I've been in this position. Once when my ex left me when I was 5 months pregnant and had a 1-year-old. Then when my beloved husband died suddenly when our son was 6 months old (and my older two kids were 13 and 14). So while I may not be in exactly the same situation, I can certainly relate.
My issues are (in no particular order)
Why school uniforms for Christmas? Is there any school in the country that requires them except private ones? If so, send them to public school and get them on free/reduced lunches and breakfasts. That would certainly solve a lot of issues.
"They made $38,000 last year in unemployment." Well, guess what? As a school teacher, I made that LAST YEAR and every year for the past five years since I started teaching. I have a family of four to feed on that. And we don't qualify for food stamps.
How do people manage? They PRIORITIZE. They decide that they have a limited amount of money and that they simply CANNOT afford TV or vacations or whatever.
I think advertising has a lot to do with it. All the ads talk about "Don't you deserve this product?" and entice the more vulnerable members of our society to buy things, to "stock up" or to be popular or to splurge because they're having a bad day. Well, I have bad days, too (actually, I'm having a pretty terrible day today, come to think of it ) but if I gave into every desire to splurge, I'd be sunk up to my eyebrows in debt.
I feel sorry for the woman. She is uneducated and was probably trying her best, but has no idea how to manage money.
My issues are (in no particular order)
Why school uniforms for Christmas? Is there any school in the country that requires them except private ones? If so, send them to public school and get them on free/reduced lunches and breakfasts. That would certainly solve a lot of issues.
"They made $38,000 last year in unemployment." Well, guess what? As a school teacher, I made that LAST YEAR and every year for the past five years since I started teaching. I have a family of four to feed on that. And we don't qualify for food stamps.
How do people manage? They PRIORITIZE. They decide that they have a limited amount of money and that they simply CANNOT afford TV or vacations or whatever.
I think advertising has a lot to do with it. All the ads talk about "Don't you deserve this product?" and entice the more vulnerable members of our society to buy things, to "stock up" or to be popular or to splurge because they're having a bad day. Well, I have bad days, too (actually, I'm having a pretty terrible day today, come to think of it ) but if I gave into every desire to splurge, I'd be sunk up to my eyebrows in debt.
I feel sorry for the woman. She is uneducated and was probably trying her best, but has no idea how to manage money.