nice ´n Toasty?

The_Honeybadger

I was unemployed for a few months in 09. I came from a net 700+ per week down to 204. To say this was a shock to the system would be an understatement. However I found that after a while you get better at manageing money and if you prioritise properly 204 is enough to get by, but no more than that. Alcohol, cigarettes and recreational spending in general are not supposed to be covered by the dole (I would include SKY in this). If you exclude these things and count the essentials (I am assuming rent supplement), nutritious food, heating & utilities it is enough to live a meagre existence. If you live at home with mammy & daddy it is certainly enough to get by. Mortgage payments are another story.

reunion

mickeyk wrote: »

I was unemployed for a few months in 09. I came from a net 700+ per week down to 204. To say this was a shock to the system would be an understatement. However I found that after a while you get better at manageing money and if you prioritise properly 204 is enough to get by, but no more than that. Alcohol, cigarettes and recreational spending in general are not supposed to be covered by the dole (I would include SKY in this). If you exclude these things and count the essentials (I am assuming rent supplement), nutritious food, heating & utilities it is enough to live a meagre existence. If you live at home with mammy & daddy it is certainly enough to get by. Mortgage payments are another story.

I will agree with that! coming down wage wise its a big step and would take some getting used to, as basically its the same as being paid €5 an hour for a full time (mon to fri 9-5) job or €8.65 an hour for a 3 day part time job for 8 hours a day. As for it being a meager existence, it really depends on your view, living on the streets barely getting by is a meager existence, living in a house with internet and food, some how... doesn't seem that meager of an existence.....

bog master wrote: »

First of all, not on the dole but being self employed and having eaten into my nest egg the last two years, I am tempted.

But are you are telling me you spent €60.00 in Superquinn including 6 cans and a bottle of wine, and this food shop is going to last you 2-3 weeks? Now my food shop includes loo paper, shampoo, soap, cleaning supplies, firelighters etc, do you factor this in? 3 weeks=21 days by £60.00= €2.85 per day, pray tell how you feed and clean yourself and your house on this amount!

Your first sentence sums up the dole! its tempting! when it shouldn't be! The dole should be enough to get by! no more!

That also works out to be 12 cent an hour... however month by month...

Ok, 2 loafs of bread, cheese, 18 eggs, 3 bags of pasta, 500g of butter, 30 litres of milk (1 a day), 1 litre of orange juice, 1 litre of apple juice, 5 ham and cheese pizzas, lettice, chicken soup,.vegetable soup, ketchup, 3 boxes of rice krispies, 1 box of basmati rice, 3 cans of beans, toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo,.conditioner, toothpaste, razor, razor blades, shaving cream, roll on deodorant, soap (both a bar and hand lotion), toilet cleaner, washing powder, disinfectant, kitchen towel, firelighters, bin liners, sandwhich bags (to carry around lunch if you aren't at home), 10pk of sponges, 36 rolls of toilet paper, matches, shower cleaner,.toilet cleaner, washing up liquid, a full chicken, bugers, sausages, rashers and mince meat.
Coming to a total of €137.73 (also note some items last longer then a month and don't need replacing every month and i didn't shop around this all came from superquinn, shopping around would save you a bit more too)

Now my friend lives in cork for €80 a week and that includes internet and electricity, presuming you can't get rent allowance, thats roughly €320 a month.

the dole gets you roughly €800 a month, subtract food and rent you have €350 left. Subtracting another €100 for i dunno clothes and other stuff in general and another €50 if i forgot something. Leaves you with €200 left over a month (before rent allowance). €200 extra a month is way too much, a dole of €150 is a bit fairer and less attractive (for people who work)(i know some people aren't on the dole by choice)

and i suppose i better point out now that im on €550 a month in germany... if i was to leave my job and go back to ireland i would earn at least €250 more a month and i may be entitled to even more benefits for doing nothing... So yes! the welfare is nice 'n toasty

Torakx

Clown Shoes wrote: »

I got the following text this morning from a mate who was made redundant more than a year ago. It reads as follows:

"Rolld outta bed around midday, got my scratch, back home now studying the form, nice ´n toasty. Enjoy plodding home from work in the snow".

I´m beginning to think that I´m wasting my time working for a living. Some people are living quite comfortably on the dole while I´ve had another pay cut recently. Thoughts?

unfortunatly welfare is not always nice and toasty. there are people like me who are paying rent and food and bills out of 200 euro a week now slightly less.
there is no help for a deposit on a cheaper place to get rent allowance as you need to have a place of living(with proof) to get a loan to get a place if that makes sense.
so its either life on the streets or i make do with sharing a 2bedroom with no help for rent or anything just dole.
as for life on the dole it is sometimes ok when there is something to do like personal study most other times there is nothing much to do with no money to do it.
going outside is never a fun part of life as it ussually entails some kind of money spending.
reasons i go outside is for food,exercise,dole. social life is zero as most people i know on the dole live with there parents still so have a little extra to go out drinking and such.and the few i know that have jobs are having fun blowing there money on useless crap.

all in all it is actually a good experience for a person to go through for a year or two imo.it gives you alot of time to either destroy your life and rot away or else step up and eventually pull yourself out of that hole and make something of your life.
my experience has been beneficial to an extent.but at the price of my health.
i have had lots of time to study so many topics and really think about where i want life to go for me.
the downside is scraping enough money to stay healthy and pay the bills.

anyway if you have a job and are unhappy just think about life with no money and way too much spare time that each day blends into the next.if that sounds like your thing maybe you should consider it.after all you might just find yourself.

also a note of interest is suggestions of dole for work schemes.
does anyone who suggests this idea ever think about where that would lead this country?
already there are schemes for people on the dole a certain amount of time.
the pay is quite low with most of them but its ok they are using people off the dole so its ok.....lol?
what will happen in a few years if these schemes become more and more popular.
i could see an ireland where all jobs are taken by low paid workers because they are all on schemes for unemployed.
it would then become much cheaper to get and train workers from the dole and pay them alot less then someone else.
it looks to me pretty much the same as outsourcing.
i would be more than happy to do physical labour for a fair wage i used to work on building sites i can work hard and enjoy it.but i wont be joining any scam schemes made up by fas or the government just to line there pockets in the long run.
hope that helped some see another perspective on that situation.

Dublin141

Just wanted to add that when I was on lone parents and rent allowance, the portion of the rent I had to pay was 50euro and my ESB was easily 40 to 50euro a week for a tiny flat. (I still don't understand how the ESB was so crazy because it was a 2 room flat, there was no working heating and lights in two rooms shouldn't cost that much).

Fast forward a couple of years - my OH lost his job last year, we have small children and it's hard to run a house on that amount of money. (Although my electricity bills are now tiny, thank you Airtricity). We are managing quite well but lots of people aren't and it's mostly down to the sudden drop in income. People still have mortgages and debts to pay as well as all the other random things that life throws at you and when you've used up all your savings then you don't have anything to fall back on. I honestly don't see why anyone would want to be on the dole (unless they lived at home and didn't have to hand up any money at all OR they were earning extra money some other way and not declaring it), I know my OH would much rather work and bring in more money than live week to week. I agree with what someone said earlier about the texter pretending that he's happy. It doesn't feel good to rely on benefits.

DanSolo

Dublin141 wrote: »

my ESB was easily 40 to 50euro a week for a tiny flat. (I still don't understand how the ESB was so crazy because it was a 2 room flat, there was no working heating and lights in two rooms shouldn't cost that much).

Did you ask the ESB to come out and physically read your meter? They make most charges based on usage estimates that can be years old.