Myself and my partner earn €390pw each. We have 1 child Thats €3120 between is pm. We pay €1200pm mortgage. €800pm Childcare. €300pm Credit Union. That leaves is with €820pm between us. Then there is the gas, esb, petrol. We are left with pittins. We even qualified for a medical card due to our low incomes. Its depressing being broke all the time.
A person i know on the other hand lives at home with her parents. She gets the opfp which is €90pw and she works full time earning €420pw. That brings her to €510pw Her childcare costs are €30 pw in the local Government run Crech. Needless to say she can afford a great lifestyle. newish car, holidays, nice clothes, while i struggle to pay for food, nappies ect,
My question is, is it right that i have to pay tax that goes to people who are more well of than me?
To be honest i rue the day i ever got that mortgage, No wonder people go on welfare, Im starting to think, if you can't beat them join them.
Before tying oneself into knots about fairness the fact is that the OP is paying a mortgage whereas the person she is comparing herself to is living at home with parents and paying minimal rent, it's not comparing like with like.
Thanks for your replies guys.
Petpal- No its not fair. As regards these govt creches there are long waiting lists and they only do half days and i work full time.
Cashier- I could not believe she was still receiving SW while working full time aswell but there is no doubt, she is, and legitimately, Our debts that are tying us down are the Mortgage and Childcare mainly so there is noting i can change with those at the moment.
Ildanach- It doesn't take a genius to figure out who is financially better off. The lone parent has none of the expenses i listed, No mortgage, or high childcare costs. She also has the privilage of the one parent tax credit which means she pays very little tax. While we do have 2 incomes, we are not bringing in that much more than the lone parent, €270 more per week.. I think this example is more common than you think. Another common one is, single parent working 19 hours claimg fis, opfp and rent allowence. I know loads of people doing that who are also ALL better off than me. Why are they the ones who can go on holidays every year and go out on a Sat night while i cant afford to.
To be honest i rue the day i ever got that mortgage, No wonder people go on welfare, Im starting to think, if you can't beat them join them.
Thats your problem right there, nothing to do with the welfare system, why on earth did ye take on so much debt on such low wages? Have you tried going to MABS or somebody with a good knowledge of personal finance and talking through your problem. Not trying to be patronizing btw, sorry to hear you are struggling, but those outgoings are insane when you consider your wages. I do agree the welfare system almost encourages people not to bother trying to better themselves but to be honest I wouldn't bother with that now, you have bigger problems. You could also try reducing your mortgage payments temporarily until your situation improves? There must be some way you can get your outgoings down, there is more to life than owning a house, anyway hope it works out for ya, it must be really tough going, my wife doesn't work any more but when we both worked and had a young child it really tested our relationship and almost finished us, best of luck with it.Myself and my partner earn €390pw each. We have 1 child Thats €3120 between is pm. We pay €1200pm mortgage. €800pm Childcare. €300pm Credit Union.
So who minds the other person's child for the other half of the day?Thanks for your replies guys.
Petpal- No its not fair. As regards these govt creches there are long waiting lists and they only do half days and i work full time.
Thanks for your replies guys.
Petpal- No its not fair. As regards these govt creches there are long waiting lists and they only do half days and i work full time.
Cashier- I could not believe she was still receiving SW while working full time aswell but there is no doubt, she is, and legitimately, Our debts that are tying us down are the Mortgage and Childcare mainly so there is noting i can change with those at the moment.
Ildanach- It doesn't take a genius to figure out who is financially better off. The lone parent has none of the expenses i listed, No mortgage, or high childcare costs. She also has the privilage of the one parent tax credit which means she pays very little tax. While we do have 2 incomes, we are not bringing in that much more than the lone parent, €270 more per week.. I think this example is more common than you think. Another common one is, single parent working 19 hours claimg fis, opfp and rent allowence. I know loads of people doing that who are also ALL better off than me. Why are they the ones who can go on holidays every year and go out on a Sat night while i cant afford to.
To be honest i rue the day i ever got that mortgage, No wonder people go on welfare, Im starting to think, if you can't beat them join them.
Look, i am simply pointing out that in some cases, NOT ALL, that a person and especially a single parent could possibly be financially better off on welfare. I do not have ' a chip on my shoulder about single mothers'. I simply happen to have a lot of friends who are single parents who tell me all the time that im crazy for carrying on the way i do, struggling. A friend suggested to me that if my partner moved back to his family home (which he is willing to do), i could cut my hours back to 19hrs pw, claim opfp and fis, and maybe even mortgage interest supplement. I am really considering it untill we get back on our feet. The alternative is to carry on as we are miserable and arguing and depressed about being broke which will probably finish us off if we carry on anyway.
When we got the mortgage my partner had a well paid job but he was made redundant 2 yrs ago. Btw id nearly be sure a person with a mortgage cannot apply for council housing.
Complainer- Her parents mind the child after creche. My parents aren't here anymore and my partners parents are too old.
I agree that i am not comparing like with like but the bottom line is in my own personal situation the welfare route is looking very appealing.
I'll leave it there. thanks for all your replies and i genuinely didnt mean to offend anyone.
This story might give some insight into the cushy life of single parents in our generous welfare system;
[broken link removed]
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