Jobseekers begins

Did I ever blog about living off the equalivalent of job seekers allowance for a month? Well I am and it starts today! Jobseekers allowance for a single person is £55 (plus housing and CT benefit). With my bills taken out, at a guess of £20 a week, that leaves me, £35 a week for food, clothes and going out! I know some of you live on this anyway (and actually much less), and thats partly why I am doing it. My spending has gotten flabby and needs to stop!

So today (despite being VERY tempted by a latte on the way in to work) I have spent 80p. I have probably also given myself slight food poisoning by eating some old samosas I found in the fridge. But if I have poisoned myself I will save money.. won't be able to eat for a couple of days!

The dilemma will come over the weekend: have a wedding tomorrow, might want to do cinema at some point.. hmmm..

Will keep you posted.

Comments

Who will rid me of this meddlesome...

... piano? It occurred to me yesterday as i nursed ANOTHER bruise on my arm.. that I have had a piano sat in my hallway for 2 months! It seemed like such a good idea at the time but apparently is not... its stuck there and everytime I walk down my hall I have to squeeze past the darn thing- often not successfully! A number of options lie before me: -chop the thing into several hundred pieces -find lots of people who want to move it.. to where I'm not sure -sell it -give it away -pray it away It goes next weekend.. even if it kills me... which it might.. hummm

Remembering What I Enjoy..

Occasionally I forget things. Some stuff like birthdays, names and stuff is a normal human thing, and I don't sweat it so much. But I also forget some other stuff which is not so good. I forget what I enjoy. I don't know how it happens but it does from time to time. And its at these moments that I need a bit of help remembering. So- this is a request for help. What do I enjoy doing? What gives me joy? Leave me a comment.

A Broadside: plot spoiler for Tory sympathisers

Today some alarming social equality data was released. It said what we all know: if you are poor, you have less opportunities in life. For every £100 a month less income than the median you start school one month behind developmentally. Your vocabulary aged 5 is half what it is for a rich kid if you are in the bottom ten percent of income. Housing tenure stats are even worse. "Only 4 per cent of those of working age living in social housing have degrees, and nearly half have no or only low qualifications. Only half of men and 42 per cent of women of working age living in social housing are in paid work, compared with 89 per cent of men and 81 per cent of women in households with a mortgage." Social housing: by its nature, is grouped (london people ignore this, you are the freaks not the norm). That means that we have allowed ghettoes of poverty and low attainment (not just in a SATS way either). Now it would be easy, and some daft Tory has already done it, to pin this on

Jude Smith

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