does it really pay to work ?

i think the biggest problem is people claiming benefits get too much money.
i see too many people where i live never doing a days work, yet they can still afford
luxuries like cigarettes & alcohol.
the system should be such that it is more beneficial to work than claim benefits.
and even though i barely break even financially these days, i still have enough pride in myself to carry on doing my job.

widowmaker":13xu1qzi said:

I drag my ass around every day as a postman walking around 10 miles + each day laiden with bags of mail and parcels usually delivering to people who answer the door wearing pyjamas in the afternoon stinking of cider and fags who have never done a hard days work in their lives, my whole body aches every night, my knees are going, my back is going and i barely break even :roll:

Sometimes i wonder if the feeling of having done a hard days work is enough :| :cry:

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In my opinion you're doing a better job than most - a few of my friends are posties, so I know what a tough job it can be, in all weathers. The ones I know say they'd rather be walking than driving a rural round - they reckon continually getting in and out of a van is harder on the back and hips than walking. I can well believe it,

''luxuries like cigarettes & alcohol.''........true of some....but some would rather those than eat or buy good food for their kids.........

Andy R":305octki said:

Isaac_AG":305octki said:

When I only had one child I paid for childcare for him while I worked full time and we were still just living on his salary.

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So then, for every extra child doesn't the situation just worsen exponentially? - you can't afford to pay for childcare so that both parents can work, you have extra children to feed, clothe, educate, you need a bigger house to have enough room for everyone - it never ends, as I know only too well. It doesn't even seem to end when they're in their late twenties but that's another story......

We brought up two children with both of us working and it was a struggle at times - and that was never paying anyone else to do any work on our house, we did it all in the evenings and at weekends. Plumbing, electrics, plastering, tiling, decorating, we just had to get on with it. Just like lots of people do, I know.
I honestly do not know how anyone expects to be able to do all this on one wage - the answer, I suppose, is that some people must earn a hell of a lot more than we did or be in a position to claim all sorts of "benefits". Oh to be so lucky....

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We don't earn a great deal and don't claim benefits, we scrape through though just, but then we don't have to spend the earth on smoking. When my youngest is 11 and his oldest sister is 16, in three years, I will be able to get a full time job and know that it can go on the family (and Retrobike) and not to a childminder. I must say being a full time house wife is as tedious and depressing as being on the dole.

Alison

Tax is the price we pay for living in a secure society.

Isaac_AG":fllycbt7 said:

I must say being a full time house wife is as tedious and depressing as being on the dole.

Alison

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That's what my wife and I sometimes say to each other about our daughter - day in, day out with an just 18 month old for company would drive me demented, even if he is a little star. Plus, it's all very well having time on your hands if you can afford to do whatever you want with that time (which she can't).

I'll shut up about it now, otherwise I'll come across as even more curmudgeonly than I already have.

I know people who are on benefits because they cannot find more than part time work and really do struggle,yet I also know people with no kids and get lots of money for some alleged illness and they live a very easy and comfortable life (more comfortable than me at least).This shows to me that the benefit system does not work for the most needy.Im getting made redundant in a few months but will try everything in my power to provide for my own family and needs and have no intention of claiming benefits as I believe the benefits system should be for people who really need help when all other avenues have been exhausted.
The benefits system is a wonderful thing in theory and saves many people from homelessness and severe poverty but it is open to be easily abused sadly.
As to if it worth working,I suppose its down to the kind of person you are,meaning that if you still enjoy knowing that youve earned the things you have then yes it is worth it in my opinion

Isaac_AG":2rrruxn6 said:

I must say being a full time house wife is as tedious and depressing as being on the dole.

Alison

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That statement begs the question, why did you have kids then ? Christ all these people bleating about being a parent and having to stay in with a child when it's the tv that ends up doing the parenting anyway :roll: why have kids if being a parent is such a chore ?

A lot of it comes down to self respect, I have claimed benefit once for 2 weeks, I have asked for nothing and expect exactly that, I've sold the big issue and taken work considered the lowest of the low just so that I don't have to rely on government handouts and know that I am relying on myself and no oene else to make a living wage.
A lot of people i've come across would never sign off to take a job like fruit picking or factory or cleaning work because they consider it beneath them or want to be something unattainable, like a hollywood make up artist but totally without the required training (I kid you not). My nephew is a case in point, he's 22 with no qualifications but once had a 3 month contract working for Williams F1 team (the only job he's had) on very good money, god knows how he got the job, but now he's been on the dole for over a year and when you say 'ok there're jobs going at Waitrose or wherever' his response is 'I won't get out of bed for less than 30 grand a year'. If you say to him, 'well you can make that piece rate fruit work as long as you hit 12 hour days for 10 months of the year and work in all weathers' he'll say 'but that's work for scum' Arrogant little cnut.

B77":2f4j9etu said:

Isaac_AG":2f4j9etu said:

I must say being a full time house wife is as tedious and depressing as being on the dole.

Alison

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That statement begs the question, why did you have kids then ?

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Because I love having children and before they went to school it was great bringing them up, having them around enjoying life and the pleasure you get from children is beyond words, and it's great when they are on holiday, they make everything worth while. The bit that is depressing is when they are at school being on your own in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the four walls and the vacuum for company.

Alison

Isaac_AG":8py02dfc said:

B77":8py02dfc said:

Isaac_AG":8py02dfc said:

I must say being a full time house wife is as tedious and depressing as being on the dole.

Alison

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That statement begs the question, why did you have kids then ?

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Because I love having children and before they went to school it was great bringing them up, having them around enjoying life and the pleasure you get from children is beyond words, and it's great when they are on holiday, they make everything worth while. The bit that is depressing is when they are at school being on your own in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the four walls and the vacuum for company.

Alison

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listening to Pink Floyd 'Us and Them' and reading your post has almost brought me to tears.
the situation you are in sounds like prime 'thinking' time to come up with a nice little earner for yourself - online enterprises aren't for the business minded you know! money to be made everywhere if you put your mind to it.