A cost of living crisis diary from north-east England

Sophia*, 28, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, is a mum-of-two and is on Universal Credit.  She kept a diary on how the cost of living crisis has impacted her and her children and how she tries to make her income from the welfare system stretch.

Sophia's name and the names of her children have been changed.

I have about £10 left until tomorrow when I get paid, so I’m pretty proud of myself.

Altogether it’s £6.50 on my card + a fiver in my purse. So I’m going to go to the shops now and get some cheap food we need, which is unsweetened almond milk, full fat milk and fish.

Originally I was too scared to go onto Universal Credit from Income Support and applied for it as a last resort. There was a lack of information and fear from the media. I was afraid we would be left with hardly anything but it actually turned out we were slightly better off than when we were on Income Support. But there was no guidance on how to manage a lump sum of a month’s worth of money, when previously we got our money weekly.

Also, you have to borrow your first six weeks of Universal Credit, otherwise you get nothing. So they put me on a six week loan - putting me in debt for my own benefit by about £1,000 which they make me pay back £40 a month.

I got paid! 

Which is terrifying but a relief. First I get out my bank card, rent account, paper and pen on this special day. I take off the rent, then I divide it by four and that reveals the amount we live on per week.
 

Luckily I know how to use my rent card and to pay online per month, due to living in a housing association for vulnerable and teenage mothers with my daughter Rosie when she was a baby.

We are actually okay this month, we got a little bit extra as they must have decreased one of my debt amounts a little bit, which made us maybe £10-£20 better off per week.

Then the last step is to write on my calendar for the next three weeks on the Tuesday to pay myself into our bank the weekly amount we should have.

I’ve signed up to the Bread and Butter Thing, which is a community food organisation that has lower priced and healthy food for members. We usually get accepted about once every two weeks as it’s oversubscribed. It’s the first one who texts back, who gets a place so I am always texting back on the same minute I get message: then I also go with a proper granny carrier to help me carry the three bags of shopping back home.

I’ll be honest, I would like to delve into my history.

It might help others to read this. When I was a teenager I was sofa surfing with men who I thought were my role models. It took years upon years of therapy, professional help and seeking help, that meant I finally improved myself. I quit drugs and alcohol  - both which are very expensive to use. Back then, embarrassingly I was using my body for free or for substances, which I thought was normal.
 

I’ve never been prouder to look back and see where I am now.

I’ve lived on mattresses on floorboards, on sofas, in living rooms- out of ‘single bags’, where all your belongings are just in one bag. I’ve been to the bottom of the bottom, lived on £40 pound a week at the housing association for young mothers after rent and still survived. I couldn’t have done it without the help of professionals. 

Sometimes I have flashbacks from my pregnancy with my eldest daughter Rosie.

I remember the house I lived in with her when I was pregnant. There were always people there, the whole place stunk of legal highs which would make me sick, the bile would burn up my throat.
 

The place had no carpets, there would just be piles of mess everywhere and they had a rat infestation. When there was no heating we’d be wearing onesies or dressing gowns. People staying there didn’t have beds. They would use cheap dog beds on the floor, couches, duvets or mattresses on the floor.

At that time all my money would go towards their £10 bag of drugs or their essentials. So that’s why Universal Credit should be spilt in these situations, between partners. The Job Centre could and should be asking - are you in trouble?

Another issue for me at that time for me was my ex partner took out Universal Credit loans in my name. He signed up for £700 out the kids benefits without telling me- which is another issue with shared benefits. The system is based around “healthy couples” and not “single people” . Being a single person on benefits you feel like you are being punished. The government prefers couples and they assume them to not be going through domestic violence, or any kind of money exploitation or control, which is common.

My garden since the last storm is completely overgrown. It’s too big to handle for myself. The trampoline’s damaged. Something which is a struggle on benefits is replacing big things like trampolines, swing sets, Wendy houses, and even cutting the garden. It got me down today about it all. It has made me feel stupid, embarrassed and thick but my family really helped me feel better.

I got onto the list to pick up cheap food (£7.50 for a family and three bags of food) from The Bread and Butter Thing.

I’m going to use my granny carrier to save getting a taxi because there’s no delivery available. It’s at 1.30pm that I pick it up, which does make me think it’s only because I am not working I can really access it. How do people get it if they need help in getting there?  

Walking the kids to school this morning, I took them with their helmets and Rosie had her scooter, Zack had his bike.

That’s another thing which is really hard. It’s almost impossible to afford bikes and scooters on benefits so grandma had bought them for the kids. I bought the helmets, as they were £10 each on Amazon.

At the school they are giving out uniforms for free by hanging them up which is amazing. The rest of the uniform I get from clothing schemes, Poundland and Asda. The shoes for the kids and me we get from Shoe Zone.

I’d say about 10% of their clothes I’ve bought and the rest are charity given, or given by others.

Today I’m feeling so overwhelmed.

My friend came round from the school pick up with her kids and I wasn’t expecting it.

I was explaining to her how my bed was also second hand and broken so I am currently sleeping in Rosie’s bunk bed. I not only need a new bed, but I am also reliant on my family to help build it, as I am on my own.

Later I told my family how embarrassing it was explaining this to my friend and her realising how much I struggle.

When she was round I realised, looking in my cupboards, I did not have enough food for her three kids too, I was mortified . I shared a pizza between her kids and my kids and they only ended up with two slices each.

With my work coach at the Job Centre, it says on my agreement to job search daily and look for 30 hours work weekly.

This is impossible so I’ve been advised to look for flexible work around the kids. How could I do the 30 hours demanded of me due to school beginning 9am with no real wrap around school after school care available?
 

I spend my days until I start some part-time work doing my NHS weight management programme which am on for a year. Which includes learning about food and doing exercise. So I joined the gym on a £23 priority rate through the programme. I do fitness classes and gym through the day, around job searching, housework, cooking  and interviews. I also am doing a part time course online called ‘Children’s Mental Health Level 2 ‘ which I am really enjoying, as I am fascinated by mental health.

The kids go to after school clubs including dance, and they also they go Rainbows and Scouts once a week too. We also go to a free kids club as a family on Saturdays and then Sundays we usually go to the cinema, for the cheap kids movies. As adults pay kids prices of £2.50 so for all of us it ends up costing £7.50.  

We also spend the holidays doing loads of cheap or free kids activities. We make cheap food by shopping at Aldi or discounted stuff from other shops. I have also been decorating my bathroom walls with Poundland mosaic stickers. I’m really proud of how it looks.

The cost of living crisis has forced Save the Children to increase the number of grants it gives out to families in need this winter.  
 

Children living in cold damp houses, in need of warm winter clothes and shoes and more nutritious food are among the reasons the organisation upped the financial support it’s giving UK families.  

In the past 12 months, Save the Children has helped 2,344 households in the UK on the very lowest incomes through its Early Years Grant programme. 

In Wallsend where Sophia* is from the grants helped 140 children across 81 households. 

Learn more about our work in the UK