by “Money is running out faster, but the bills are still going up. Every time I go to the shops, the prices are higher.”
It’s a struggle many people across the country are familiar with. And while energy bills are higher in the winter, summers are tough too.
With the kids at home during the holidays, it costs more to feed the family. For Ruth, this means that there is no money left for ‘fun things’.
The 44-year-old from Wythenshawe has been struggling to make ends meet throughout the year. But the summer holidays leave her family’s finances down by £60 a week as the two teenage children who live at home are unable to claim the lunch bursaries they receive while at college.
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A carer for her wheelchair-using husband, the former kitchen porter was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia – a chronic condition that can strike her on a ‘bad day’. Despite this, she spends hours walking around the shops to look for deals.
“We have to go to 10 different stores to get the best deal for your money to work,” she explains. “And our mobility, it’s difficult. My husband has an electric wheelchair, but we don’t have a car so it’s difficult if you’re having a bad day.
“The money goes down if you only go to one store. I try to stretch the money out. I’ve had to put things back on the tile tons of times.”
The mother-of-three looks for bulk buy discounts and reduced items in supermarkets while using food banks from time to time. When her Universal Credit comes in, she tries to put as much food as she can in the freezer and fill the cupboards for the rest of the month.
Ruth also receives carers allowance, having quit her job to look after her husband, a former cleaner who damaged his spine around 10 years ago after falling at work. At first, the family was managing and they would be able to save enough to go away for a few days.
But since the cost of living crisis hit a few years ago, it has become more difficult to put food on the table. Especially during school holidays.
“Most of the time, we knew we would have food by the end of the week,” says Ruth. “But that’s no longer a guarantee.”
Thanks to debt relief charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP), Ruth now receives Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – a disability benefit she didn’t know she was entitled to before using the organisation’s free benefits calculator which helps for people to find out if they are claiming all. they can get. It means she no longer has to turn off the heat when she’s cold during the winter, she says.
But the extra money doesn’t go far enough so Ruth and her husband sometimes skip meals to save money – even though he has to take his medication with food. “It makes me very tired and lazy, but I get on with it, maybe I’m used to it,” Ruth explains.
“There’s no fun to be had,” she says of the summer holidays. “Sometimes the food doesn’t even last. It makes life very isolated and restricted. I don’t go out, I don’t smoke and I don’t drink.
“I don’t know how much longer I can manage like this. It’s not good for your mental health. You get sick of saying no to everything. You’re stuck in a rut.”
Ruth knows she is not alone. She has volunteered at her local food bank and recently helped organize a ‘Big Feed’ event in the area which offered free lunches and dinners to people in need where her family could benefit also used the food that was available.
“It’s been going on for a long time and it’s affecting a lot of people,” she says. “It’s all around us.”
According to CBT, some people are considering suicide because of the financial pressure of trying to live on a chronically low income. The charity’s frontline teams are reporting that more clients than ever are struggling with long-term illness, poor mental health and living in unsuitable or unsafe homes with 59 per cent now on record as having mental health problems , up from 43 percent in 2021. .
This is pushing CAP frontline teams to their limits, the charity says, as more clients with greater levels of support are urgently needed. To tackle this, CBT is launching an emergency fundraising appeal so they can expand their services and help more people escape poverty.
Chief Executive Stewart McCulloch said: “Poverty is at a critical level and it is appalling to see the rise in people in dire need.
“More clients than ever have complex needs, and almost half said they had considered or even attempted suicide as a way out of debt before coming to CBT. Addressing these needs requires more time and support this complex, so it breaks my heart that we could address those complex needs without helping over 4,000 people last year because of a lack of resources or because we didn’t have a debt center near them.
“We are doing everything we can, providing help and support to over 8,300 people and their families last year. Despite the economic challenges that have left us with fewer resources, we still managed to help 18 under more people to become debt free than we did in 2022
“I know poverty seems relentless, but it doesn’t have to be. Everyone in this country should be able to live a full life and not just break even.
“Getting the right help and support is the first step that has changed the lives of thousands of people and meant they could thrive, not just barely survive. Our emergency appeal will help us increase the number of appointments double the number of people who need help, and greatly increase the number of local church partners we work with, so that every part of the UK is within a church that provides our debt assistance services.”
Anyone wishing to support the CAP appeal can do so online by visiting capuk.org/urgent.
