Quote:
Originally Posted by crockett
Yes, but food stamps are called assistance. They aren't meant to be the only source of income in which you eat from, this is what everyone seems to lose grasp of with this. ie they are not providing you with your food requirements but rather assisting you.
Lets also forget pretty much everywhere has food banks and then there are of course always soup kitchens if you are really that much in need.
Now even if you are making $7.25/hr and working only 35/hrs a week that is still over $1k a month. No it's not shit, but if you combine that with the $29/week or $119/month add in a food bank and yes it is possible to live on very little. Even if you spend $600/mth to rent a room which is high in most places, you would still have around $100/wk to live on) Can you not live on $129/week? It would be rough but yes it can be done. (lots of elderly people live on SS which is very often in the $900 to 1200 range)
(I used 35/hr week because many low paying jobs keep their workers under 40/hrs a week.)
No you aren't going to live in San Fan or New York on that kind of money but then again you also aren't going to be making min wage at those places either..
|
True, there are other sources for food if you are that much in need. And with my experiment I spent about $30 on stuff that wasn't really food like olive oil, butter and a few cooking spices. I could have done without them. Also, taking better advantage of sales and coupons would have helped me.
Had I really been in a situation where I had zero money for food I could have gone a little cheaper, hit food banks and used those coupons and I likely would have been able to make it.
The interesting part was my buddy who only made in 2 weeks. We all did this just to see how hard it is (my friends and I are always doing various 30 day challenges). He was certain he was going to do it with ease because he doesn't buy much at the grocery store. The reason is because he eats out a lot and orders in a lot. When those options were taken away from him things got difficult in a hurry.
I recommend everyone try it. It is a challenge.