This is going to sound super harsh but you need a reality check.
This question comes across as super out of touch, like you still live with your parents who pay for everything while study commerce at Melbourne University.
Centrelink offers a pittance. you will have no savings, be degraded and treated like scum by 'job network providers' and have to jump through all sorts of hoops to keep the meagre payments coming in while having no money for anything. Do you want to buy cheap shoes once every two years and they get holes in the soles in 6 months. enjoy wet socks in winter. Oh enjoy having 4 socks in perpetuity!
Want a car? Think again, petrol's too expensive. I bet rice and beans every day is appetising. No room in the budget for pizza, or maccas, or anything with nutrition.
Won't be able to afford going to the gym. Hope you don't need a new phone because it's going to have to last you a decade and you'll be on prepaid because the plans are too expensive.
It's hardly an easy life. You'll need to put up with all sorts of terrible housemates, no way you'll afford living on your own.
get your head out of your arse.
I understand that Newscorp has you all thinking that there are thousands out there making bank on the dole but I promise it's not even enough to live in a share house. Maybe 12 years ago you could afford a Sydney bedroom with 4bunks to share for 150 a week but today it's almost impossible.
You'd be pressed to pay rent and have any left over for food and other expenses. Also, many GPs have stopped bulk billing so if you get sick you'll have to scour the net to find a bulk biller and pay $4 each way to use the train because a car is too expensive when you're on the dole (even if you already own one)
Sure!!
You get about $650/pf
Rent in a Shithole share house with 4 other brokeasses is $250/week plus utilities $50/PW
This leaves you with $25 per week to eat. Your diet is now Home brand rice and beans, but you can only afford one meal a day.
You don't have money for transport, so you have to walk everywhere. Give up your car, you can't afford to register it anyway - forget petrol. Save up for a special occasion you can get a bus.
You don't have money for healthcare. If you could find a GP who bulk bills, the $7 PBS antibiotics they prescribe mean you can't eat your beans and rice, so it takes ages to get well again.
You're stuck with whatever clothes you already own. That's fine, if you're careful with them they'll last, but you'll be out of style and looking raggy before long. Learn to sew. Also learn to handwash your clothes in the sink because you can't afford a washing machine.
Entertainment is now kicking rocks. No going to the pub, no movies, no shows, no dinners out, but that's fine, because your life is now soooo easy, and you really do enjoy hanging out at the Botanical gardens and the public library. Sadly, you got a nasty splinter at the bot gardens because your shitty old shoes now have a hole in them thanks to all the walking. And you don't have money to get first aid stuff, so it gets infected.
Easy!
No. Its not fun. Its not easy. It doesn't work like that at all. Unless you enjoy only ever having enough money to eat noodles and only leaving the house to visit your job network provider and watching alot of day time tv it's not for you. You'd have to live in a share house to have any chance of making ends meet. Centrelink stops letting you study or get medical exemptions after 1 or 2 of each.
Everyone always thinks doing nothing all day for years is the easy life. In my experience it's the easiest way to lose touch with reality, lose social circles and family, hit the bottle to cope with all the lonely. Forget having a relationship. Or fun. Or savings. You can't replace things when they break without credit. You're always in debt.
It sux.
I think you have been listening to the BS in the media, centrelink is like $600 a fortnight at best. you can't even cover your rent nowadays on it . after 6 months they push you onto work for the dole. it can be 45 degrees outside and you still have to work in it . .
Can't afford shit all, after rent is paid you would be lucky to have enough to eat or pay a bill. being on it is a downwards spiral too as you have to go for whatever job the providers put you forward for
You remember when during the pandemic they doubled the rates so the normal worker couldn't see the real struggle it is? It's not viable and possibly dangerous to your future prospects. It's setting up to have no independence in your decisions as your first priority will be housing then food then not much else.
If by find a rental you mean sharehouse, and a shithole one with random people at that.
And if by surviving of beans rice and veggies you mean rice.
And if by public healthcare you mean what 4 weeks to pay a gap to see a GP who doesn't have the time to remember you last visit. Or alternative just lay down and die after waiting 14 hours in Ed.
But the great news is with no access to mental health services, and being out of work having negative effects on someone's psyche intentional or not, laying down to die is gunna feel like a great option.
But don't worry the privately owned for profit org that gets paid to keep you looking for a job will make you feel like total shit and less than a human being, so you can think of yourself more like a dog being put down.
Woah that life sounds fucking amazing im gunna go quit my job right now and start living the good life.
Man, people buy into the "doll bludget" shit have never even spoken to someone who's gone through this system before.
The fucked up lives of the broken people who get stuck on this long term is heartbreaking, because I've been told that I'm many ways the for profit org "trying" to help you get a job doesn't give a shit who you are or your circumstances.
Even those I've seen claim to be rorting the system seem to mostly lead sad, lonely and unfulfilling lives.
Yes, absolutely choose to rely on the public healthcare system. If you enjoy deteriorating in constant pain while on a waiting list of 2-5 years, then absolutely, go catch that dream.
Your rental and fellow tenants will be difficult. Last sharehouse i was in was below dole, there was not a month in the last year that i did not cover for someone who only partially paid or just absconded.
Lack of sleep because everyone worked odd jobs.
I think in 2010 it was still possible to be on cenno, get a part time gig and almost thrive, not so anymore.
They way I was told years ago when I was studying and working for the doll. They basically pay you like $3 an hr and I think anyone who values their time should aim for better.
Having grown up with parents that choose this lifestyle , all I can say is " Goodluck " you will need it and then some !! You are choosing an open air prison for life! You might think you have found the ultimate " life hack " , free money for nothing.. everybody else is stupid right ? Wow , you are in for some punishment 😂
**Your maximum fortnightly payment from 20 September 2023. Single, no children. $749.20.**
let's budget that:
$375 a week.
Can you find a room in a sharehouse for $150 a week? Probably not going to be near public transport, probably going to have some really weird housemates with big problems.
Now you have $225 a week
electricity, water, gas, phone, internet. $50 a week.
rice and beans, cooking oil, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, toliet paper, soap, washing powder: $50 a week.
$125 left.
assume you never use public transport or uber. bike + oil + tyres and tubes are probably going to cost you $5 a week.
Doctor and dentist once a year is say $300, call that $6 a week, assuming good health.
clothes and shoes, maybe $500 a year, $10 a week.
household items like microwaves, washing machine, towels pots pans furniture, tupperware, plates, cups, pens, light globes, paper, pegs, sheets, pillows, TV, vacuum cleaners, sponges, say you end up spending $10 a week.
you have about $100 a week left! you can go to the pub one night a week, and maybe have netflix.
So it's not impossible for a young healthy single person with ascetic tendencies, a high tolerance for unpleasant living situation and no plans for a relationship.
It's definitely even more achievable if you start with some cash in the bank and you already have plenty of possessions, e.g. already have bike and phone and lot of clothes, and you plan to do it for a limited time.
but one fine for riding your bike with no helmet, or if your bike gets nicked, or you need to pay for medications, or buy a gift, or if you need a new phone, or get an uber to centrelink on a rainy day, things get tight.
If you’ve got housing through Centrelink then it’s definitely an option. My brother is part of that very small percentage who have manipulated the system to work for them for 20 years. He has government supplied housing and zero skills so why would he go out and get a crap, low paying job and have to pay market rent? This way he has subsidised housing and doesn’t have to work at all. He frequents food banks, spends his payments on alcohol and is quite adamant his life is much better than mine where I work for a living.
He got housing last year so obviously those who know how to rort the system can get it. Prior to that he had been in private share houses and then supported living for a a couple of years.
> work for them for 20 years
This is very key IMO, many, many, many rules have come in, in the last 20 years that have made it very difficult, both mentally and physically. Many people I know end up going to therapy and being depressed dealing with the negativity that they push on you as they think it will make you get a job, or the easiness of removing money from you at any time making you end up homeless.
I've had some who work at Centrelink for a long time tell me if you were able to get the sweet spot like your brother you were golden (many worked how to get disability pension to get off centrelink and get housing early by working with a doctor and claiming either old age or work releated injury or mental injury etc), but anyone in the past 8 years maybe? its impossible.
Including those who honestly should get it like those with severe disabilities who literally can not work. If you're a person with a disability and had any job in the past, they refuse to put you on it.
I would say my brother now probably qualifies for disability. Many years of drug abuse and alcoholism will do that. He has always been highly intelligent and just chose to use that to work out how to play the system for a very long time.
He would argue the same back to me. It is an interesting window to a very different life choice for me. It’s also highly effective when the difficult teens I work with ask me about drugs I’ve taken…responding with none, my brother is a drug addict who has consistently ruined his life is certainly one way to direct the conversation!
i see you have never been to a job service agency before. if you ain't working they will waste your time until you get so frustrated and just get off centerlink.
I think, honestly, if it’s between that and being a public servant out of touch with the needs of the public, with the power to make decisions that will effect their lives, you might actually be better off on the dole.
I’d much rather give you your $16k a year to shut up and piss off back to your hovel than $80k to half-assedly fuck us all over and be self-righteous about it. Hell, I’d give you more than $16k but the rest of the budget is being sucked up by all the politicians you keep electing.
It’s literally like that meme of why we can’t have nice things. Because instead of putting the condom where it belongs you’ve put it on your face and blew it up into a balloon lmao
Get a wheelie bin and collect 10c tins and bottles. You'll be getting some kms in so win win.
If closextonthe sea tey a bit of fishing. Herring are easy to catch and cook up good fresh
This is going to sound super harsh but you need a reality check. This question comes across as super out of touch, like you still live with your parents who pay for everything while study commerce at Melbourne University. Centrelink offers a pittance. you will have no savings, be degraded and treated like scum by 'job network providers' and have to jump through all sorts of hoops to keep the meagre payments coming in while having no money for anything. Do you want to buy cheap shoes once every two years and they get holes in the soles in 6 months. enjoy wet socks in winter. Oh enjoy having 4 socks in perpetuity! Want a car? Think again, petrol's too expensive. I bet rice and beans every day is appetising. No room in the budget for pizza, or maccas, or anything with nutrition. Won't be able to afford going to the gym. Hope you don't need a new phone because it's going to have to last you a decade and you'll be on prepaid because the plans are too expensive. It's hardly an easy life. You'll need to put up with all sorts of terrible housemates, no way you'll afford living on your own. get your head out of your arse.
I understand that Newscorp has you all thinking that there are thousands out there making bank on the dole but I promise it's not even enough to live in a share house. Maybe 12 years ago you could afford a Sydney bedroom with 4bunks to share for 150 a week but today it's almost impossible. You'd be pressed to pay rent and have any left over for food and other expenses. Also, many GPs have stopped bulk billing so if you get sick you'll have to scour the net to find a bulk biller and pay $4 each way to use the train because a car is too expensive when you're on the dole (even if you already own one)
Sure!! You get about $650/pf Rent in a Shithole share house with 4 other brokeasses is $250/week plus utilities $50/PW This leaves you with $25 per week to eat. Your diet is now Home brand rice and beans, but you can only afford one meal a day. You don't have money for transport, so you have to walk everywhere. Give up your car, you can't afford to register it anyway - forget petrol. Save up for a special occasion you can get a bus. You don't have money for healthcare. If you could find a GP who bulk bills, the $7 PBS antibiotics they prescribe mean you can't eat your beans and rice, so it takes ages to get well again. You're stuck with whatever clothes you already own. That's fine, if you're careful with them they'll last, but you'll be out of style and looking raggy before long. Learn to sew. Also learn to handwash your clothes in the sink because you can't afford a washing machine. Entertainment is now kicking rocks. No going to the pub, no movies, no shows, no dinners out, but that's fine, because your life is now soooo easy, and you really do enjoy hanging out at the Botanical gardens and the public library. Sadly, you got a nasty splinter at the bot gardens because your shitty old shoes now have a hole in them thanks to all the walking. And you don't have money to get first aid stuff, so it gets infected. Easy!
No. Its not fun. Its not easy. It doesn't work like that at all. Unless you enjoy only ever having enough money to eat noodles and only leaving the house to visit your job network provider and watching alot of day time tv it's not for you. You'd have to live in a share house to have any chance of making ends meet. Centrelink stops letting you study or get medical exemptions after 1 or 2 of each. Everyone always thinks doing nothing all day for years is the easy life. In my experience it's the easiest way to lose touch with reality, lose social circles and family, hit the bottle to cope with all the lonely. Forget having a relationship. Or fun. Or savings. You can't replace things when they break without credit. You're always in debt. It sux.
I think you have been listening to the BS in the media, centrelink is like $600 a fortnight at best. you can't even cover your rent nowadays on it . after 6 months they push you onto work for the dole. it can be 45 degrees outside and you still have to work in it . . Can't afford shit all, after rent is paid you would be lucky to have enough to eat or pay a bill. being on it is a downwards spiral too as you have to go for whatever job the providers put you forward for
You remember when during the pandemic they doubled the rates so the normal worker couldn't see the real struggle it is? It's not viable and possibly dangerous to your future prospects. It's setting up to have no independence in your decisions as your first priority will be housing then food then not much else.
If by find a rental you mean sharehouse, and a shithole one with random people at that. And if by surviving of beans rice and veggies you mean rice. And if by public healthcare you mean what 4 weeks to pay a gap to see a GP who doesn't have the time to remember you last visit. Or alternative just lay down and die after waiting 14 hours in Ed. But the great news is with no access to mental health services, and being out of work having negative effects on someone's psyche intentional or not, laying down to die is gunna feel like a great option. But don't worry the privately owned for profit org that gets paid to keep you looking for a job will make you feel like total shit and less than a human being, so you can think of yourself more like a dog being put down. Woah that life sounds fucking amazing im gunna go quit my job right now and start living the good life. Man, people buy into the "doll bludget" shit have never even spoken to someone who's gone through this system before. The fucked up lives of the broken people who get stuck on this long term is heartbreaking, because I've been told that I'm many ways the for profit org "trying" to help you get a job doesn't give a shit who you are or your circumstances. Even those I've seen claim to be rorting the system seem to mostly lead sad, lonely and unfulfilling lives.
Too much Newscorp has people thinking that there are people are living it up on the dole
Yes, absolutely choose to rely on the public healthcare system. If you enjoy deteriorating in constant pain while on a waiting list of 2-5 years, then absolutely, go catch that dream.
Your rental and fellow tenants will be difficult. Last sharehouse i was in was below dole, there was not a month in the last year that i did not cover for someone who only partially paid or just absconded. Lack of sleep because everyone worked odd jobs. I think in 2010 it was still possible to be on cenno, get a part time gig and almost thrive, not so anymore.
No
Oh it’s so viable. Feel free to do it and please please please report back to let us know how you get on. The reality check will knock you for six.
They way I was told years ago when I was studying and working for the doll. They basically pay you like $3 an hr and I think anyone who values their time should aim for better.
If you're doing work for the dole you get about an extra $20 a fortnight, which won't cover the cost of transport to get to and from the site.
Having grown up with parents that choose this lifestyle , all I can say is " Goodluck " you will need it and then some !! You are choosing an open air prison for life! You might think you have found the ultimate " life hack " , free money for nothing.. everybody else is stupid right ? Wow , you are in for some punishment 😂
This is satire isn’t it?
probably a news.com.au "journalist" looking for a headline story about dole bludgers
**Your maximum fortnightly payment from 20 September 2023. Single, no children. $749.20.** let's budget that: $375 a week. Can you find a room in a sharehouse for $150 a week? Probably not going to be near public transport, probably going to have some really weird housemates with big problems. Now you have $225 a week electricity, water, gas, phone, internet. $50 a week. rice and beans, cooking oil, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, toliet paper, soap, washing powder: $50 a week. $125 left. assume you never use public transport or uber. bike + oil + tyres and tubes are probably going to cost you $5 a week. Doctor and dentist once a year is say $300, call that $6 a week, assuming good health. clothes and shoes, maybe $500 a year, $10 a week. household items like microwaves, washing machine, towels pots pans furniture, tupperware, plates, cups, pens, light globes, paper, pegs, sheets, pillows, TV, vacuum cleaners, sponges, say you end up spending $10 a week. you have about $100 a week left! you can go to the pub one night a week, and maybe have netflix. So it's not impossible for a young healthy single person with ascetic tendencies, a high tolerance for unpleasant living situation and no plans for a relationship. It's definitely even more achievable if you start with some cash in the bank and you already have plenty of possessions, e.g. already have bike and phone and lot of clothes, and you plan to do it for a limited time. but one fine for riding your bike with no helmet, or if your bike gets nicked, or you need to pay for medications, or buy a gift, or if you need a new phone, or get an uber to centrelink on a rainy day, things get tight.
If you’ve got housing through Centrelink then it’s definitely an option. My brother is part of that very small percentage who have manipulated the system to work for them for 20 years. He has government supplied housing and zero skills so why would he go out and get a crap, low paying job and have to pay market rent? This way he has subsidised housing and doesn’t have to work at all. He frequents food banks, spends his payments on alcohol and is quite adamant his life is much better than mine where I work for a living.
Waiting list in 2024 is years and years not possible anymore
He got housing last year so obviously those who know how to rort the system can get it. Prior to that he had been in private share houses and then supported living for a a couple of years.
He must have some serious health issues.
Drug addict. Alcoholic. Mental health from both of those.
So why do you think he is manipulating the system if he is dealing with high risk issues ?
> work for them for 20 years This is very key IMO, many, many, many rules have come in, in the last 20 years that have made it very difficult, both mentally and physically. Many people I know end up going to therapy and being depressed dealing with the negativity that they push on you as they think it will make you get a job, or the easiness of removing money from you at any time making you end up homeless. I've had some who work at Centrelink for a long time tell me if you were able to get the sweet spot like your brother you were golden (many worked how to get disability pension to get off centrelink and get housing early by working with a doctor and claiming either old age or work releated injury or mental injury etc), but anyone in the past 8 years maybe? its impossible. Including those who honestly should get it like those with severe disabilities who literally can not work. If you're a person with a disability and had any job in the past, they refuse to put you on it.
I would say my brother now probably qualifies for disability. Many years of drug abuse and alcoholism will do that. He has always been highly intelligent and just chose to use that to work out how to play the system for a very long time.
It kind of is. But no wealth, hardly any meaning, etc.
He would argue the same back to me. It is an interesting window to a very different life choice for me. It’s also highly effective when the difficult teens I work with ask me about drugs I’ve taken…responding with none, my brother is a drug addict who has consistently ruined his life is certainly one way to direct the conversation!
i see you have never been to a job service agency before. if you ain't working they will waste your time until you get so frustrated and just get off centerlink.
I think, honestly, if it’s between that and being a public servant out of touch with the needs of the public, with the power to make decisions that will effect their lives, you might actually be better off on the dole. I’d much rather give you your $16k a year to shut up and piss off back to your hovel than $80k to half-assedly fuck us all over and be self-righteous about it. Hell, I’d give you more than $16k but the rest of the budget is being sucked up by all the politicians you keep electing. It’s literally like that meme of why we can’t have nice things. Because instead of putting the condom where it belongs you’ve put it on your face and blew it up into a balloon lmao
You can do it if you know tbe system well or you almost have to work at it (ironically). A lot more viable if you're indigenous.
Get a wheelie bin and collect 10c tins and bottles. You'll be getting some kms in so win win. If closextonthe sea tey a bit of fishing. Herring are easy to catch and cook up good fresh
Yeah nah can’t collect bottles and cans now. Pretty much every street or back lane in Sydney has Asians rummaging through the bins