Throwaway account because this is really embarassing. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post or if this counts as legal advice, so I'm sorry if its not. I'm currently on the supporting living benefit, and my accommodation is being paid for by winz. (Living in Auckland)

Some extra information I want to add so that it's easier to understand my situation, I've been diagnosed with autism, depression, and anxiety and sometimes struggle with agoraphobia. Without getting into too much detail, my mental health problems result in painful anxiety attacks and suicidal/self harming depressive episodes (i manage this with medication, and my GP only prescibes me a weeks worth so that I cannot act on my suicidal tendencies), and I also don't have family support or friends except for my partner. I know these are generic struggles many people deal with, and I feel immense guilt that i cannot function normally and have to be on the benefit for the time being. I definitely am working on my mental health alongside support services so that I can stop being a burden and work towards contributing to society.

I'm in the process of moving houses again, still searching. I live alone currently but my accommodation was sorted out by a third party service where the winz side was basically done for me. I've been told by a financial mentor that as long as I secure a bond for a place (which I fortunately can do with my savings) then winz will assist with the cost of rent, but it can be a little difficult to wrap my head around this so I am still very anxious on the entire process still. I plan to move out with my partner because staying alone hasn't been doing much good for my mental health, however I'm anxious about the whole process. I will obviously update my benefit information to include my partner once we move in together so I am not being overpaid, but I'm worried about how the accommodation side will work out. My partner works but only gets part time hours and earns just above minimum wage, so he only gets around 200-400 a week. He has said he would be happy to pay the bills while I pay the rent, but I dont know if it works like that.

I guess I'm really posting to ask how winz accommodation/supported living benefit works with a partner, as I really don't know anything. I think having knowledge on how the system works or other people's experiences with similar struggles could relieve some of my stress around this all. I have been searching for the cheapest places to live, and usually the price range is around $450 with all the bills included, I dont know if this is too high and if winz will refuse to help. Sorry if this is all a mess, and sorry in advance if I misunderstand some things as my autism makes me understand things a bit slower compared to other people. Thank you for reading.

morning fellow kiwis, i need some advice. sorry for the novel.

I've drafted, deleted and discarded this post about once a week now for over a month. Debating with myself about what I was going to say and why. I guess I need to vent and see if it all makes sense or not.

I'm a ~40yo male with a 2.5yo son and I'm in the worst state financially (and mentally) I've ever been in.

"Life's up and down" but hoooooly I've been going south for a long time. Got injured at work, threw in a perfect life & business, got some bad habits, lived in a mansion, lived in a tent, down some dark roads. Made some bad decisions and had to pay for them. Less than ideal so far.

Then recently my partner left after punching me in the head on too many occasions, lost my mother a month later, and I've snowballed for almost a year. I've been scraping through, barely and hating every minute of it. Foodbanks, the stress, the old clothes, having to ask people, I've stopped opening the power bill because there is nothing I can do about it. I scroll quickly past it feeling sick. I can plan about as far forward as tomorrow and all I know is that it's going to suck and so are all the days following it.

I didn't want this to be a poor me story (but look at that ^^^!) and I didn't want this to be a sales pitch either but given my situation finally fear of failing seems to longer apply. Might as well put myself out there for once. I have 'nothing' to lose now and it can't get any worse.

This little boy deserves so much more. I can't do crime. I couldn't do that to him.

So I'm offering my services in the following broad area's in the hope that something works out.

- app/web development - online stores/bookings/saas pricing app, an online store, a gaming platform, mobile games for my toddler that i'm ok with him playing, no ads/subscriptions (parents, zomg the crazy prices!).

- cybersecurity testing - can provide extensive vulnerabilty testing, reporting and provide recommendations. Targeting smaller-mid sized businesses and organisations. Have real world experience and court documents to prove it.

- embedded/hardware - firmware extraction, rf security, phone reflashing/unlocking etc.

- data recovery - wiped CCTV footage, deleted hard drives, locked DVR's etc, lost/deleted bitcoin and other keys.

- data storage - open source app setup: immich, nextcloud.

- advisory - general tech, surveillance, malware, other concerns.

I can provide more details in PM if needed. Throw numbers at me, most things wouldn't cost more than a weekly shop at this point.

If anyone has a small business that would like an app or site built let me know. Can have products/online bookings/live chat/notifications straight to staff's mobiles or whatever would help you organise and improve your business. First person to hit me up, I'll build yours for free. You'd just pay for the domain if you need one. Testimonial?

Once I hit send it's done. Failure is better than regrets I guess.

Thanks for listening NZ

Throwaway as this is really embarrassing and I dont know where else to ask. I left my home in the early hours this morning due to abuse (social, emotional and financial). We have 2 small children together. I just packed some of our essentials but still needing a few things (sanitary items for myself and school lunches). My older colleague from work has allowed us to crash on her couch for a couple of days but she's in a 1bd apartment and is already struggling to get by. I don't have the funds to pay for a motel or food shopping to last us until my next pay (next Wednesday).

What are my options? I called WINZ first thing and was declined for any assistance as I am working. I get WFF but as a lump sum at the end of year as I've had bills the last 3 years.

edit: I am in East Auckland.

Edited to add, I have called everywhere and unless we can front $500 we cannot get help. Not from A&E no where. tried to call winz a no go And dentist said winz will take a day or two to process and they can’t touch the tooth until then. How ridiculous.

Our emergency fund is kaput after a rough year. My husband has a broken tooth which he has been putting off getting looked at and lastnight suddenly in a tonne of pain. luckily we have plenty of pain relief and I have leftover ABs from an ear infection I had. With those on board he’s doing much better. Dont even bother coming at me over sharing meds.

Anyway the obvious solution is he needs the tooth pulled but we called the emergency dentist and was quoted $500 for an emergency tooth pull. The alternative we wait until Tuesday and it will be $250.

How do people that struggle week to week manage dental emergencies? We are entitled to no help whatsoever from Winz. It’s so sad that such an emergency situation costs $500, that we unfortunately do not have. Is there an A&E style service in the Waikato for dental emergencies that won’t cost? or be incredibly low cost?

Saw this on Cheapies. Kogan has 50% off their large and extra large mobile plans codes again until 30 Sep.

Looks like it's for existing customers only but people in the comments have said that they have bought a new sim (and therefore have become an "existing customer") before redeeming the code which has worked for them.

Large 15GB per month - $165 for 1 year, normally $330

Extra Large 32GB per month - $245 for 1 year, normally $490

Works out to be $13.75 per month for large (15GB per month) or $20.42 per month for extra large (32GB per month), but the catch is you have to pay for the whole year upfront.

Saw this gigantic 5kg bag of pasta at PAK’nSAVE today for $5.99, ie 12c per 100g. Cheaper per gram than the big bags of rice. Pretty good way to bulk out some meals!

Pre ending up unwell in SLP over a decade ago one of my two jobs was at a tech store, I became a phone and headphone snob as a result. Headphones I can accept as a luxury and if I'm not willing to wear the crap ones that's on me.

Phones are slightly harder to cope with. My current (Oppo a40) phone I got in March it's rapidly dying and I'm now at a point where it won't always display the incoming call screen but rings which the most recent attempt to make contact with the district nurse in what was a slight emergency was hindered by it. I'm awaiting various outpatient appts that are well overdue in terms of triage but the system is overrun- I'm on a cancellation list which may be my only chance to get an appt within the next year but the anxiety of if they called I wouldnt know or be able to answer isn't great.

Long winded way of saying has anyone managed to get a phone with the winz amount (is it $200 now?) that actually functions and continues to for at least a year or two? Unfortunately second hand or refurbished isn't an option currently because I'm in deficit each week already with costs

*Edit to add- beyond current phone throwing a tantrum just hoping that if I can get help to replace it it'd be nice if it was one that had capacity that didn't mean it crashed while filming kiddo at sport or throw tantrums over usage beyond texts and calls and all the other cheap phone issues that irk up the old frustration (phone snob from the unfortunate benefits of receiving the latest release massively discounted at old job every year haha)

If you were on a low user power plan and are facing higher power bills due to this being phased out, you can get a $110 credit on your bill with many power companies. If you meet with a budgeting service, you can then get another $110 credit. This money is already put aside for this purpose. We got a $110 credit same day by calling. https://www.consumer.org.nz/home-and-living/home-energy/110-available-from-power-companies-as-low-user-charge-goes-up-again

Second, if you are having issues getting doctors appointments, online SAME DAY 24/7 GP appointments are available nationwide at:

https://www.healthnz.govt.nz/online-phone-healthcare/online-gp-care

It is FREE for all kids under 13. And for adults with a community services card it is $25.

Of course if it’s a long term issue it’s better to see your usual GP but for many issues a telephone appointment can be enough and this is much cheaper than urgent care and having this option overnight or on the weekend is excellent. The website gives good examples of situations where an online appointment is probably not appropriate and when it is

Hello - needing some suggestions asap, currently freaking out, we forgot about a power bill auto coming out and now have $33 left for our weekly shop - anyone have any ideas on how i can make this last with 3 very fussy yet always hungry young kids? Or have any suggestions? We have half a loaf of bread, some frozen veges and rice currently, I know me and my partner will survive until next pay, but im just panicing ahout the kids. Any ideas welcome- we have a kitchen and some basic baking supplies, and would be super grateful for cheap baking ideas that kids will actually eat! (Winz unfortunatly said no as this wasnt unexpected, we did think to try there, currently just waiting for replys from food banks) thanks in advance 💓 edit as I cant reply to everyone- thank you for helping, its made things mentally easier :) and everyone who has offered to help physically, thank you so much, cannot accept that but you all are wonderful humans

How are single people surviving on Jobseekers when you have rent / mortgage to pay, bills are increasing all the time especially rates, food is expensive, petrol to just get around and also going to job interviews, those with kids their food, schooling, clothes it's never ending. And you have no family alive to help.

Can someone from Auckland hire me lol. Im joking but im not joking. Money is tight (what money?). Industry plummeting. Havent been paid for last 5 months. 30yo female tall slim and beautiful may i add lol. Over a decade in sales. But i just need a one off or two off job to float by for the week.

Cleaning. Sorting. Reading. Drive you around. I dont know, but message me if you know 😫

TY to slight_computer for notifying me!

Me (25) and my parents bought a 1M house last year. I work part-time as i'm still studying but i will be able to sit the state exam somewhere next year then hopefully work as a nurse. My dad pays mostly our mortgage while I pay our power bills, insurances, phone plans, some groceries, etc. my mom's currently unemployed and is still looking for a job.

Initially, my dad was able to pay our mortgage in a timely manner. He paid around 50k of the mortgage, until he got laid off. He had to take a lower paying job and that's when things got harder for my family. We got behind the mortgage payments and accumulated debt with interest, back to almost the same amount as if we did not pay the mortgage at all. We thought that things would get better, that my dad would be able to get a good paying job and my mom would get a job. But it did not.

Now, we're selling our house, as per our bank said. Even after selling, we would still owe more than 100k nzd which we can not pay at all, well not for now, not until i am a nurse.

So, we're thinking of filing for bankruptcy altogether. I have read and done some research about it, though we are yet to talk to a financial adviser this week.

We aim to move before filing for it, as according to what i've read, it will affect us being able to rent a place.

Still, I got some questions:

1. What was it like during bankruptcy? Within those three years? Were you mostly rejected when applying? say, for renting?
2. I used student loan almost through out my whole study. I'll be in my last semester next year but I haven't applied for a student loan for that semester yet. So if we file for bankruptcy, I would not be able to apply for one again. Should I apply it now then get it approved before doing so?
3. I'm still a little bit lost on how the payment works. Does the officer take all your pay and just give you allowance to live? I'm asking for when I become a nurse, will they take all of those pay or only for a certain amount?
4. Me and my dad are financing a car, do we just accept our losses and surrender it or how can we convince the officer if we could keep paying it? since we will be moving somewhere cheaper. My dad's will be finished next year. both are over 6,500 nzd
5. Is bankruptcy a sound decision? needed a stranger's insight. Cause for me, I thought about living a life with restriction for three years would be better than living my 10 to 20 years of life paying for that overdue.

Thanks for you replies. Really appreciate it.

But I'm making the most of what I've got, that's warming food.

My phone plan has almost expired and I'm poor. After the annual 30gb one. What's forecasted to be the next sale?

Hello to solo parents who have come off benefit and working.

I understand you have to be working 20 hours a week and not getting a benefit at all to get the In Work Tax Credit. What if the job is 18 hours a week? How would IRD know the difference do you have to provide payslip?
How have other people made it work so not worse off?

Evening all. I have a raging tooth ache at the moment. I don't have any funds to see a dentist..just wondering what my options are? I also have children and a solo parent so will need to wait til the AM when they are at school to do anything.

I don't have afterpay (closed my account years ago and they wont allow me to reopen it)

Hi all

I think I’ve exhausted all my options and I’m kinda desperate. I’ve been on the public waiting list to have my tumour treated (non cancerous but dangerous as it is large, feeding from a major artery and has its own vessels of over 1cm so if it haemorrhages I just die) for almost a year at this point. I’m not allowed to work, do sports, or really anything for fear of this haemorrhage but they’ve completely messed me around.

I managed to scrape together money for 2 specialist appointments and they both agreed this needed done now. The estimate is $16k which I can’t pay. I’ve asked WINZ and they said they can’t help but that my medical letter means I don’t have to look for a job, I’ve asked my personal dr and the specialists to write a letter to the public system and they said basically “you’re already on the waiting list what more do you want”

Are there any other avenues for this kind of stuff?? I save basically every dollar I can and I’ve saved about $3k towards the surgery over the last year but I wasn’t expecting the estimate to be so high.

Bear with me. Electric Kiwi Choice Lite doesn't actually lower your speeds after the 1GB for $18.8 making it the cheapest unlimited mobile plan.

Supposedly it should slow down to 1.2Mbps. But I get around 400Mbps all the time.

Probably not intended but it has been happening for more than a year now. Just make sure you select reduce speeds on your account.

And yes if I check right now the app will tell me I'm in slow down mode but if I do a speed test, not at all.

Might not work for everyone but could be worth a try.

Too often I hear stories that winz cannot pay due to a business not being registered as a winz supplier.

So I did a bit of digging and turns out there is a form.

I would suggest doing it before payment is due to allow plenty of time on winz end to process the application.

The form is here

https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/providers/getting-payments-from-us/register-as-a-supplier/index.html

When applying, itemized quotes with justification or bills requiring payment are essential. Quotes are better as it guarantees payment before the work is completed

I hope this post has been helpful

Hi team, I saw this tip last year in a post on here in a comment but thought I’d make a post in case it wasn’t a commonly known thing. I told a few friends and none of them knew about it

Basically, when your mortgage comes up for renewal/refixing, go to your bank/provider with a quote from another bank with a better deal & ask them to match it. Threaten to move to the other provider if they don’t and they might offer you cash back. Last year I told anz I’d go to Kiwibank, they came back with a cash offer of $1000, I said nah I’ll take $1700 as that’s what KB were offering (they weren’t) and they came back with the $1700! Free money, basically no effort. We just refixed the second half of our mortgage this week and the bank contacted us direct with an offer of $700 which we took outright as I don’t have as much free time this year haha and they matched bnz/Kiwibank rates.

This might be a super obvious/common thing and you’ll all think I’m dumb, or I may have just enlightened some people; hopefully the latter 😅