Off Topic This Morning.....Government Assistance.

Going a little off topic this fine morning at 4:30 am. Something has been bugging me for awhile.

Welfare Queen, Welfare Rat, Lazy, Moocher.....the list goes on and on. There is a stigma attached to being on GA. Trust me, it's branded on my forehead. People assume anyone on GA is on it on purpose and because they want to take advantage of the system. Let me give you a little insight.

We get $209 a month for food stamps. That is for a family of 4. This means we need to get enough food every two weeks on $104.50. Now this is completely doable. It's just difficult and involves a lot of sacrifices. For awhile we were existing on $725/month that I get for SSDI. SSDI is NOT GA by the way. People always assume it is. I get SSDI due to an actual disability, my doctors decided it was best for everyone involved if I remain at home instead of going out into the work field. Believe me, you don't want me in the cubicle next to you. Pop gets $404 a month from the state to remain at home with me so we don't have to hire a nurse to do that.

Anyways back on track. Apparently if you are on GA you are not allowed to have nice things. And if you owned nice things before you were using GA you have to sell them and be left with nothing, I mean that IS the only acceptable way right? Wrong. I am so sick of people seeing our TV and saying "Gee must be nice to be on assistance and be able to buy a tv!"....um we bought this TV last December when I got my settlement from SSDI. Our 19 inch was about to die and this one was on sale for under $500. Same comments with the PS3. Pop got the PS3 for free when he was sent to a conference in CA when he was working at Best Buy. And yup, I sold the Nintendo DS he won me so we could afford gas to take our son to a hospital 2 hours away for surgery. It broke my heart to do it, but our son needed that surgery. I sold it for $60 with the games. Pop has also sold a guitar, we've sold our DVD's, we've sold video games. We recently sold his XBox for $30 so we could have gas money. That included 12 or 13 games. This is why I am so sick of people making assumptions about us. Like we don't sacrifice and get the money for free from the state. We have to account for everything when we apply, they look at our bank accounts, they look at our properties, they even take into account the car we drive ('94 Grand Marquis by the way). It's not like they just hand you a check.

Then we get into the territory of having children while on GA. Yup, we had a baby while on GA. Poppit. How irresponsible right? I mean if you are on GA you have no right to have any children and should be sterilized, correct? Wrong. Poppit was my last chance at having another baby. I didn't expect to get pregnant with him so fast. Imagine my surprise when 2 days before my birthday I see 2 pink lines on a pregnancy test. We were so excited. And scared. How on earth was Popper going to handle being a big brother? How were we going to afford a second baby? Why didn't we think of these things BEFORE we decided to try for another baby? Too late now, time to ride the roller coaster of insecurities. I didn't even expect to get past my 1st trimester. Imagine my surprise when I got past my 1st trimester, then my 2nd, and then entered my 3rd. As for baby stuff, yard sales people, yard sales. That and freecycle and craigslist. Second hand IS good enough for your baby, it's technically new to you. Then the day came and I was pushing and all of a sudden holding Poppit. Suddenly those fears came rushing back. How would we ever afford this little guy? We'll manage. And we are.

I know that a lot of people look down on those of us on GA. They view what we get as their money, their tax money. Which is probably why so many people feel like they have the right to make comments on our groceries once they see the EBT card. I mean it IS their money after all right? *insert eye roll*. The point is, we're human beings too. And no, you don't have the right to make comments, we do deserve respect, and no, we aren't scamming the system. If you know someone who is scamming, then please report it, they make it harder for those who truly need help to get it. But don't group us all in with them. We have enough of a stigma attached to our head as it is.

Here is a list of things Pop and I have combated while on GA:
~Fleas from another apartment
~Eviction
~Water and heat turned off
~Phone turned off
~Van getting repossessed
~Running out of gas on the road
~Health issues we couldn't get dealt with due to no insurance
~Losing a job due to lack of car because of mechanical issues we couldn't afford
~DCYF getting called on us (was later dismissed as unfounded)
the list goes on and on.

Oh and for those wondering, I got a tubal the day after my son was born because I know we can't afford anymore children. Yes, I was responsible, and yes, that is my biggest sacrifice to date.