SAHP's Using Public Assistance - Page 20

[ibahippiemama]

Originally Posted by Nursingnaturalmom

Can i jump in here? I probably won't post all that much, but you are all inspiring.
I have a question though. I understand that fs aren't supposed to be ALL the food money for the month. But in our reality, it is. Its ALL we get. We are fortuanate to get enough to survive but not get gourmet meals. My question is, does anyone else have only the fs for food a month? If so, how do you spend it? Meaning, do you do a monthly stock up all at once and then supplement with fruit veggies etc as the month progresses or do you do weekly shopping? I'm trying to figure out if it would stretch farther if I shop the really good sales and stock up and then eat from the pantry freezer for the month, or if I should keep going weekly? Make sense?

Oh and don't forget for those of you that qualify to look into heating and electric assistance this winter

For us that is the case sometimes. Right now we get more thatn enough to feed all of us including dh for the month. These last few months we have kind of "played" around. By that I mean we spent when we could have been saving. Stocking up so that we didn't have to run to the store so often.

Next month, we are getting another freezer and will be stocking up on meats. We have been offered some deer meat and I can get a very good price on fresh shrimp. I missed the sale yesterday. Dh works at the sugar mill so can get as much as I want of sugar and syrup. Trying to get some mollasses this year. Hoping this works out for us.

How do you fill about using coupons with your food stamps? I have a link for organic coupon savings. It's like hot coupon world. I really don't use alot of convience foods or name brand foods. So I don't get to use a lot of coupons. I need to start using them again.

love and blessings
angie

[aihcalappa]

Our food stamps are our whole food budget. For the first time since getting them, it is enough to feed us all comfortably. There have been times when it definitely wasn't enough, for one reason or another. I'm still pretty confused as to how they calculate what you get. I live in fear that we will get a small pay increase and it will tip the balance some how, and our benefits will get cut drastically.
Oh yeah, to answer your question, we shop weekly, and stock up at sales, and use coupons if we are at a store that has them. Our usual store doesn't have coupons, but has a 'club card' which gives you discounts in a similar way. I try to buy on sale as much as possible.

[Nursingnaturalmom]

I do use coupons and try to do so frugally. I did a stock up on baking supplies and school lunch supplies and other things and before doubled coupons and sales my totally was 197 and I paid 111 for all of it :

Fresh produce is what is really expensive but all my kids eat and we are only eating what is in season.

I'd love hte link for the organic savings

[nolansmummy]

satori - sorry i haven't ever posted here before, but as for your financial aid, are you 100% that your fin. aid will get cut if you drop. This summer my husband dropped a class (his only class) on the last day to drop, and since he had already gone a certain percentage of the class - i don't know like more than 1/2 maybe- then we didn't have to give back/pay back the financial aid already awarded to us...summer of course may be different which is why i ask.

If you will lose the money, talk to the professor, explain as much as you are comfortable, and see what they say. Often times they will let you make up an assignment, they just don't like to advertise it to all the students otherwise everyone would be asking for an extension. I hope everything works out for you. I completely understand about the financial aid. My husband and i are living off ours and every little penny is planned out and allotted for, if we were to lose some, it would be very hard...

Good luck s

[Satori]

Originally Posted by nolansmummy

satori - sorry i haven't ever posted here before, but as for your financial aid, are you 100% that your fin. aid will get cut if you drop. This summer my husband dropped a class (his only class) on the last day to drop, and since he had already gone a certain percentage of the class - i don't know like more than 1/2 maybe- then we didn't have to give back/pay back the financial aid already awarded to us...summer of course may be different which is why i ask.

If you will lose the money, talk to the professor, explain as much as you are comfortable, and see what they say. Often times they will let you make up an assignment, they just don't like to advertise it to all the students otherwise everyone would be asking for an extension. I hope everything works out for you. I completely understand about the financial aid. My husband and i are living off ours and every little penny is planned out and allotted for, if we were to lose some, it would be very hard...

Good luck s

I'm quite sure, I wont have to pay any back but they break up our payments into a couple payments though out the semester and there prorated based on how many units you are enrolled in at the time the checked are disbursed. My PELL grant is disbursed in 2 payments, I already received one and the next won't be disbursed until Nov 7 and the last day to drop with a W is today. I don't know what to do, today was the midterm for that class and I failed it. Its not even graded yet but on the study guide the teacher said we would have 1.5 hours to take it. I arrianged childcare so I could work quickly without distraction. It turned out to be 25 multiple choice questions which I'm sure I did fine on even though it went slowly (who would have thought psychology could be so complex!?), 10 of them turned out to be multiple part essay questions that would have taken me 30 minutes EACH to answer, I can not quickly do essays, especially when typing. I am a very slow typist and need time to formulate my thoughts when typing (I write faster then I type) vs writing for some reason. The essays were worth 100 pts while the multiple choice were only worth 50. I didn't even finish the first essay question before I ran out of time Plus something else that's frustrating, once you opened the test it informs you that you have 2 HOURS to complete the test, well I didn't have 2 hours of childcare and could not be late so I had to stop the test at 1.5 hours I am feeling really frustrated with the class, myself and my teacher. Every other class it seems is rather balanced so even if you blow all the tests you have a chance of passing with a C from doing other assignments and stuff. Not so with this teacher. Makes me feel slightly better that so far the class average for the test is only 79% so lots of people did badly... (we've had a few days to do the test but once you opened it you had to complete it and I couldn't get a sitter until today, anyway so all the tests that were completed by last night have already been scored and that was the average) to me a C avergae says the test is to hard or a bad teacher. I would say its BOTH. Can you believe she has not lectured ONCE? Each week you answer 2-3 questions on the bulletin board which require no real thought or understanding of the subject matter, read the chapter then the 3 chances at grades. Opps, sorry, 4, 2 papers, midterm and final. Not even so much as an email saying "hey class! welcome to week 9! this week were studying xyz!"

[happyhats]

My food stamps is my budget for the most part. Of course I also get WIC. Very little comes out of other monies for food, thankfully. It really depends on the month and what kind of deals we've found.

For my hubby and I (dd will be born in Dec but be breastfed so she won't factor in much with our budget for now) we do a major stockup on the day we receive stamps. Then throughout the month we may do a little shopping here and there for things we've run low on, but mostly this is for things like produce that we can't buy a huge lot of and not expect to go bad at all in a month. We shop at local scratch and dent stores to keep our costs down...it's amazing the deals you can find! We also shop at places like Aldi and Big Lots (both of which do take EBT) and of course scour for clearance/sales at our local stores and read the ads.

[rockportmidwife]

I have always tried to make my food stamps last the whole month. When I used to buy almost everything at the beginning of the month and try to make it last, this was very hard. I would have $20-40 left to buy anything that I ran out of, but the end of the month I had to be very creative with meals. Then I started shopping weekly and splitting my FS into fourths. I would make a menu and spend only what I allotted. When I first started doing this, I only had $40-50 a week to spend on the three of us so I was still doing creative menus. It has increased a couple times due to certain issues. But with this new raise that we got, I now have $96 to spend a week. I feel rich and will be stocking up so that we don't have just one week's worth of food for a just in case situation. Oh, and a tip I was getting Angel Food which helped out with what I was spending. They accept FS and you get a whole bunch of food for $30. It is not the type of stuff that I usually buy. It tends to have more convenience type of foods, but it was helping me stay on budget. Their website is something like www.angelfoodministries.com

[happyhats]

How do you feel about making big purchases while on government assistance? I'm not talking about running out and shopping to your hearts content any old day of the week, but more splurging on one time purchases you know you'll use a long time? For example, in February my husband and I will get a decent tax return since the baby will be here, and ontop of that we will get his financial aide check. Now, MOST of that is going straight into savings and towards paying our bills. But we're thinking of getting a new tv and computer, and perhaps some more cds or such for dd. I don't feel bad because my bills will be paid, we'll be getting life insurance and starting a savings account for our daughter first, and our computer and tv are both on the way out. But I know a lot of people would say that if we can afford these luxuries and even not so luxuries (life insurance, account for daughter), we don't need food stamps or medical assistance. Well, hubby won't be eligible to put dd on a plan yet and we really wouldn't have the extra money for anything if we didn't have the little aid we do. But I was wondering if others would stop themselves from making a large purchase that they otherwise would if they weren't recieiving aid.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by happyhats

How do you feel about making big purchases while on government assistance? I'm not talking about running out and shopping to your hearts content any old day of the week, but more splurging on one time purchases you know you'll use a long time? For example, in February my husband and I will get a decent tax return since the baby will be here, and ontop of that we will get his financial aide check. Now, MOST of that is going straight into savings and towards paying our bills. But we're thinking of getting a new tv and computer, and perhaps some more cds or such for dd. I don't feel bad because my bills will be paid, we'll be getting life insurance and starting a savings account for our daughter first, and our computer and tv are both on the way out. But I know a lot of people would say that if we can afford these luxuries and even not so luxuries (life insurance, account for daughter), we don't need food stamps or medical assistance. Well, hubby won't be eligible to put dd on a plan yet and we really wouldn't have the extra money for anything if we didn't have the little aid we do. But I was wondering if others would stop themselves from making a large purchase that they otherwise would if they weren't recieiving aid.

It wouldn't make a difference to me either way but I still wouldn't go hog wild. Next month I am replacing my computer with a newer one I'll get from ebay for $400 or less using my school money. That doesn't bother me so much, now if I went and paid over $1000 at the store? Then yeah, that might bug me but more so becasue I know I can get the same for less then half on ebay. As for the TV? Sorry, that's a want, not a need and that I would have a problem with. For me the computer is needed for school for me and dd and I use it to watch TV on for free online so we don't need a TV. I would try freecycle for the TV.

I've become more that penny pincher who has learned that money spent today on stuff we don't need WILL bite me in the ass down the road and make me regret the purchase so I save myself some grief.

[aihcalappa]

Originally Posted by happyhats

How do you feel about making big purchases while on government assistance? I'm not talking about running out and shopping to your hearts content any old day of the week, but more splurging on one time purchases you know you'll use a long time? For example, in February my husband and I will get a decent tax return since the baby will be here, and ontop of that we will get his financial aide check. Now, MOST of that is going straight into savings and towards paying our bills. But we're thinking of getting a new tv and computer, and perhaps some more cds or such for dd. I don't feel bad because my bills will be paid, we'll be getting life insurance and starting a savings account for our daughter first, and our computer and tv are both on the way out. But I know a lot of people would say that if we can afford these luxuries and even not so luxuries (life insurance, account for daughter), we don't need food stamps or medical assistance. Well, hubby won't be eligible to put dd on a plan yet and we really wouldn't have the extra money for anything if we didn't have the little aid we do. But I was wondering if others would stop themselves from making a large purchase that they otherwise would if they weren't recieiving aid.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It is YOUR tax return, your business.

[nolansmummy]

We have made some big purchases with our fin aid/tax return. Last year we bought a laptop.It is necessary for school, but i felt a lot of people were judging us (in our families) but yk, we needed it. Dh wants to buy a tv this year. I don't think i'm comfortable with that.
Whatever you do with your money is your business.

[mammal_mama]

Originally Posted by nolansmummy

Whatever you do with your money is your business.

Yes, this.

[ibahippiemama]

Well, I have to say that what you do with your money is your business. Over the summer I lost my job. I got my tax return in August. I paid some past due bills and bought a car. We needed the car so that dh could go back to work. There is few jobs in this town. You have to commute Baton Rouge if you want a decent job. Next year we will put the money in the bank.

love and blessings
angie

[heidirk]

Hey all!!!

Just wanted to check in, I don't have the brains to read up on the thread right now, though.

We went to the hospital on Thursday, 10/9 to have my water broken and try to have a baby. Milo Wallace was born at 6:15 pm on Friday evening. He weighed 8 lbs, 12.7 ozs, and was 20.5 inches long! He's a perfect tiny peanut (compared to DS1 anyway! ) and he sleeps!


Two days after we came home, we got our Medicaid approval!!! ::

So now, I'm just babymooning, and getting all the medical bills/paperwork taken care of!

I'll catch up soon. . .

[mammal_mama]

CONGRATULATIONS, HEIDIRK! :::

[Satori]

How is everyone doing? I learned something new, since both my kids are on medically needed diets for celiac, food allergies and metabolic issues we qualify for a special stipend from welfare. I've always known about it but never bothered with it cause they said it was like $6 a month which was not worth the hassle. Well with everything getting so tight that $6 can make or break lunch that week yk? So I got the letter from the Dr stating why they needed a special diet and got the notices from welfare today, they dropped my FS by $6 but they increased the cash aid by $24! To me this is awesome becasue some of the stuff we need has to come from a health food store that doesn't take FS and that extra $18 just about covers what we spend

[happyhats]

While I feel the need to replace my tv, I do agree it's a "want". I think my question was more about should I spend money on myself more than anything else, kwim, and I'm glad I'm not a horrible leach for thinking it's okay to do so, lol.

I'm considering dropping WIC. I need to look and see if my budget can really afford the loss first. I feel as if half of the food I get through WIC I can easily get through a more earth friendly means for fairly cheaply. For example, a lot of times I can get all natural peanut butter for very cheap since I go to the scratch and dent store. I can get local eggs for pretty cheap as well. I try not to drink a lot of the juice provided because it's so high in sugar but hubby does drink it and I can use it to make jellies with at least. The biggest help is the milk and cheese, and we do eat the cereal which is fairly healthy fare in my area. I don't think I could afford to go to all organic milk now anyway, so the milk on WIC would be what I'd buy. Hmmm. Maybe I'll start giving the eggs and peanut butter to my mother (she doesn't buy free range anyway, unfortunately) or to someone else I know would need it. At least until I'm sure that I won't miss the milk, eggs, and cereal?

[hellyaellen]

our fs are about half of our food budget i guess.......we always seem to end up running out before the month is up, but we have a pretty good stash of edibles in the pantry and hubby cooks partly from scratch (with a few cheats) we end up spending more cash money later in the month but its partly want rather than true need.....a lot of our food luxuries are things like good cuts of meat, imported cheeses, fresh fruit things i can't buy in bulk at the beginning of the month

[Devaya]

hi everyone, i'm relieved to find this thread as i've often been feeling sort of 'out' on some of the forums when it seems everyone's partner earns a good salary and people can afford to buy their own houses, have cars etc. We have been on benefits for a few months ever since my maternity pay dropped to the lower rate and then ended. I feel a lot of shame and guilt about it so it's reassuring to read some of the comments on here! (not that i've had time to read it all!) I grew up in a country where virtually NO welfare is available, only very minimal amounts for the very poorest which we would not qualify for, and there was a big stigma attached to it. also a country with a very strong work ethic. so when i moved to the u.k., i felt scorn for a lot of people on benefits- boy have i had to eat humble pie!

i also can't afford to work, would have to pay all my wages on childcare and taxes, and besides i dont believe, as others have said, in having children only to hand them over to someone else to raise.

We are really struggling right now now that the utility bills have all doubld and our rent has increased and no benefits have increased apace - in fact one has drastically DECREASED because our DS is n ow over a year old (like that means you need any less money - more in fact!) But I still dont see going to work as feasible.

i like what PP's have said about the cycle of life. I have paid many taxes and no doubt will again, and Dp pays taxes too, so i really shouldnt feel guilty. its hard to shake though.

[mammal_mama]

Originally Posted by Devaya

i like what PP's have said about the cycle of life. I have paid many taxes and no doubt will again, and Dp pays taxes too, so i really shouldnt feel guilty. its hard to shake though.

It sounds like you're in the right place for getting past the guilt!

I used to be very judging, too -- so I see it as a real positive that I'm now getting to see things from another point of view.