Working for families advice please

Hi there,

I was curious as to what other people are receiving in terms of govt. assistance and to get some advice, hints, tips etc as this is my first.

Currently I am on the sickness benefit as I have been put on strict bed rest for this pregnancy, so will not be getting any maternity leave. DP works full time and gets paid a low income.

We are renting and are paying 330p.w. for a two bedroom house in christchurch. We also pay 40 p.w. for a block of 20acre land that we rent for our horses.

We have on car at the moment and are trying to get another one before the baby arrives.

I was planning on finishing my medical degree once baby turns one. For the first year I would prefer to not work.

Does anyone have any advice on questions I should ask when setting up an appointment, I have heard horror stories about people not being fully told what they were entitled too. Also any budgeting tips would be great! Our power bill seems really excessive as does our Internet, although we currently have two borders in the spare room.

Thanks to anyone who takes time out to respond to this

Hi buddyblueeyes, a few questions first.

How long till baby is born?

What do you call a low wage regarding your DP..under 30k..30-50k..or over?

What kind of medical degree are you doing?

When is your fist appt? you should ask about the accommodation supplement, you may be entitled to that. Community services card but you probably all ready have that.

After baby is born you can ring up for WFF & they will start it straight away & give you a few weeks to get an IRD # for baby & then ring them up with it. You need the birth cert to get one.

As for budgeting to live off 1 wage once baby is here you need to write down what you spend on everything, even those little extras they all add up, & get rid of or give up what is not essential. It is hard but not imposable to live of 1 wage you just have to be prepared & sacrifice, it is worth it if you can as you get to have that time at home with your baby

hi, ask about accomodation benefit and if u are on sickness from memory they maybe able to help with petrol to dr appointments etc.
as 4 budget advice, keep a record of what u spend, mayb set up a spread sheet on computer and put in when bills are due and how much so u no how much u have to spend.
as 4 internet - shop around, if your not on a contract. and go to powershop and see if you can get power cheaper through another company. we live on 1 wage and shop smartly and are already putting $ away 4 xmas next yr.
good luck

Well all i can say is that the government dont really care about people with low incomes. I worked throughout the pregnancy and got maternity pay but then decided I wasnt going back to work. I rang them 3 times each time I was entitled to 50-70 a week which isnt much but I thought it would help. then when I went to apply for it they said I wasnt entitled to anything because me working took us over the threshold. Lucky my husband got a bonus coz now we have to wait for next financial year before we'll be entitled to anything, so basically saying good luck!

We are only getting WFF, own our own home so don't get an accom supp.

The way we lived on one income was to trim the fat from our lives, while still keeping bloody sky for my DH, I cloth nappied, I made things last, I got recycled as much as I could, composted & cut our waste down to a minimum so I could get rid of the rubbish bin.

We don't buy biscuits etc from the supermarket, I bake 90% of the time, we bake our own bread.

Babies don't need fancy stuff, make your own baby food, use reusable wipes, cloth nappies or find a really cheap brand, I think warehouse red brand is pretty cheap & work well.