Ok, so here is a case in point and the type of situation I am talking about. I knew a girl (girlfriend of a guy DH worked with) who has an education and had a good job. She also had two teenaged kids who she technically had custody of, but who had not spent even one night under her roof in about ten years. They live with their dad and she does not pay any support for them.
Anyway, she lost her job and filed for unemployment. Fine, whatever. But, when we asked her about looking for a new job, her reply was that she was tired of working and was going to milk the UE until it ran out before she would even start looking. After her 99 weeks were up, she found a good job in less than a week. Meanwhile, she was also getting food stamps for the kids, who didn't live with her. Every time we saw her, she would brag about how she was redoing her kitchen or her bathroom. She would show up with new, designer clothes and bags regularly. All of this was bought and paid for with government assistance. Her boyfriend was living with her and was capable of covering the household expenses, which he did.
I know not everyone abuses the system and I never said they did. But, case in point, they do exist. And this isn't the first person I've ever known who took advantage this way. I think you'll agree that this kind of abuse is just wrong, plain and simple.
I judge people who live on food stamps, can't appropriately clothe their children yet are covered in tattoos (edit: all three together, not singled out). Those are EXPENSIVE, I know, I have four...but if you cannot put food or clothes on your children's backs why the hell are you shelling out $400-$2,000 on tattoos?!? I have two friends who own different tattoo shops and they tell stories (no names) of people offering "trades" for tattoos over cash or want to make $20 a month payments for four years. LOL!
To add to this, I also judge people who are on food stamps/government assistance who drive a nicer car than I do, walk around with brand new Iphones and who go to the grocery store and buy all name brand junk food and expensive steaks, etc. Why do DH and I work our tails off to pay for this stuff for other people when we have to stick to a strict budget ourselves? I have no issue with having a safety net for people who really need help, but the abuse of the system really pushes my buttons.
Poor people don't deserve nice things? I don't have a problem with someone getting an iPhone. If their contract is up and they want to save for that phone, they deserve it. Obviously, I don't think people should be eating a lot of junk food regardless of their monetary status, but if they want to use their food stamps for a steak, why shouldn't they?
Now the tattoo thing, if they have debt out the arse and have children, those issues need to be taken care of first. Kids come first, regardless. However, just like with the iPhone thing, if they want to scrimp and save for a tat, that's their choice.
I grew up extremely poor and spent most of my time as an adult before marriage making right around minimum wage while putting myself through school and paying all of my own bills/rent..etc. I worked my butt off constantly. I never received government assistance, but I really should have swallowed my pride and gotten it as most weeks I didn't have enough to eat one meal a day, let alone three. If I wanted something I had to save and save and save for it and you can bet I didn't care what you thought of me for having a nice phone or whatever. It takes months to finally save up for something like that. You don't know that the person receiving government benefits isn't working their butt off. You don't know that maybe they aren't qualified for anything more than a minimum wage job. Maybe they can't find anything in their job market and a min wage job is the only thing they can find OR they can't find anything at all. Minimum wage jobs in the US are not enough for a single person, let alone someone with a family. Poor people deserve to have nice things too.
Now let's say you know the person is a lazy arse who doesn't work purposefully and is deliberately milking the system. Or the people who sell their food stamps for cash to buy booze/drugs.(Yes, this is a real thing... as I said I worked at a fast food place for a few years and met a few people like that) Obviously, those people suck, but I can tell you that the majority or people on assistance are not simply milking the system. They're just trying to get by the best they can.
NO people on governmemt assistance absolutely should not have a brand new iPhone. I don't care if they saved up for a year because the money they saved was either money they did not earn or saving it was possible because they accepted money they didn't earn. Money should be saved up to get off government assistance not for a splurge.
You wanna know something??? Some people on public assistance actually WORK! Being on welfare does not mean free money. I didn't get free money. Yes, I got free medical, I paid a copay on daycare (Like 200$ per month for Daycare), I had WIC, and I got about 50-100$ a month in food stamps. Yet I was considered a welfare situation. I worked damn hard to provide for my child too. Guess what, I had a brand new iPhone. So, your saying that I shouldn't of gotten my iPhone because I had public assistance? You should given my job a talking to then.
Getting food stamps and formula and part of daycare paid for is free money. Someone had to pay for those items and services. Someone paid the daycare the extra money and someone paid the store for the formula. So saying you did not get free money would be incorrect.
Well, geez. Sorry to use "the system" how it was meant to be used. To keep me employed and my kid taken care of. So sorry for everyone that your tax dollars had to pay for my kid to go to daycare while I worked. I'm sure if I didn't have to pay 1000$ in rent I could of afforded the 1200$ to send her to daycare myself.
Also, my iPhone was not free. Verizon had just gotten them when I got mine. However, you would have to yell at my job and tell them that people on assistance shouldn't have iPhones. Maybe then they would of just not given me that promotion that required me to have that iPhone.
My mom and her alcoholic, abusive, a husband took advantage. It was ridiculous. They both have the entitlement mentality. Thankfully he went MIA about two years ago, about the time her UE ran out. She sat around and did nothing, he sat around and drank all day. Now she's 56 and has no hope of ever retiring because she lost so much being dumb.
But I do know people who work their butts off and still can't get by without assistance. It's sad.
I hate the shaming and the "boot straps" mentality to assistance. WIC and food stamps are so common in families. I live in a military community, did you know that most of them are also on WIC and food stamps since the military really doesn't pay all that great?? Then there's young working single mothers like I was. Sh!t happens, sometimes people need to use the assistance that is out there to them. It doesn't mean that when the occasionally get an extra 200$ or so they can't go get themselves something nice. I mean FFS, some of those people work their asses off.
Also, I don't know who in the world thinks that they give money out for free. Unless you somehow scammed disability or pop a kid out every year you have to do 40 hours per week of job searching classes or community service for their 400$ per month.
All I was saying was you said you didn't get free money and I was pointing out how that was incorrect.
Well, I was using assistance programs. I was not getting TANF though. That was my point. Using assistance programs is not the same as getting TANF. Which, to me, is what I consider "free money". Since WIC and child care are different state programs than food stamps and TANF. Yes, I had some food stamps, but nothing to really consider getting "free money". I made too much to qualify for more than 50$ per month in groceries. I am just explaining that not everyone abuse the system. That was my whole point.
I just feel like all this bashing of "the system" is from people who have never been on it and don't really know how it works. Or, that there are more people on it than you would assume. It's the whole 1 person ruins it for everyone. Which makes everyone who uses the assistance programs out there look like lazy dead beats to modern society.
I hate the shaming and the "boot straps" mentality to assistance. WIC and food stamps are so common in families. I live in a military community, did you know that most of them are also on WIC and food stamps since the military really doesn't pay all that great?? Then there's young working single mothers like I was. Sh!t happens, sometimes people need to use the assistance that is out there to them. It doesn't mean that when the occasionally get an extra 200 or so they can't go get themselves something nice. I mean FFS, some of those people work their asses off. Also, I don't know who in the world thinks that they give money out for free. Unless you somehow scammed disability or pop a kid out every year you have to do 40 hours per week of job searching classes or community service for their 400 per month.
I know that things happen and I'm
not saying people shouldn't get help, but you talk about having an extra 200. If you can't pay your bills on your own you do not have an extra 200. If your job specifically required you to purchase the newest model iPhone, that's odd and I haven't heard of such a job, but it was a job requirement so that's different. But it doesn't change the fact that there is no extra 200 to spend however you want. You were spending money necessary to maintain your job.
It's the mentality that even though I'm taking public assistance any extra sum I get can go towards a splurge for unnecessary things that people should be ashamed of. I can understand being defensive of people taking public assistance if you received it, but to not understand that any extra money should be saved is something I'm having trouble understanding.
I hate the shaming and the "boot straps" mentality to assistance. WIC and food stamps are so common in families. I live in a military community, did you know that most of them are also on WIC and food stamps since the military really doesn't pay all that great?? Then there's young working single mothers like I was. Sh!t happens, sometimes people need to use the assistance that is out there to them. It doesn't mean that when the occasionally get an extra 200 or so they can't go get themselves something nice. I mean FFS, some of those people work their asses off. Also, I don't know who in the world thinks that they give money out for free. Unless you somehow scammed disability or pop a kid out every year you have to do 40 hours per week of job searching classes or community service for their 400 per month.
I know that things happen and I'm
not saying people shouldn't get help, but you talk about having an extra 200. If you can't pay your bills on your own you do not have an extra 200. If your job specifically required you to purchase the newest model iPhone, that's odd and I haven't heard of such a job, but it was a job requirement so that's different. But it doesn't change the fact that there is no extra 200 to spend however you want. You were spending money necessary to maintain your job.
It's the mentality that even though I'm taking public assistance any extra sum I get can go towards a splurge for unnecessary things that people should be ashamed of. I can understand being defensive of people taking public assistance if you received it, but to not understand that any extra money should be saved is something I'm having trouble understanding.
I did save. I have a college fund set up for Rosie and had plenty of money in my savings account. I put money away, I paid all my bills. I paid my 1000$ a month in rent, my phone bills, my groceries, ect. No, I couldn't add in the 1200$ to send my child to daycare. I paid the highest co pay thanks to my income. I put my bonuses into savings each month and at least 20$ into Rosie's trust fund and 100$ into my savings. However, I lived debt free. I wasn't going out and financing new cars or racking up credit card debt. I saved and earned the few luxuries I did get. You don't know what everyone does, so don't judge.
I hate the shaming and the "boot straps" mentality to assistance. WIC and food stamps are so common in families. I live in a military community, did you know that most of them are also on WIC and food stamps since the military really doesn't pay all that great?? Then there's young working single mothers like I was. Sh!t happens, sometimes people need to use the assistance that is out there to them. It doesn't mean that when the occasionally get an extra 200 or so they can't go get themselves something nice. I mean FFS, some of those people work their asses off. Also, I don't know who in the world thinks that they give money out for free. Unless you somehow scammed disability or pop a kid out every year you have to do 40 hours per week of job searching classes or community service for their 400 per month.
I know that things happen and I'm
not saying people shouldn't get help, but you talk about having an extra 200. If you can't pay your bills on your own you do not have an extra 200. If your job specifically required you to purchase the newest model iPhone, that's odd and I haven't heard of such a job, but it was a job requirement so that's different. But it doesn't change the fact that there is no extra 200 to spend however you want. You were spending money necessary to maintain your job.
It's the mentality that even though I'm taking public assistance any extra sum I get can go towards a splurge for unnecessary things that people should be ashamed of. I can understand being defensive of people taking public assistance if you received it, but to not understand that any extra money should be saved is something I'm having trouble understanding.
I did save. I have a college fund set up for Rosie and had plenty of money in my savings account. I put money away, I paid all my bills. I paid my 1000$ a month in rent, my phone bills, my groceries, ect. No, I couldn't add in the 1200$ to send my child to daycare. I paid the highest co pay thanks to my income. I put my bonuses into savings each month and at least 20$ into Rosie's trust fund and 100$ into my savings. However, I lived debt free. I wasn't going out and financing new cars or racking up credit card debt. I saved and earned the few luxuries I did get. You don't know what everyone does, so don't judge.
Well there are a lot of people out there that do not have the luxury of having a savings account, a college fund for their child, and no debt because they have to pay the full cost of daycare. I dont blame you for taking it because who wouldn't want someone else to pick up part of their daycare tab, but I am very disappointed in the system that allowed you to build up a savings account and a college fund while on government assistance. That is simply not what it's for.
I hate the shaming and the "boot straps" mentality to assistance. WIC and food stamps are so common in families. I live in a military community, did you know that most of them are also on WIC and food stamps since the military really doesn't pay all that great?? Then there's young working single mothers like I was. Sh!t happens, sometimes people need to use the assistance that is out there to them. It doesn't mean that when the occasionally get an extra 200 or so they can't go get themselves something nice. I mean FFS, some of those people work their asses off. Also, I don't know who in the world thinks that they give money out for free. Unless you somehow scammed disability or pop a kid out every year you have to do 40 hours per week of job searching classes or community service for their 400 per month.
I know that things happen and I'm
not saying people shouldn't get help, but you talk about having an extra 200. If you can't pay your bills on your own you do not have an extra 200. If your job specifically required you to purchase the newest model iPhone, that's odd and I haven't heard of such a job, but it was a job requirement so that's different. But it doesn't change the fact that there is no extra 200 to spend however you want. You were spending money necessary to maintain your job.
It's the mentality that even though I'm taking public assistance any extra sum I get can go towards a splurge for unnecessary things that people should be ashamed of. I can understand being defensive of people taking public assistance if you received it, but to not understand that any extra money should be saved is something I'm having trouble understanding.
I did save. I have a college fund set up for Rosie and had plenty of money in my savings account. I put money away, I paid all my bills. I paid my 1000$ a month in rent, my phone bills, my groceries, ect. No, I couldn't add in the 1200$ to send my child to daycare. I paid the highest co pay thanks to my income. I put my bonuses into savings each month and at least 20$ into Rosie's trust fund and 100$ into my savings. However, I lived debt free. I wasn't going out and financing new cars or racking up credit card debt. I saved and earned the few luxuries I did get. You don't know what everyone does, so don't judge.
Well there are a lot of people out there that do not have the luxury of having a savings account, a college fund for their child, and no debt because they have to pay the full cost of daycare. I dont blame you for taking it because who wouldn't want someone else to pick up part of their daycare tab, but I am very disappointed in the system that allowed you to build up a savings account and a college fund while on government assistance. That is simply not what it's for.
But it is what it's for. It's to help people get back on their feet. To cover the cost of things that one cannot afford because they live under the poverty line. I danced the poverty line. I used the programs I qualified for to keep me afloat. I put away a few hundred dollars into savingsand a trust fund for my kid because I was responsibile. That still doesn't take away from my point, that more people qualify and are on public assitance than you would believe. One of the biggest groups of people who use the same programs that I did are military families. So, men who go out and enlist to die for our country their families still have to go onto public asisstance to help take care of costs. The whole system is just effed. It's not just "boot straps" and lazy people. Things cost too damn much. So what if I couldn't afford 1200$ a month in daycare, but tucked away 200-300$ into savings that I had extra. I'm going to get shamed for being a responsible person now? For getting back on my feet?
I no longer use assistance FYI. I quit my job once I moved in with DH and will be going back to college once Cade is over a year. So, please. Judge me for whatever you wish. I really hate how assistance is shamed these days.
DD receives WIC and that is purely because we live on 1200 a month. we dont have luxury's and luckily we own our house because we got it when if was about to be torn down and fixed it up. we pay utilities and my school loan. every tax season we use the money to pay off debt of save. people shame us constantly because we have WIC and for a short time we had food stamps. our family and friends mocked us so much we never reapplied and we are tight but making it. we have a garden and much cheap food all at once. i see people milk the system everyday and i did when i worked for salvation army. its sickening but you cant throw them out with out harming those who truly need it. plus, the more you judge those on welfare and food stamps the people who need it are too ashamed to try our to use it.
anyways my UO is that people buy smartphones or computers but don't even try and learn how to use it. when i have someone come into work screaming i cause their pictures to blur or cut off i assume they are either a** or lazy. plus a 4x4 instagram photo WILL NOT be a 4x6 we have a 4x4 option strictly for that use it and get off my back.
i guess after a dealing with people at work and getting in trouble for staying to help for too long im a little irritated with the technical illiteracy in my town.
I judge people who live on food stamps, can't appropriately clothe their children yet are covered in tattoos (edit: all three together, not singled out). Those are EXPENSIVE, I know, I have four...but if you cannot put food or clothes on your children's backs why the hell are you shelling out $400-$2,000 on tattoos?!? I have two friends who own different tattoo shops and they tell stories (no names) of people offering "trades" for tattoos over cash or want to make $20 a month payments for four years. LOL!
To add to this, I also judge people who are on food stamps/government assistance who drive a nicer car than I do, walk around with brand new Iphones and who go to the grocery store and buy all name brand junk food and expensive steaks, etc. Why do DH and I work our tails off to pay for this stuff for other people when we have to stick to a strict budget ourselves? I have no issue with having a safety net for people who really need help, but the abuse of the system really pushes my buttons.
Poor people don't deserve nice things? I don't have a problem with someone getting an iPhone. If their contract is up and they want to save for that phone, they deserve it. Obviously, I don't think people should be eating a lot of junk food regardless of their monetary status, but if they want to use their food stamps for a steak, why shouldn't they?
Now the tattoo thing, if they have debt out the arse and have children, those issues need to be taken care of first. Kids come first, regardless. However, just like with the iPhone thing, if they want to scrimp and save for a tat, that's their choice.
I grew up extremely poor and spent most of my time as an adult before marriage making right around minimum wage while putting myself through school and paying all of my own bills/rent..etc. I worked my butt off constantly. I never received government assistance, but I really should have swallowed my pride and gotten it as most weeks I didn't have enough to eat one meal a day, let alone three. If I wanted something I had to save and save and save for it and you can bet I didn't care what you thought of me for having a nice phone or whatever. It takes months to finally save up for something like that. You don't know that the person receiving government benefits isn't working their butt off. You don't know that maybe they aren't qualified for anything more than a minimum wage job. Maybe they can't find anything in their job market and a min wage job is the only thing they can find OR they can't find anything at all. Minimum wage jobs in the US are not enough for a single person, let alone someone with a family. Poor people deserve to have nice things too.
Now let's say you know the person is a lazy arse who doesn't work purposefully and is deliberately milking the system. Or the people who sell their food stamps for cash to buy booze/drugs.(Yes, this is a real thing... as I said I worked at a fast food place for a few years and met a few people like that) Obviously, those people suck, but I can tell you that the majority or people on assistance are not simply milking the system. They're just trying to get by the best they can.
I mean this as a serious question (and not because I'm trying to judge): If you didn't have enough to eat, why would you save up for something nice that you want instead of spending the money on groceries? If an iPhone was a few hundred dollars, it seems like you could have bought at least a few meals for that much. As much as I love my phone, I wouldn't sacrifice food/shelter/other basic needs for it.
I never bought an iPhone. I bought whatever smartphone was cheapest, which was around 50/100, which is a stretch. Don't tell me I didn't deserve a phone because I was poor. That is complete and total bull.You cannot function well in modern society without a phone. There are no phone booths any more. I never sacrificed my basic needs to save for a phone, but damn if I didn't buy myself something nice when I got my tax check and use the rest to play catch up on my bills.
I'm not saying that people should go out and buy things they don't absolutely need constantly. If someone needs a nice outfit, they should be able to get it without some idiot judging them for being poor but well dressed. If someone wants to save up a dollar a week for a freaking year so they can get a phone that won't crap out before their next upgrade, they damn well deserve to.
Yes, people milk the system, but a lot of people don't. I'm quite impressed that so many of you know all of the impoverished people in your city personally to judge whether or not they meet your standards for deserving assistance. But until we get a better system that educates people on HOW to get out of poverty and until we stop putting so much glory on the greedy upper class, the lower class in America will continue to be so.
I just want to say that I don't have a cell phone because I am not swimming in money. And I don't feel I deserve one either. We were on food stamps for 6 months almost a year ago, and we were struggling to meet our bills. After the first month on food stamps, we got rid of our cell phones, and I haven't had one since.
I don't feel that cell phones are a necessity at all. They are a luxury. That is what is wrong with society, we confuse what we want with what we need. I am just find having a house phone. We pay 15 dollars a month for it, and I can call who ever I want with it. Sure, I can't text, I can't immediately call people back, and if my car breaks down, I have to rely on the fact that someone may stop and help me out. Cell phones have only been popular for the last 10 years, and the world functioned fine without them before.
It has now been almost a full year without a cell phone, and I feel like I can easily continue on. I mean, I have 50,000 dollars saved up now, for a house, and I am proud to say that I came out of poverty on top, because I cut out my luxury spending. We don't buy easy meals, we home cook almost everything. I buy in bulk because it's cheaper. The only payments I have are my car and my student loans, and I gladly pay them.
So, I think it's crap to think you deserve a smartphone, or a cell phone at all. If you can't buy groceries, you don't need such a luxury. You literally will not die without one, I promise.
I totally agree with the OP on the welfare rant. My Mom was on welfare after having my sister at 18. She worked her tail off-put herself through university, worked at the bookstore, raised my sister, and spent 2h a day on buses to get to place they could afford to live. But she was very good with budgeting so they always had enough food and looked respectable (my Mom is an amazing seamstress and made their clothes or altered hand me downs). Did she have a TV, fancy gadgets or a car? Uh-hells no!! She wanted off welfare desperately, so as soon as she could make/save enough to cover their expenses, she got off welfare! She said she felt so judged standing in that office alongside people who wasted the money on booze, and was never prouder than the day she stopped needing it.
The OP didn't say poor people couldn't have nice things, she's saying if the government is buying your groceries, you shouldn't buy things that could've paid for those groceries. If you're poor, but not on social assistance, then you deserve the nice things you save for-those on social assistance should have paid for their own food first.
Sorry ladies, I really didn't mean to get this all started...my only point was that I'm shocked how many people put their own personal needs before their kids. I never meant that everyone in the system takes advantage of it hence my reply on my friends who were in the system for six months for a hand up when they were both unemployed with two kids and a baby on the way. I guess that's why it's called an UO.
Henry Cavill...You're welcome!
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Re: UO/judgement day
Ok, so here is a case in point and the type of situation I am talking about. I knew a girl (girlfriend of a guy DH worked with) who has an education and had a good job. She also had two teenaged kids who she technically had custody of, but who had not spent even one night under her roof in about ten years. They live with their dad and she does not pay any support for them.
Anyway, she lost her job and filed for unemployment. Fine, whatever. But, when we asked her about looking for a new job, her reply was that she was tired of working and was going to milk the UE until it ran out before she would even start looking. After her 99 weeks were up, she found a good job in less than a week. Meanwhile, she was also getting food stamps for the kids, who didn't live with her. Every time we saw her, she would brag about how she was redoing her kitchen or her bathroom. She would show up with new, designer clothes and bags regularly. All of this was bought and paid for with government assistance. Her boyfriend was living with her and was capable of covering the household expenses, which he did.
I know not everyone abuses the system and I never said they did. But, case in point, they do exist. And this isn't the first person I've ever known who took advantage this way. I think you'll agree that this kind of abuse is just wrong, plain and simple.
Well, geez. Sorry to use "the system" how it was meant to be used. To keep me employed and my kid taken care of. So sorry for everyone that your tax dollars had to pay for my kid to go to daycare while I worked. I'm sure if I didn't have to pay 1000$ in rent I could of afforded the 1200$ to send her to daycare myself.
Also, my iPhone was not free. Verizon had just gotten them when I got mine. However, you would have to yell at my job and tell them that people on assistance shouldn't have iPhones. Maybe then they would of just not given me that promotion that required me to have that iPhone.
But I do know people who work their butts off and still can't get by without assistance. It's sad.
I hate the shaming and the "boot straps" mentality to assistance. WIC and food stamps are so common in families. I live in a military community, did you know that most of them are also on WIC and food stamps since the military really doesn't pay all that great?? Then there's young working single mothers like I was. Sh!t happens, sometimes people need to use the assistance that is out there to them. It doesn't mean that when the occasionally get an extra 200$ or so they can't go get themselves something nice. I mean FFS, some of those people work their asses off.
Also, I don't know who in the world thinks that they give money out for free. Unless you somehow scammed disability or pop a kid out every year you have to do 40 hours per week of job searching classes or community service for their 400$ per month.
Well, I was using assistance programs. I was not getting TANF though. That was my point. Using assistance programs is not the same as getting TANF. Which, to me, is what I consider "free money". Since WIC and child care are different state programs than food stamps and TANF. Yes, I had some food stamps, but nothing to really consider getting "free money". I made too much to qualify for more than 50$ per month in groceries. I am just explaining that not everyone abuse the system. That was my whole point.
I just feel like all this bashing of "the system" is from people who have never been on it and don't really know how it works. Or, that there are more people on it than you would assume. It's the whole 1 person ruins it for everyone. Which makes everyone who uses the assistance programs out there look like lazy dead beats to modern society.
I know that things happen and I'm
not saying people shouldn't get help, but you talk about having an extra 200. If you can't pay your bills on your own you do not have an extra 200. If your job specifically required you to purchase the newest model iPhone, that's odd and I haven't heard of such a job, but it was a job requirement so that's different. But it doesn't change the fact that there is no extra 200 to spend however you want. You were spending money necessary to maintain your job.
It's the mentality that even though I'm taking public assistance any extra sum I get can go towards a splurge for unnecessary things that people should be ashamed of. I can understand being defensive of people taking public assistance if you received it, but to not understand that any extra money should be saved is something I'm having trouble understanding.
But I suppose that's enough arguing for one day.
I did save. I have a college fund set up for Rosie and had plenty of money in my savings account. I put money away, I paid all my bills. I paid my 1000$ a month in rent, my phone bills, my groceries, ect. No, I couldn't add in the 1200$ to send my child to daycare. I paid the highest co pay thanks to my income. I put my bonuses into savings each month and at least 20$ into Rosie's trust fund and 100$ into my savings. However, I lived debt free. I wasn't going out and financing new cars or racking up credit card debt. I saved and earned the few luxuries I did get. You don't know what everyone does, so don't judge.
Well there are a lot of people out there that do not have the luxury of having a savings account, a college fund for their child, and no debt because they have to pay the full cost of daycare. I dont blame you for taking it because who wouldn't want someone else to pick up part of their daycare tab, but I am very disappointed in the system that allowed you to build up a savings account and a college fund while on government assistance. That is simply not what it's for.
But it is what it's for. It's to help people get back on their feet. To cover the cost of things that one cannot afford because they live under the poverty line. I danced the poverty line. I used the programs I qualified for to keep me afloat. I put away a few hundred dollars into savingsand a trust fund for my kid because I was responsibile. That still doesn't take away from my point, that more people qualify and are on public assitance than you would believe. One of the biggest groups of people who use the same programs that I did are military families. So, men who go out and enlist to die for our country their families still have to go onto public asisstance to help take care of costs. The whole system is just effed. It's not just "boot straps" and lazy people. Things cost too damn much. So what if I couldn't afford 1200$ a month in daycare, but tucked away 200-300$ into savings that I had extra. I'm going to get shamed for being a responsible person now? For getting back on my feet?
I no longer use assistance FYI. I quit my job once I moved in with DH and will be going back to college once Cade is over a year. So, please. Judge me for whatever you wish. I really hate how assistance is shamed these days.
DD receives WIC and that is purely because we live on 1200 a month. we dont have luxury's and luckily we own our house because we got it when if was about to be torn down and fixed it up. we pay utilities and my school loan. every tax season we use the money to pay off debt of save. people shame us constantly because we have WIC and for a short time we had food stamps. our family and friends mocked us so much we never reapplied and we are tight but making it. we have a garden and much cheap food all at once. i see people milk the system everyday and i did when i worked for salvation army. its sickening but you cant throw them out with out harming those who truly need it. plus, the more you judge those on welfare and food stamps the people who need it are too ashamed to try our to use it.
anyways my UO is that people buy smartphones or computers but don't even try and learn how to use it. when i have someone come into work screaming i cause their pictures to blur or cut off i assume they are either a** or lazy. plus a 4x4 instagram photo WILL NOT be a 4x6 we have a 4x4 option strictly for that use it and get off my back.
i guess after a dealing with people at work and getting in trouble for staying to help for too long im a little irritated with the technical illiteracy in my town.
I just want to say that I don't have a cell phone because I am not swimming in money. And I don't feel I deserve one either. We were on food stamps for 6 months almost a year ago, and we were struggling to meet our bills. After the first month on food stamps, we got rid of our cell phones, and I haven't had one since.
I don't feel that cell phones are a necessity at all. They are a luxury. That is what is wrong with society, we confuse what we want with what we need. I am just find having a house phone. We pay 15 dollars a month for it, and I can call who ever I want with it. Sure, I can't text, I can't immediately call people back, and if my car breaks down, I have to rely on the fact that someone may stop and help me out. Cell phones have only been popular for the last 10 years, and the world functioned fine without them before.
It has now been almost a full year without a cell phone, and I feel like I can easily continue on. I mean, I have 50,000 dollars saved up now, for a house, and I am proud to say that I came out of poverty on top, because I cut out my luxury spending. We don't buy easy meals, we home cook almost everything. I buy in bulk because it's cheaper. The only payments I have are my car and my student loans, and I gladly pay them.
So, I think it's crap to think you deserve a smartphone, or a cell phone at all. If you can't buy groceries, you don't need such a luxury. You literally will not die without one, I promise.
Sorry ladies, I really didn't mean to get this all started...my only point was that I'm shocked how many people put their own personal needs before their kids. I never meant that everyone in the system takes advantage of it hence my reply on my friends who were in the system for six months for a hand up when they were both unemployed with two kids and a baby on the way. I guess that's why it's called an UO.
Henry Cavill...You're welcome!
BFP #3: EDD 1/10/13 **DS born 12/30/12!!!**
BFP #2: MC 7/2/11 @ 12 weeks
**Missing our February '12 LoveBug**
BFP #1: MMC discovered on 12/6/10