Someone tried to sell me foodstamps? - Page 2

[shayinme]

Originally Posted by Leta

Oh, totally, Shay! I didn't mean to say that it's easy to make soap, or that it's cheap upfront to make the switch to cloth everything.

Cripe, between microfiber towels, mama cloth, family cloth, very basic cloth dipes, Shmop heads, and cloth napkins, I bet we have $400 invested. This was done over time, some of it was gifts, but there a lot of people who just don't have the money to spend. Heck, there are people who don't have enough money to buy dishes, and are stuck buying paper plates every week.

If your ONLY income is food stamps, it's really hard to get ahead by investing in durable goods as a replacement for consumable goods. When DD was born, I was in school full time and DH made $7something an hour. We sat down and plotted and strategized as if we'd be really poor forever. But we had some cash income to do that with.

I've heard about things like diaper banks- places that give out sposies and wipes to families. Which I think is an awesome idea. (Yes, I use cloth but I have a washer and a dryer, and a car to get to the laundromat if my appliances break.) Our Vinnie's does a similar thing- they have stuff like shampoo that you can come and get.

I think it's silly that you can buy pop with FS but not toothpaste.

I totally understood where you were coming from . Its a shame that there has to be an initial outlay of cash to even do those things. I know when my little one was born, I easily spent a couple hundred on cloth dipes and they weren't particularly fancy. You also mentioned the issue of washing them which is a factor too I suppose that might prevent someone from going this route if they are strapped for cash. Since even hand washing requires a place to hang em and wll use up more soap again resulting in a need for more cash.

I see it as a system designed to keep folks down. I work with families living on the edge and this past holiday season I had a Momma whose gift request was bedding because she has no washer/dryer in the house, no car to get to a laundromat on a regular basis and washing by hand and drying her bedding has made them moldy . This woman has 4 kids, 2 still in dipes. In her case disposable items make a lot of sense.

Its a shame folks are criminalized for just trying to survive.

Shay

[Smithie]

"Back in the old days, food stamps were actual pieces of paper, kind of like colorful paper money that came in a book. Any change of a dollar or more was returned to you in food stamps, but any change of under a dollar you got in cash."

Ah, memories! I tell you one thing, that job as a checker really honed my change-counting skills.

But in all seriousness - the fact that a grown woman with kids in her cart had to play the change game with a sometimes eye-rolling teenager (me) to get her personal care products is just sick. Even when I was a kid working that crappy job, I paid income taxes. Nowadays I pay a sickening amount of taxes. WHERE IS MY TAX MONEY GOING?

[xmysticprincessx]

Originally Posted by Dar

Back in the old days, food stamps were actual pieces of paper, kind of like colorful paper money that came in a book. Any change of a dollar or more was returned to you in food stamps, but any change of under a dollar you got in cash.

"Old days?" I remember being a cashier in high school 10 or 11 years ago and people would come in with the paper food stamps. Are you trying to make some of us feel old?

[Dar]

I was being slightly tongue-in-cheek... those were the "old days" when my daughter was little, so yeah, 10 or 11 years ago...

[xmysticprincessx]

In the old days, we had to walk to school- uphill both ways!

[shayinme]

Originally Posted by Dar

I was being slightly tongue-in-cheek... those were the "old days" when my daughter was little, so yeah, 10 or 11 years ago...

I am laughing at this since 10-11 years ago I was the mother of 7-8 year old, considering my son turns 18 in a few days I must be really old.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by xmysticprincessx

In the old days, we had to walk to school- uphill both ways!

In the snowstorm, right? And without shoes!

Originally Posted by shayinme

I am laughing at this since 10-11 years ago I was the mother of 7-8 year old, considering my son turns 18 in a few days I must be really old.

Yep, you're clearly ancient... since my daughter just turned 17 and won't be 18 for more than 11 months.

[2xy]

Originally Posted by Leta

I think it's silly that you can buy pop with FS but not toothpaste.

I agree. I don't think food stamps should cover any non-essentials, to be honest.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by 2xy

I agree. I don't think food stamps should cover any non-essentials, to be honest.

Bread and water only, perhaps?

[2xy]

LOL...of course not. Food stamps should be for nutritious foods, IMO.

And yeah, I've been through the whole argument before about how people shouldn't have to be deprived of treats just because they're on assistance. And no, I've never been on food stamps. But I've been broke and struggling. I was a single mama in the Navy, junior enlisted, paying several hundred dollars a month for child care (including overnights), driving a falling-apart car, etc. I made just enough money to not qualify for help. I have friends currently who are on assistance who are living a lot better than I was at that point in my life...enough that one parent is able to be at home with their children while still having a roof over their heads and food on the table.

While I think that toothpaste is a common necessity, I do not think that candy and soda are. I personally do not feel that junk foods should be subsidized. I also realize that I do not control the laws and that my opinion amounts to a hill of beans.

[Ianthe]

Yes, it is hard to get cash assistance.. It is practically impossible for me anyway.. I am a full time student, and full time mama, and they want me to commit to 30 hours a week to go to their classes to find a job, etc.. and want DH to do the same.. even though he has a degree!

So, yeah, I have taken my sister or my mom shopping for their groceries and had them give me some cash for it so that I could buy TP, baby wipes, laundry soap, gas, etc. I usually don't get that desperate but it happens. It's a broken system. I would never attempt to sell them to a stranger!

I found another way around the system though, and that is coupons for $1.00 off anything.. I buy food that has those coupons and then I save them up so that when I have to buy wipes for $5.00 I have 3 $1.00 off coupons and get them for $2.00 instead. That helps a lot. Also, now that Smiths started their bonus points program I have $28.00 coming to me in the mail (in a gift cert or coupons)! All of that will go toward toiletries!

[Dar]

All last year I made just enough not to qualify... like, literally $30 a month too much.

When I was on food stamps I was living on SSI and SSDI, which meant raising my babe and myself on $440 a month. That was a different world...

[shayinme]

Originally Posted by 2xy

I agree. I don't think food stamps should cover any non-essentials, to be honest.

But then there is the question of how do folks get the non-essentials? Like I said earlier there is an increase in folks whose only income is food stamps. So how do these people get toothpaste and toilet paper without cash? I think the fact that folks can't get them with food stamps creates a situation where folks will consider selling their food stamps. It's not right and its in fact illegal but we have policies that IMO create conditions ripe for people to do what they have to do to survive. I have heard of folks getting fairly large sums of food stamps, yet they get no cash. Seems a small percentage of food stamp benefits could be allocated to cover essentials (soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, etc) but of course that will never happen.