I was an unemployed, homeless mum sleeping on my brother’s floor – now I survive on £60 a week with my 12-year-old
A SINGLE mother has opened up about being homeless and unemployed as she received life-changing help.
Amy, from Belfast, who supports her 12-year-old daughter Phoebe on just £60 a week, after being signed off work due to anxiety.
But now she has appeared on Channel 5's Rich House Poor House and was seen sobbing after receiving help.
The single mum switched lives with a pair of beauty aestheticians - who admitted they burned through 'thousands and thousands' each week, on this week's episode airing on Sunday.
The Channel 5 episode revealed the emotional moment that wealthy businesswomen, Michelle and Liz, promised to help single mother, Amy get back to work after a bout of ill health left her relying on benefits.
The self-made businesswomen Michelle and Liz who are best friends and colleagues, said they grew their business from the ground by 'working 24/7'.
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Michelle, who lived in her luxury house in Lisburn near Belfast, helped Amy during the show.
The two friends run an aesthetics clinic in Belfast, which also offers discounted procedures to women who've suffered domestic abuse or illness.
Meanwhile, just a few miles away in Newtown Abbey, Amy lived in a housing association flat struggling to even afford the basics for her and her daughter.
The single mum has just £60 a week to spare, leaving her and her daughter to live without flooring in their hall or living room.
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Despite living off of benefits, Amy was desperate to get back to earning a living but struggled with a lack of confidence, having been signed off from work due to anxiety a few years earlier.
She previously worked in retail during the pandemic but was forced to quit amid mental health struggles along with 2.3 million people who signed off of work for health reasons in the wake of Covid.
Prior to the swap, Michelle described herself as someone who 'likes to shop'.
The businesswoman showed off a glamorous walk-in-wardrobe containing 50-60 pairs of shoes and multiple designer handbags.
She and business partner Liz admitted they enjoyed 'the finer things' including 'nice holidays, handbags, and shoes'.
"Being in a job you love is vital, it makes you want more, it makes you want to improve and grow," she said.
Describing what she hoped to achieve during the swap, Liz said: "To offer confidence to someone who is maybe lacking in confidence."
Michelle seconded the wish to support an individual 'struggling to realise their own dreams and ambitions.'
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- Alternative Payment Arrangements - If you're falling behind on rent, you or your landlord may be able to apply for an APA which will get your payment sent directly to your landlord. You might also be able to change your payments to get them more frequently, or you can split the payments if you're part of a couple.
- Budgeting Advance - You may be able to get help from the Government for emergency household costs of up to £348 if you're single, £464 if you're part of a couple or £812 if you have children. These are only in cases like your cooker breaking down or for help getting a job. You'll have to repay the advance through your regular Universal Credit payments. You'll still have to repay the loan, even if you stop claiming for Universal Credit.
- Cut your Council Tax - You might be able to get a discount on your Council Tax by applying for a Council Tax Reduction. Alternatively, you might be entitled to Discretionary Housing Payments to help cover your rent.
- Foodbanks - If you're really hard up and struggling to buy food and toiletries, you can find your local foodbank who will provide you with help for free. You can find your nearest one on the
When the swap took place, the businesswomen were stunned by the weekly budget admitting they would spend more than £60 on just one meal out.
In their welcome note, Amy apologised for the 'lack of living room and hall carpet', adding that they hoped the pair felt 'at home' regardless.
When Amy opened her envelope with her weekly budget of £1,600 she was shocked to see the budget 25 times her usual spending limit, Amy said seeing the cash in real life didn't 'feel real'.
On the first night of the swap, Amy and her daughter tucked into a tasty £50 takeaway, while the aestheticians made do with some freezer fish fingers.
After the first night in Amy's house, Michelle and Liz complained of feeling 'freezing' and 'unsafe'.
Trying to make a positive start to the swap, the beauty experts headed to the shops to buy food for the week - but swiftly chomped through nearly half their budget.
"I don't know how they're surviving with such little money, it's really scary," said Michelle.
Later, Amy spoke with a friend of Michelle's, where she discovered that the two weren't so different.
The business woman hadn't always lived the high life and was also a single mother of two who experiences poverty in the past.
On the other side of the divide, a candid conversation with Amy's brother, Brian, revealed to Michelle and Liz that Amy and her daughter had spent four months homeless.
Brain said the mother and daughter duo had spent the time living with him and that the mother had slept on his floor - despite his best efforts to give her the bed.
During the swap, Amy and her daughter got a taste of the high life visiting beauty salons, the theatre and day out zip wiring.
The beauty workers also wanted to help Amy get back into work and organised her a trial shift as a receptionist at their salon.
Despite her past experiences with anxiety, Amy excelled in the trial, with a worker at Michelle's clinic calling the aesthetician to inform her that things had gone well and that the mother had been a natural.
Michelle and Liz were also keen to help Amy make her home more liveable and insisted a carpet is 'a need not a want', and swiftly arranged for a new one to be installed.
They even transformed their living room with a new set of furniture. "I really want them to have a home that's warm and cosy," Michelle said.
When the women finally met at the end of the week, they shared a tender moment where Michelle told Amy that she would be ready to talk about offering her a job when she was ready.
Michelle told Amy that her staff 'couldn't speak highly enough' of her and that 'it takes a certain kind of soul to be able to sit and take a call and talk to people when they're feeling vulnerable'.
The mother-of-one broke down in tears upon hearing the news, and jumped up to give both women a bus.
And that wasn't all. When Amy and Phoebe arrived home to their brand new living room, they were both hit with another shock as they discovered they'd been given a brand new carpet and furniture.
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"It a completely different living room," said Amy in another emotional moment.
"Absolutely gorgeous, I was not expecting any of this,' she added. 'This is unbelievable."