Just curious who else is living super frugal

[Arielle]

oh bee you are a realist. Love you for that.

when I am not here on byc I live on another forum where we support our lc lifestyle. Lots of support there for good food selection..

I was thinking more about food prep-- but you are right that would not work here. THe food bloggers have that covered.

 

[erinszoo]

WIC stands for Women, Infants and Children. It is usually for families that are pregnant and/or have children under the age of 4.

You do get "checks" that state 1 gallon milk, 1 8oz peanut butter, etc. This during the summer can be used at the local farmers market too.

SNAP goes by total number of people in the household. If you live with your mother and are her caretaker and provider, she counts in your family too. The amount is small per month such as a family of 6 would get about $400 here. That is $100 a week for 6 people. We have been trying to do this and may actually succeed this month. We will start making our own noodles soon as we eat a bunch of them and we have chickens now, so that helps. We are trying to go most of our own food too, but coming from being a town girl to farm girl takes time to build up.

We also homeschool to help teach them grounded things.

I will add that when my kids were in school and even though we wanted to pay for lunches, we were required to full out the low income form and we were required to get free lunches because the school got more money for lot income families. We dealt with it and could manage, but we're required to anyway.

If we help those families by bringing them extra produce or work towards donating a percentage of produce to a group it will help make this work better.

The schools get money from the federal government based on low income lunch families and students on IEP's. When my son was in public school, almost 3/4 of his class had IEP's and were on low income or assisted lunch. Then the state failed to adhere to certain guidelines for curriculum and the feds took away all their money and miraculously all the students lost their IEP's and assisted lunches.

Having lived on SNAP benefits and used WIC in the past, no one needs to have more regulation placed on either of those things. The ones who abuse it are few and far between but they are the ones who get publicized because newspapers and tv news are not in the business of promoting good things. They like to sensationalize everything. People who buy in to that sensationalism need to get a grip on reality.

When a family ends up in a situation where they need assistance, they are dehumanized, everything in their lives is poked and prodded and judged and questioned. They already feel like losers for having to ask for help in the first place, and the system just beats them down even more. Then the media sensationalizes one person who screws up and society starts judging them too and demanding more regulations be placed on these people. It's ridiculous and demeaning. If the system wasn't spending SO much money on overhead, regulation costs, they might actually have enough to HELP people.

Most families who end up needing help are not drug dealers, users, long time bums who have never worked. There's a multitude of reasons people end up in bad situations through no fault of their own. Who has any right to judge them or demand that they justify their need for help??? Or tell them what kind of food they can eat? These are our fellow human beings who need compassion above all else. Not someone waving another finger at them telling them they are all wrong and have no rights because they are poor.

*stepping off my soap box now*

 

[Arielle]

Good to hear another perspective.

YEs the fed gov gives money to schools as long as they follow the rules they have decided. Grrrr The food I see provided is far less than optimal so I have never allowed my kids to eat the school lunches. Just junk food. Junk. Junk. Junk. I'm actually considering working as a lunch lady just to have hours that work around my children's school schedule. This will be a challenge to say the least.

I have a "friend" that I know lives in low income housing and she always had chips to eat at every soccer practice. No one else iss eating anything. One day, we all chatted for a few minutes about foods and how they affect us. She wasn't ready to truly hear it, despite the lack of teeth and health problems. I can only give her a hug and try to "lead a horse to water". I worry about her, but I cannot do any more for her.

 

[Beekissed]

The schools get money from the federal government based on low income lunch families and students on IEP's. When my son was in public school, almost 3/4 of his class had IEP's and were on low income or assisted lunch. Then the state failed to adhere to certain guidelines for curriculum and the feds took away all their money and miraculously all the students lost their IEP's and assisted lunches.

Having lived on SNAP benefits and used WIC in the past, no one needs to have more regulation placed on either of those things. The ones who abuse it are few and far between but they are the ones who get publicized because newspapers and tv news are not in the business of promoting good things. They like to sensationalize everything. People who buy in to that sensationalism need to get a grip on reality.

When a family ends up in a situation where they need assistance, they are dehumanized, everything in their lives is poked and prodded and judged and questioned. They already feel like losers for having to ask for help in the first place, and the system just beats them down even more. Then the media sensationalizes one person who screws up and society starts judging them too and demanding more regulations be placed on these people. It's ridiculous and demeaning. If the system wasn't spending SO much money on overhead, regulation costs, they might actually have enough to HELP people.

Most families who end up needing help are not drug dealers, users, long time bums who have never worked. There's a multitude of reasons people end up in bad situations through no fault of their own. Who has any right to judge them or demand that they justify their need for help??? Or tell them what kind of food they can eat? These are our fellow human beings who need compassion above all else. Not someone waving another finger at them telling them they are all wrong and have no rights because they are poor.

*stepping off my soap box now*

Amen and amen! I've had to have assistance in my life also as a single mother raising three boys, sans child support, working all the while....so not someone lying around taking benefits and not paying into the system. This is back in the day when you had to actually use food stamps and WIC vouchers, which are now all on a handy little, discreet card that you swipe and go. Back then the cashier would count your food stamps two and three times even, holding up the line, and everyone treated me like I was dirt. I was clean, decently dressed and buying food that was reasonable and smart choices, but that didn't really matter to people. I had to laugh as I left the store, passing the sign that stated, "We gladly accept food stamps." Sure they do. Gladly. Glad must mean something else to other people because not once were my food stamps accepted "gladly".

There were times when I purchased things I never usually fed to my kids and these were for various birthday parties for them, school parties and for cousin's parties; including pop, ice cream and chips. People would always give me the hairy eyeball on those purchases, like that's all my kids ever got to eat. One simply cannot judge someone by what they use to pay or what is in the grocery cart at any given time, nor even by what they walk out into the parking lot to drive home in....sometimes I'd be riding with my sister or parents, who drove me there when my vehicle was in the shop.

Only those who have never been there would ever make those assumptions or those who know people who are abusing the system, but for many these programs are about helping people who are truly trying to help themselves. There were times in my life when I couldn't have fed my children or provided them with any medical care without these programs, so you won't find me throwing off on them. Not everyone is born to a perfectly ordered life, with a husband who makes good money, with good insurance and a comfy home.

It's easy to make good, well thought out choices when you can think about things other than if you can keep a roof over your children's heads just one more day, what to pay~rent or the electric?, or how will I afford to repair the car so I can get to work? Let's pile on someone who is trying to dictate what food you actually buy for your kids on top of all that other worry. It's bad enough that assistance comes with this horrible stigma that those who partake are lazy and dishonest, but to have to be humiliated further by those people~who probably eat out more and eat more junk food than I ever have in my lifetime~who would like to tell poor folks what they should be eating.

Anyone else want time on that box?

 

[Arielle]

This bringsme around to seeing the need for teaching people to raise some vegies. I see small patches of lawn that could have a fw vegies. Don't get me going on the HUGE lawns big enough for a huge garden. We seem to have reached a point that all food is from the grocery store and yet the best quality foods come from our own back yards. I stew over this and have kept hitting road blocks by some surprising women that I thought would be supportive. I live in a town that is like many towns classified by the number of children that get free or reduced lunch. It just bothers me that a little more food is only a few seeds away . . . but like cooking skills, growing skills are long gone.

I have a problem with the garbage food that grocery stores are allowed to sell. I totally skip the bread aisle, as I'm looking the other way looking for butter and cheese. IMO breads and pastas are poor food choices. And somehow peanutbutter and fluff sandwhich isviewed as nutritious. We buy peanut butter occasionally, but I don't think my kids have had such a sandwhich. ( ANd hope they never do; having eaten a few in my childhood, dang they are delish, lol, and addictive. Taste sooo good. Trying to prevent my kids from becoming fully aware of that lunchtime pastime. )

I don't think anyone meant that everyone abuses the system. In my area, it is generation after generation that is in need of assistance. This is another of my soap box issues. Our school is facing endless cuts due to the lack of funds. Those that have the money want to keep it. We need to put MORE into education, not less.

Heard today that Pres. Obama is hoping to roll out a program to pay for 2 years of college. YEAHHHH. Only 8% of children from low iincome families get to attend college. We are missing out on the contribution of some of the brightest kids. ( Please understand I do think many post HS educations options pay a whole lot more than some college degrees; and Im still trying to figure out how people can live without needing a formal job. Meaning-- I'm happier with less and start to resent that I am not good enough if I don't wear perfectly clean clothes into town. Geez, how many times my clean clothes get messed up before I can even get into my car! lol oh ya, that's right. No one farms around here. THe farms are gone. Big 4 bedrooms cover the pastures.

Oh I do need to stop. Many frustrations. lol

 

[Outpost JWB]

Ok, I'll get on the soap box.

When my husband had quadruple bypass heart surgery I was working full time, had 3 teenagers (2 are step children) and 3 months pregnant. He was only 43, but his brother and father both passed away in their 30s due to heart disease. So, my back was against the wall. I felt the government would surely help me somehow. Went and took a whole day waiting in line with all the paperwork (paycheck stubs from 6 months to current, rental contract, statements signed by landlord, electric, water, sewage, phone bills, birth certificates, drivers license, SS cards, everything they said I had to have just to apply). Finally they called my name and it took little less than an hour for them to tell me we were denied. DENIED of ANY help! I had a husband who could no longer get up and go to the bathroom down the hall without help walking. Had not been out of the apartment since I got him home. They said I made too much....REALLY! Did they take into consideration his surgery was $12,000 after insurance paid their part and the meds were $800 the first week I brought him home-that was at least a whole paycheck for 2 weeks after the government took out taxes? I also had to buy a used recliner, because that would be his only chair he could sit, sleep, live in for about 5 weeks. I was not asking for a great deal. Just any help. Food stamps, anything. NOTTA, ZILCH, ZIP! That is what I got.

Hubby also applied for disability. DENIED. Reason?? He is young and expected to make a full recovery. Let me break their breast bone apart, rip veins out of their legs, put them in with the heart and tell them to SUCK IT UP! We applied again. This time with an "attorney". It made it all the way to court date and I was excited. This was 4 or 5 years after the surgery. Hubby has chest pains all the time, take nitrates and a handful of meds, blood pressure, fish oil, inhalers, statins, you name it. When we were waiting for the judge to call our case, the attorney said "This should be interesting, I trained that judge." I knew then that we were doomed. The attorney did nothing for us. They said my husband could be a lamp assembler, or a light bulb inspector. (Since he is a certified Electrician.) We still have not found anyone hiring for those jobs

In the end, the government has been no help at all to my family. Given the chance, I would return the favor to them. I had to do research and finally found help. At a local church. We have been blessed by God who provided this wonderful church to us. They gave us a box of food every week, and once every 6 months they could pay $25 on our electric or phone bill. I know it doesn't seem like much, but it sure did help. Without them, I have no idea what would have become of us.

My question for the government is that we meet the federal government guidelines for poverty to be accepted for help at the food pantry, but not for the government to help? It is nuts. We have certainly paid enough to the government that they should have helped. I have worked at the same job for 18 years. It's not like I was looking to retire on the system's money.

It's been over ten years since surgery. He had to go back to work. We just could not make it on my salary alone. We were facing eviction and had only the bare necessities. He is stressed out beyond belief. I worry greatly about him. He keeps it up and he will not see 60yrs old. We are doing better financially and have only been back to the food pantry to donate

I am so thankful for them. I wish you all luck in your journeys. And the best advice I can give, is DONT GIVE UP.

 

[nayeli]

I would love to do it, sounds like fun! But...I don't eat or buy like that, so it's nearly impossible to do. We live 20 mi. from the closest town and we eat what we've grown, harvested or stored to make things from scratch, so it's impossible to figure up what each meal costs and such when you live that way. I think it's a good challenge for town folks, though, to see what's it's like to live small and on the cheap. I've done it all my life, so it's not much of a challenge to me...out here we just call it living.

It sounds interesting to me, but not so much fun. My goal is to prove that you can eat healthy on that budget... but I am still working on eating healthy and still learning how to cook! I'm doing it in February so hopefully I can try some cheap recipes out between now and then, since we won't have the money to throw anything out that doesn't turn out okay (unlike you ladies, I was never taught how to cook... just how to make cookies =/)

 

[nayeli]

Id try it too, except we live like beekissed as well. Even though we live in town, we raise most of our own food. Getting to spend that much money a week at the grocers would be a luxury. Lol.

We just have chickens and my silkie just stopped laying so I don't expect any eggs in Feb anyway (the other hen hasn't started laying yet, and while my husband wants to eat the rooster I'm still not on board with that).

 

[nayeli]

$4.50/person/day? I very much doubt that my family ever exceeds that amount. I'd like to see the SNAP benefit program run like the WIC program, or go back to the days of government surplus. I know that I'll get knocked over the head for making such a callous statement. But, there, I've said it! And, I also think that there should be a mandatory consultation with a dietitian, and a training course to teach recipients how to put together a balanced meal, and eat frugally. The current generation DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO COOK. A young professional woman that I sometimes work with, won't even buy chicken breasts (boneless, skinless in the little sanitary styrofoam packs at the grocer). SHE SAYS SHE WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO COOK THEM, AND GETS GROSSED OUT LOOKING AT RAW MEAT. For crying out loud, this is a mother with 2 young children to raise! There was an article in our paper some time ago about SNAP recipients buying bottled water with their benefits, then going out in the parking lot and dumping that water, going back in the store and returning the bottles to get money for their cigarettes.

The amount per person per day would depend on your area. For us its actually $3.50, so I'll be doing $25 shopping trips.

The water thing is just sick! Who does that!!!

As far as not knowing how to cook... I 100% agree. I'm 21 and all my mom taught me was how to make cookies, and deviled eggs, and spaghetti. Someone else taught me how to flip eggs without breaking them and to make scrambled eggs and I taught myself some things... but there is still a LOT for me to learn when it comes to cooking... I'm trying to find good healthy recipes!

 

[nayeli]

This bringsme around to seeing the need for teaching people to raise some vegies. I see small patches of lawn that could have a fw vegies. Don't get me going on the HUGE lawns big enough for a huge garden. We seem to have reached a point that all food is from the grocery store and yet the best quality foods come from our own back yards. I stew over this and have kept hitting road blocks by some surprising women that I thought would be supportive. I live in a town that is like many towns classified by the number of children that get free or reduced lunch. It just bothers me that a little more food is only a few seeds away . . . but like cooking skills, growing skills are long gone.

I have a problem with the garbage food that grocery stores are allowed to sell. I totally skip the bread aisle, as I'm looking the other way looking for butter and cheese. IMO breads and pastas are poor food choices. And somehow peanutbutter and fluff sandwhich isviewed as nutritious. We buy peanut butter occasionally, but I don't think my kids have had such a sandwhich. ( ANd hope they never do; having eaten a few in my childhood, dang they are delish, lol, and addictive. Taste sooo good. Trying to prevent my kids from becoming fully aware of that lunchtime pastime. )

I don't think anyone meant that everyone abuses the system. In my area, it is generation after generation that is in need of assistance. This is another of my soap box issues. Our school is facing endless cuts due to the lack of funds. Those that have the money want to keep it. We need to put MORE into education, not less.

Heard today that Pres. Obama is hoping to roll out a program to pay for 2 years of college. YEAHHHH. Only 8% of children from low iincome families get to attend college. We are missing out on the contribution of some of the brightest kids. ( Please understand I do think many post HS educations options pay a whole lot more than some college degrees; and Im still trying to figure out how people can live without needing a formal job. Meaning-- I'm happier with less and start to resent that I am not good enough if I don't wear perfectly clean clothes into town. Geez, how many times my clean clothes get messed up before I can even get into my car! lol oh ya, that's right. No one farms around here. THe farms are gone. Big 4 bedrooms cover the pastures.

Oh I do need to stop. Many frustrations. lol

I would LOVE for you to come teach me how to raise veggies! I have a brown thumb, and I don't get it because some people just plant seeds and they grow. I planted many seeds last year and while I got some vines no veggies ever grew on them. On top of my lack of gardening skills I'm working with bad soil.... my plan this year is raised garden beds with compost both from the city (free) and from my compost bins (I do vermicompost and I'm hoping the worms survive the winter, if so I'm going to bring some inside just to make sure they never all die from harsh conditions outside!).