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Help with benefits?

Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Support
Forum Name: Budgeting
Forum Description: Want to save before baby arrives? Struggling on one income? Found some great ways to make your dollar go further? Share your thoughts & tips here.
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=39326
Printed Date: 28 March 2024 at 9:28pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Help with benefits?
Posted By: GenevieVe1234
Subject: Help with benefits?
Date Posted: 26 May 2011 at 9:37am
Hi there,
I just found out I am UTD and am really curious as to how working for families etc work.

my partner will be earning about $880-$1000 a week and I am student so recieve $160 a week with a student loan as I am under 24 and my parents earn to much for me to be eligable for the student allowance.

We will be living seperatly for awhile :( but anyhow, how do things work if im going to be a student? can we still get working for families, I have no idea how we are going to afford this child. I am already in debt (but if I sell my car can have it pretty much all paid off) my partner has no debt whatsoever... but he drinks a bit of beer and likes his treats (smokes) so it might be hard for him to stick to a budget?

sorry that was a rant but any advice would be appreciated :)



Replies:
Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 26 May 2011 at 10:38am
Hi there you wont get WFF if one of you is not working more at least 30hrs a week, so you need to be living together & with only 1 baby you might not get it at all as his weekly income is rather high.

If you are not living together wont you be going for the DPB?

I also think if your debt can be wiped by selling your car then do it.


Posted By: Nothing
Date Posted: 26 May 2011 at 10:49am
Congrats :D

I would try and clear your debt before the baby arrives.

If your not living together you can get the DPB. If you are living together then it depends on your combined income for the year as to wether you can get WFF- Also between you both you need to work 30 hours a week (he can do it all).

If your partner is serious about having the baby with you then you will both have to sit down and work out a budget that you can stick to. Start off with things you have to have, food, power, bills. Sky, beer, ciggarettes are extra luxurys. Best piece of advice- start saving as much as you can, buy baby items 2nd hand (much cheaper), use cloth nappies when bubs arrives. Good luck and do ask more questions if you have them

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Posted By: GenevieVe1234
Date Posted: 26 May 2011 at 2:57pm
Thank you so much for the advice.

He will be working 30 hours a week, and I also work as a neuroscience research assistant, but this is a project by project basis so money is never reliable.

We are very serious and also rather excited :)

The living situation is tricky I have to study in dunedin as that is the only place I can do neuroscience in the south island, and my partner works in chch...he is in construction so obviously after the earthquake he has wayy more work here than in Dunedin.

I am not sure if we will last long being apart though, but we are going to do what is best for us and that might mean living apart for awhile.

I just assumed because we were not split up (i.e. we are very much in love) I am not a single parent so therefore not eligable for the DPB

I hope to get most of my baby stuff secound hand as I love op shopping anyhow..its just a matter of me creating a budget like wriggles said and going over it with my man.

I will put my hilux on trademe and hope for the best, I might also sell my horse seeing as the poor boy wont get any exercise for 9 months + (unless anyone here lives in dunedin and wants to ride a horse for me? lol)

here are some questions I have
1. Is it best to not buy anything and just wait until you see what is given to you?
2. How do you politely tell your partner that yes, its ok to have a beer after work but not if we are sticking to a budget?
3. How do you not get addicted to this website ;)

Ugh hope you are all nice and cosy in this crappy weather.


Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 26 May 2011 at 3:53pm
Your questions:
1. Wait for sales. There's so many of them throughout the year that you can save so much money just doing that. Same with looking on trademe, don't be in a hurry to just buy things, wait til you spot a really good deal. You do have months of time to wait

2. We get around this by having our own spending money accounts. We each get a certain amount put into our accounts each pay day and we can spend this as we please. So if DH wanted to have beers after work he would pay for that out of his account.


Posted By: GenevieVe1234
Date Posted: 26 May 2011 at 5:09pm
great idea stacey, im going to suggest this to him!

amd thanks for the sales advice, I will try and control myself!


Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 26 May 2011 at 7:37pm
Plus I would suggest waiting to buy the big things until you know where you are going to live, would cost a bit to have to move lots up to ChCh if that is what you decide to do.

All the best for your pg

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Lindsey




Posted By: Plushie
Date Posted: 29 May 2011 at 2:45pm
Move your horse to Timaru i'll ride him for you! :p But seriously, selling him is a good idea too, i sold my boy when i found out i was preg and for the best even though it totally broke my heart. But i didnt ride after about 20wks pregnant and now DS is 4 months and i would have had NO time to fit in a ride yet. Besides if i hurt myself now who would take care of bubs, you know? Rambling...but i totally thought i'd have time for him after bubs was born and im so pleased i was convinced otherwise as he would be standing alone in his paddock all day!

Um what Kebekat said, sales! Like the farmers 50% of one this week, they come up quite often. Queens Birthday is coming up no doubt they'll have a cracker of a sale then. Never buy anything full price. You don't NEED a lot of things (bassinets, change tables etc are optional extras for example)

I dont know about DPB if you're still a couple but may get some assistance, ring and ask (they backpay to first contact to so sooner you ring the better)


Posted By: GenevieVe1234
Date Posted: 29 May 2011 at 5:25pm
Thanks Bowie, thats some great advice...it really is going to break my heart to sell him.

He is a real poor 'doer' as well so feed over winter is costing me a fortune (about 200+ every month) best idea to part ways I think...

I will ring WINZ now and see what I should be doing.


Posted By: Plushie
Date Posted: 29 May 2011 at 7:49pm
Nwah. Is he a TB? (i have a mate in dunedin looking for a bigger TB for dressage lol, i could guarentee he would be in safe hands) I'd had Blazes for 7 years but he's happy in his new home and totally spoilt. Saving his feed money for the next 9 months alone would give you a nice fat cushion to fall back on. Also would the sale of the horse clear your debt? Cuz i'd do the horse before the car, i have no idea how people do without a car but i don't live in a city with great public transport.


Posted By: Nutella
Date Posted: 31 May 2011 at 11:35am
http://www.workandincome.govt.nz/individuals/a-z-benefits/domestic-purposes-benefit-sole-parent.html - WINZ

This says you can't be in a relationship with the other parent so I would say no you aren't entitled to DPB.

Good luck with the study, sounds interesting.

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Oct 11


Posted By: GenevieVe1234
Date Posted: 03 June 2011 at 11:50am
Hey Bowie, He is a hanoverian x nz sport horse.. should be a good doer, but just isnt!

I will sell my car too I think, (I am trying to celar as much of my student loan as possible) DP has a car and I might just save for a smaller one for when bubs arrives.
At the moment we have a landcruiser and a hilux, definatly only need one ute!

I love my truck though, its so handy with having dogs.


Posted By: Nothing
Date Posted: 03 June 2011 at 2:34pm
why are you trying to clear your student loan? If you are not paying interest on it then it will just sit there. As long as you are not working, and earning above the re-payment threshold then you dont need to pay it. I would personally save the money for yourself and bubs rather than paying off a loan that you dont have to IYKWIM?

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Posted By: Plushie
Date Posted: 04 June 2011 at 2:33pm
True that. I have a whopper of a student loan sitting somewhere, i was paying it off while working but don't bother with it now i'm not. And its an exciting time when i get a letter asking if i want my interest back!

Hanoverian X...mmmm wish i could have a horse now, have always wanted a sports horse, i've only ever had spindly TB/Arab crosses and while they're pretty and good for dressage i wanna get into XC and they're just so delicate!

Totally downgrade cars though, i went from a landy (one of the 80's retro ones with the fold down back seats!) to a toyota corolla then back up to a caldina. The corolla was cheap as chips to run and bit enough for my purposes. It was under 1k to buy too, and i had the lift back version so my (one!) dog could sit in the boot space happily. Was a great comprimise. Its a pain to get bubs in and out of a 4WD anyway.


Posted By: GenevieVe1234
Date Posted: 07 June 2011 at 8:26am
I love those landys!

We are def going to downgrade cars, and I guess I dont need to pay my student loan off but DH has a phobio of debt (he wont even borrow a drink off a friend without freaking out for the week about how he can pay the person back)

so my whopping 4 year + student loan is very scary to him lol.


Posted By: KitKat
Date Posted: 11 June 2011 at 2:19pm
Student loans- they will be worth nothing in a few decades.... remember how a can of coke used to cost 50c... or a house used to cost 20k... well in 20 years, our student loans will be easy to pay off- right??

Thats what Im relying on. lol

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http://www.littlegreenfruit.blogspot.com - Little Green Fruit




Posted By: KAC09
Date Posted: 14 August 2011 at 12:18pm
Umm buddyblue eyes, your parents income is irrelvant the minute you have a child. It would then go on ya parts income. So you might be entitled to student allawance. might pay to call them up and ask a few questions & find out. However if you are going to be living apart the dpb is your best bet. You will probally get around $400-$600 a week depending on circumstances, (ie rent) & where you live.


Posted By: KAC09
Date Posted: 14 August 2011 at 12:21pm
I just read some more posts that say your living apart but your not breaking up? Weird but okay, you can get the dpb if you say you are broken up. if thats not what you intend to do then i'ld go for student allowance. Once you have a kid as I stated you may be allegable. That would be best, also look into accomodation supplement & WFF. You may get some. Best idea is to go to the Winz site & they have a caculator which tells you want your entitled to. Although as your a student they may make you apply through studylink.


Posted By: maza88
Date Posted: 31 August 2011 at 12:12pm
im not from nz but the babys dad is n he wants me to have the baby over here dose anyone know where i can go to look for help n stuff regarding financal support n things.


Posted By: Nothing
Date Posted: 31 August 2011 at 1:31pm
Hi Guest, have a look at http://www.workandincome.govt.nz/ - WINZ and http://www.ird.govt.nz/ - IRD .

What specifically are you wanting to know?

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Posted By: maza88
Date Posted: 31 August 2011 at 1:39pm
i just wanted to no what help if any is out there for me as i dnt want to go back to the UK and take the baby away from Dad but at the same time I need to be able to help support us.


Posted By: InthemiddleMummy
Date Posted: 31 August 2011 at 2:53pm
try this one

http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/9/f/9f5ff080417001a48536f741caddaf4b/ir271-2011.pdf

are you working in NZ at the moment? im not sure if you entitled to it not being nz citazine but here is the link
http://www.ird.govt.nz/yoursituation-ind/parents/parents-paid-parental-leave.html


Posted By: Nothing
Date Posted: 31 August 2011 at 11:10pm
Give WINZ a call and set up an appointment with them. They will tell you what you are eligable for and when you need to apply for it.

You should be eligable for working for families tac credits (WFF). This is income based and depends on how much you and your partner earn in a year.

If you are working you should have materinty leave written into your contract. The standard is 14 weeks paid leave and then up to a year off unpaid- this is only if you have been working there over a year, and if any less then it drops. I am not sure if it changes because you are not a NZ resident, might pay to check with IRD.

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Posted By: clover
Date Posted: 01 September 2011 at 12:35pm
Guest, are you with the dad or not? I'm a little unsure from your post. If you are together you may be entitled to WFF so follow the links already provided and you'll see your entitlement. If you aren't together it would depend on your residency status.

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http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: JK87
Date Posted: 16 February 2014 at 9:11pm
FYI (even though this post is very old) if you say you are broken up to get the DPB and you are not, it is fraud and a criminal offence.



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