Is it possible to live on centrelink alone?

[mrsmac]

DD is doing nursing at uni and works FT at Maccas as a manger while she does it, admittedly her hours are all over the place and its weekend and night work too but it is doable.

[Rivlas]

DD and many of her friends are at Uni full time and have jobs. He will be able to pick up jobs but it will mean you will be doing alot of the parenting on yur own. He will get school holidays off and over Christmas time will be able to pick up extra work (except schools) as many want to go on leave.
A friend is doing nursing at the moment and is either going to apply for dispatch (emergency services) or orderly work.
I hope either of you go ahead and do this.

[butterfly_warrior]

DH and I survived with me on austudy and him on newstart. He stayed on newstart as he was doing a shorter course then me. Sure, we lived in a bit of a dump, and we weren't exactly eating gourmet meals. We didn't go out a lot, but we survived. We even kept up payments on the car loan at the time. Sure, no kids. But we managed with careful budgetting. Even when the gear box in the car exploded. I'm not sure I'd be wanting to do it for more than the 12 months we managed, though.

BW

[Jaycee]

I'm actually studying social security as part of my financial planning course at the moment and the 40k will only be exempt from the income and means test if it is from the sale of your principal residence and is going to be used to purchase another residence within 12 months. So in this case the funds will be included in the asset and income test.

[Just Me]

I think while you are studying, you can also work part time and earn a couple of hundred dollars a fortnight before your payments start decreasing so you can get a bit of extra cash by DH or you working part time.

I think you aren't allowed savings of over $2000 if you are living off c'link (that's just from memory) so if you had money in the bank from the sale of your house, you would have to live off that first. If the money is tied up in your house and your assests are valued at less than a certain amount (it used to be around $200'000 but it has probably gone up since I was studying 10 years ago), then you would still be eligible and not expected to live off it.

[Lulu]

Certainly do what you gotta do and follow those dreams, if you are prepared for the sacrifice (and it is, cos I been living off Clink for nearly 3 years now and it sucks balls), go for it.

I personally hate been thrown backwards when things happen (car, kids etc), that weren't a problem back in the actual INCOME days.....That's just moi, and if I was studying for a degree at the end of it I would probably have a different perspective.

xoxox GL with whatever you choose!

[briggsy's girl]

I'm sure BG took our money into account when doing the figures (didn't you BG? Or was I assuming you did.. LOL)

yes, i did take it into account

if you have money in the bank, you do not have to live off it before applying for payment. you will be asked if you have liquid assets (so it's best to have money in term deposits that you can't access) but you don't have to spend that - particularly as it's not "savings", it's funds from the sale of the house

the 40k earned a "deemed" amount of income which was applied to the calculations.

yes, if you sell a house and intend to buy another, you don't have that "deeming" apply at all for 12 months (from memory). if, after 12 months you don't buy the house, you're not cut off payments, it is simply brought in under the income and assets test

Mel, do what feels right for you and your DH. if he isn't happy doing what he is doing and believes his passion is for nursing, then now is the time to do it. now, white you can be home and not have child care costs etc on top of it. yes, it will be tight, but you're not stupid - you know how to budget, you know how to live frugally. do what feels right for you guys. you've seen the figures - if you think it's workable, do it!

[Antheia]

This is how we are living right now. DH is on parenting payment, I am on student youth allowance (as im under 25) doing Cert III in childrens services and i get FTB A and B. We pay a mortgage and have a credit card each for emergencies. On average we get around $850 per week. This will go up when bub is born to around $930 per week (not including the baby bonus). We live off this amount fine and are not struggling. However, we have no debt other than $3000 in credit cards and a mortgage that is only $250 per week. So it can work but you wouldn't want to have a lot of debt and be very good with your budget.

[e_p]

Yup, if you apply for payment with $40k in the bank they might make you wait a year or something ridiculous before you can get payment. Sell the house once you're *on* a payment and it isn't the same

That is incorrect. Austudy is a payment that can attract a liquid assets waiting period - when you apply for payments, if a couple have liquid assets (cash, savings, term deposits, shares) in excess of $10,000 a waiting period will apply. The waiting period will be a maximum of 13 weeks and I will find out the number of weeks you will likely serve based on liquid assets of $40,000 and let you know. My best friends are currently in your situation, dad is a full time student on Austudy, mum is on Parenting Payment and they receive maximum rate of FTB A due to being in receipt of an income support payment - dad works casually and earns about $300 gross p/f which has very little impact on their Austudy (Austudy recipient can earn $236 p/f gross without any reduction in payment) and they pay a mortgage and get by ok (although they admit they will be in trouble if the car blows up/appliance dies etc). Austudy also now attracts a scholarship twice a year - this year $650 per semester but next year it will increase to $1000 per semester (paid in a lump sum at the beginning of the semester). If you sell the house (don't quote me on this because I'm not 100% sure) I think if you intend to purchase a new home with the proceeds of the funds, the money is exempt from the income and asset limits for 12 months from sale of the property.

[e_p]

if you have money in the bank, you do not have to live off it before applying for payment. you will be asked if you have liquid assets (so it's best to have money in term deposits that you can't access) but you don't have to spend that - particularly as it's not "savings", it's funds from the sale of the house

just wanted to clarify that money held in term deposits ARE considered to be liquid assets: Liquid assets

[Pretty Butterfly]

I think it is doable babe, its pretty much what we have been doing....

You do get to "keep" all your profit from the house for 12 months, and they dont drop your payments. And when it does kick in, it doesn't drop too badly.

As long as you can save that 40K for the things that pop up for the 3 years, you should be fine.

From what your on now, your FTB & A will go up, and between you and DH, another $800 p/f... if DH's wage was FAAARRRR from this amount ( $800 + fta,b increase) you will feel the pinch, but if its not too far from the mark, ( and it wasn't in our case) then go live your dream sweets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Arimeh]

Yeah the 40K we would hope to keep for a deposit on the next house, but the problem is we wouldn't be able to afford a new house in a years time, it would be after I've finished uni as well, so at least 6 years - which is a bummer!!

Thanks guys DH isn't sure he is ready to study next year so its all up in the air at the moment. Although today he talked about birthing choices with me for this next bub, and said staying down here would be my only chance at a homebirth so we should stay down here. I said yes its my only choice because the hospital won't take me in Launceston because I'm still a high risk - whereas I could birth at Selangor if we moved to Queensland - and I'd love to do that - they have such lovely midwives and birthing rooms!

[deletedit]

I'm actually studying social security as part of my financial planning course at the moment and the 40k will only be exempt from the income and means test if it is from the sale of your principal residence and is going to be used to purchase another residence within 12 months. So in this case the funds will be included in the asset and income test.

That's an irritating ruling ... the house I have for sale USED to be my principal residence (for 6 years) but it has been for sale for well over a year now with no buyer. When it sells it will go towards a new house for us to live in - depending on timing the money will probably go straight to the builder and I won't see a penny. Unfortunately because it has been so damn long that house is now very much an investment property - nothing more stupid than leaving a nice house empty in a poor area. I was kind of counting on it not being included in the means test since we're already on payments ... but it is certainly on our asset list.

[briggsy's girl]

just wanted to clarify that money held in term deposits ARE considered to be liquid assets: Liquid assets

thanks for clarifying that

[PumpkinZulu]

It's a long time to be living at that level though. If anything goes wrong or your car needs a new gearbox yadda yadda it can really throw you for a six. It's hard to afford swimming or dancing lessons for the kids - it's enough to live on but that's it.

That, yeah. Obviously completely diff circumstances with DF and I, as we have no car, mortgage or children, but we did this for about a year when we were both studying (we both still are, but now I'm doing my Doula course it is not government approved, so no c/link for me, plus I'm working now). It's doable, but it was really just paying for us to live; food, rent, bills. No extra's whatsoever. I'm sure it would not be as tight for you guys, so if you think you can do it then I reckon why not?

[Anila]

I have not read all the above posts, but we have done it, and it was doable but very very hard!
We are now in debt and face a lot of financial issues, so if u do go ahead and do it, my advice is pay all bills and debt first!
Hubby was studying for 6 months, and then 6 mths unempoyed, we had to cancel home ph, foxtel, etc..and as u might have seen from a few fb posts it put a massive strain on my marriage.
But it is doable with 5 kids and they still kept soccer and dance, i just gave up my love of shopping lol
We almost lost the car, and it hasnt had a service cause its not in budget, we have sacrificed alot!
now hubby has a job its making things a bit easier.

[KitFaerie]

I think it's important to take your future into account, so if you have 3 tight money years then what's the benefit at the end of it? If your income will jump from $50,000 to a combined $100,000 after study then that's quite a good deal, especially if your income while your studying isn't hugely different then what it is now. DH and I both studied full time last year, both on austudy, I earnt an extra $120 per week above c'link but DH was doing his grad dip in teaching and it's very hard to work while on prac! For us, that one year has increased our possible earnings $100,000+ and it was actually a REALLY awesome year, we drank $4 bottles of wine (if you mix it with lemonade, it aint so bad!) and had Buffy marathons on saturday nights (Battlestar Galactica marathons when DH got to choose), instead of going out for dinner we had candlelit dinners at home, and if we wanted a big shopping trip we hit the garage sales with $10 each and tried to outdo each other. Granted, we didn't have kids, but the decision we made to study will hopefully positively affect our future.

[Jennifer13]

I would have thought money in the bank would be more likely to affect your payments than living in your own home (sometimes that's exempt from asset tests, not sure in this case). It would definitely change how much you're entitled to.

I found with postgrad study that we needed DP's income to support me through it and I was still working part-time (but then we made no changes to our lifestyle). As an undergrad supporting myself I kept a full-time job and studied externally. I'm not sure if that's an option with nursing, but you could look into what you could do externally (Charles Sturt and UNE are two unis I know that offer external courses). Study load was pretty full-on, but do-able. Doing it part-time would make that a little easier.

ETA: I did a google and Uni of SA has offered an external nursing course (part- or full-time) where your placements are done locally. It might be worth considering as an option at least. This might work better for you if it's not for DH, because you'd have the flexibility of fitting study around what works for you and the kidlets.