I earn £17k-a-month but gave my council house kitchen a glow up with a £14 buy – it only took 30 mins
WHITNEY Ainscough – otherwise knows as a proud ‘bad mum’ on social media – is often slammed for bragging about her council house pad and how much money she makes having previously been on Universal Credit. But now she’s trying her hand at some Stacey Solomon-type DIY content with a kitchen floor glow up.
And the mum-of-three has shared with her dedicated followers it cost just £14 – despite her raking in an estimate £180K a year.
Taking to her Facebook page, Whitney showed off her grim-looking council house kitchen floor and explained she had been to The Range to pick up some d-c-fix vinyl film to give it a face-lift.
The one she picked up cost £6.70 a roll and she bought two.
“Look at that!” she exclaimed showing off her finished product.
“Absolutely cost-effective, and that looks fantastic.
“I’m so happy with the results, and it took me half an hour, if that.”
“Look at how much better that is,” she said to viewers as she showed thew gleaming floor with a rug placed on top.
Some praised Whitney’s idea, with one person saying: “Love that will have to go have a look get some for my kitchen xx.”
Another penned: “Very nice [red heart emoji].”
However, others weren’t so supportive.
One penned: “All that money you make on tik tok and ya live in a s*** hole with sticky back plastic.. clean, bleach is cheap fgs.”
Another said: “Must be a joke. It will rip dead easy.”
Someone else wrote: “Jesus the skirting boards need a clean and paint. Awful dirty house.”
Earlier this year, the 30-year-old admitted she made £15,000 in January and £17,000 in February.
Whitney lives in Rotherham, Yorkshire with her partner Joel Christopher, 32, and her three children aged 11, six, and two.
I’m not fleecing the taxpayer, something I have been accused of by followers on TikTok. I am not committing benefit fraud.
Whitney Ainscough
She says she pays just £458 a month for her two-bedroom house and refuses to move despite the money she now makes.
She’s also on the waiting list for a bigger one because where she lives is currently ‘too small’ for them.
She told Fabulous she had come off of Universal Credit in August last year.
She said: “I’m not fleecing the taxpayer, something I have been accused of by followers on TikTok. I am not committing benefit fraud.
“I was legally entitled to Universal Credit and I’ve paid into the system for many years.
“And after on one occasion making more than £2,000 in a week through my TikTok videos, I’ve now come off benefits and make an average of £800 a week.
“My priorities might be different to other people’s, but so what?”
“I don’t judge how other people parent their children, so they shouldn’t judge how I parent mine.”
The reality of living in a council house
LEANNE Hall, Digital Writer at Fabulous, has discussed what it was like growing up in a council house, and why those living in such properties are often judged...
When I was a child I grew up in a council house, and was blissfully unaware of the discrimination that came with that, until I became an adult.
My younger years were spent running up and down the stairs of my flat, meeting with other friends who lived there and making the most of the communal garden.
But now, it seems no matter your circumstance, everyone has something to say about why you shouldn’t be there.
Living just outside of London like I did, rent prices are still high, and as my mum was at home raising three kids at the time, it wasn’t easy to find a job that fit around that.
People in council houses are often labelled as ‘scroungers’ or ‘lazy’ but it’s nothing of the sort.
Most families in council homes experience overcrowding, and let’s not even mention the horrendous amount of damp and mould that comes from living in old social housing that hasn’t had work done to them in 50 or so years.
It’s not ideal for many, but it does provide a secure home without the fear your rent will shoot up every single year, which I would argue is vital to children growing up on the poverty line.
On her critics, Whitney wasn’t quiet.
She told MailOnline: “P*** off. Seriously, p*** off. I pay to live here.
“These people who are on benefits and getting the house for free, they don’t pay to live there.
“I pay to live here just like anybody else does but they get housing benefit and whatever else. I pay the money out of my wage.
“Why should I just move just because I am earning a lot more money now?
“Just because I am earning a lot of money doesn’t mean I am in breach of any contract. It doesn’t mean I have to move out of my house. I pay for my house.”
Currently there are five people living in a two-bedroom house and Whitney said they are “struggling for space”.
While she admits to racking up the sizeable debt Whitney said that had now been paid back but it left her in the “financial s**t” as the IVA remains on your credit history for six years.
A spokesperson form Rotherham council confirmed the mum wasn’t doing anything illegal.
They said: “We can confirm that a tenant would not be in breach of their tenancy should their earnings change, as long as they continued to meet the conditions of their contract.”