This is the big thing for everyone. I don’t care if you make a three-figure salary, you still stress about how much healthcare costs. In honesty, this is probably the biggest reason we have had trouble saving money. Even when we had jobs that brought in a modest middle-class income, it seemed like every time we started make progress and were able to put a little into savings, we would get hit by some big medical expense. If you are a single and healthy adult, or even one of those DINK (Dual Income, No Kids) families, you probably don’t have to worry about it. But if you are among the many aging Babyboomers in this country or a young family, you’re basically screwed.
Right now our kids have no insurance, though we have applied for assistance on that. I’m sure it will come through, but it does make me nervous. My kids have a cold right now. It’s not bad, but I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop. My son has developed lung infections from colds that have required ER visits, and my daughter has had burst eardrums from ear infections. As many parents will attest, when you have a child, you never know when a cold can become something more.
We’ve had our taste of just about every kind of health insurance.
In Massachusetts, we had United Auto Workers Union healthcare because my husband was philosophy graduate teaching assistant. Yeah, I know it makes a lot of sense doesn’t it? Any way, it was pretty sweet. They only problem was we had to drive about 45 minutes to get to our regular doctor. On the plus side, there were no co-pays at all! Even for emergency room visits, childbirth and hospital stays! Ahh, that was the good life.
In California, we got to experience the wonderful HMO goliath called Kaiser Permanente. I always thought the name sounded so ominous. It’s like they are announcing that the will become our permanent rulers, in a very Nazi Germany kind of way. It was fairly affordable, especially since my husband’s job paid our premium, but we still ended up with a $2,500 bill for our daughter’s birth. It took us 2 years on our lease-to-own plan to finally pay off our daughter. Our son racked up quite a few ER visit bills too because he always managed to hurt himself right at 6 p.m., when his regular doctor’s office was closed. One quick trip to check if he needed stitches when his tooth broke through his lip cost over $100. When he actually needed stitches -glue stitches that is - the cost went up to $500. That’s a lot of money when you are living pay-check to pay-check.
Next, we had regular old health insurance you get from a normal job, where you pay part of the premium and you have a fairly large deductible. I remember being outraged when my daughter’s vaccines cost us $400! Again, just as we started making progress our bills and were able to start saving, it all had to go to pay the doctors.
Now we are in insurance limbo. For student health insurance, the price isn’t too bad, but add the wife (me) and kids, and the insurance premium would have been close to $13,000. Given that right now we have an estimated $14,000 a year to live on until I can find some work, that just wasn’t possible. So, we split the difference. I got on student insurance with my husband, even though technically we can’t afford it and we are waiting to hear back if our kids qualify for Peach Care. Peach Care is Georgia’s version of Medicaid for children. By an act of Congress, every state must provide a way for children of the working poor to be insured at little or no cost. It’s a wonderful idea, and I’m so grateful for it. Not just for us, but it makes me sleep better at night knowing that any kid in the United States can be insured if the parents are willing to seek help.
Now for the controversial stuff. I’m not in favor of in the health care bill that was recently passed. I am in favor of some kind of healthcare reform, but I think the one that was passed was pushed through for political reasons. I remember reading that one politician said he hadn’t read the whole bill, but knew said that didn’t matter. He said the important thing was to pass it, and if it didn’t work, we could just fix it later. That’s the government for you. Pure genius.
I know enough about the medical industry to know that a big reason why everything costs so much is because the insurance companies are taking everyone -including hospitals and doctors - for a ride. So, why would you create a plan that forces everyone to buy insurance. What a pig-headed thing to do. People are uninsured because they can’t afford it, so I’m going to make them buy it anyway by threatening them with a penalty if they don’t.
The peasants can’t afford bread, so let them eat cake.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
It Takes a Village
It’s funny, the last apartments we lived in had the name “Village” in them, but it was anything but a village. It was frustrating because there were kids there, but they were all kind of savages, and I really didn’t want my kids interacting with them. I admit that I’m a snob about the company my kids keep. It’s not a matter of rich or poor, but I can’t stand it when parents don’t keep their kids in line. Most of the people there were single parents or divorced. The little boys would come up to my kids and take their toys and when I would try to get them back, they would act like I was stealing from them or something. And their parents would just sit at the pool, turning their highly exposed flabby skin into leather, drink cheap beer and flirt with each other. Sometimes they would let their little toddlers hang out in the pool by themselves, and when they got into trouble, as any young child who can’t swim might, my husband and I were the ones to take care of them.
The phrase “It takes a village to raise a child,” has always bothered me because that’s not how our society is set up. I would have never let my kids roam around in the “village” that was our former apartment complex. I didn’t know or trust the people who lived there.
But things have changed. We now live in student housing called The University Village. Suddenly, “it takes a village” makes sense to me. Everyone who lives in the student housing is poor, at least for now. But, we all have aspirations to one day not be poor, which is why we are here in the first place. I like to joke that I live in the housing projects for people getting phDs. It goes to prove that just because you are poor does not mean you have to be low class.
One of the reasons we decided for my husband to go back to school was because we were tired of living in apartment complexes. Most of the people there had jobs and were basically getting by. They were, for the most part, middle class. But socially speaking, they were very low class. Now, we live in a place where everyone has substantially less in terms of money, but they are good people who are sacrificing today to have a better future for their children.
The little girl next door knocked on our door the other day and asked my son to come out and play. I was happy to open the door and let him out. It truly is like a village here, where all the parents know each other and the kids do to. If I need someone to watch my kids, I have people I know and trust here that can help me.
It’s sad to me that most neighborhoods, even the high class ones with the nice houses, are not like this anymore. People in our society are choosing to have either no kids or just one or two. They are choosing this because people just don’t have the money for big families anymore. The whole idea of the neighborhood kids is disappearing. If you have the money to live in a nice place, likely both parents work and the kids are in daycare most of the day. They really don’t have time to get to know the neighborhood kids, so they just sit at home all day and watch tv.
I feel truly blessed to live where I do. Yes, it’s roach infested and the airconditioners are so nasty that my allergies have gone nuts, but for once in our lives we live in a true “village.” I just hope when we finally “make it” and are able to afford a home, we can find a neighborhood where our kids can have friends. Or, I hope we have enough money that I can afford more kids and we can make our own friends at home :-)
The phrase “It takes a village to raise a child,” has always bothered me because that’s not how our society is set up. I would have never let my kids roam around in the “village” that was our former apartment complex. I didn’t know or trust the people who lived there.
But things have changed. We now live in student housing called The University Village. Suddenly, “it takes a village” makes sense to me. Everyone who lives in the student housing is poor, at least for now. But, we all have aspirations to one day not be poor, which is why we are here in the first place. I like to joke that I live in the housing projects for people getting phDs. It goes to prove that just because you are poor does not mean you have to be low class.
One of the reasons we decided for my husband to go back to school was because we were tired of living in apartment complexes. Most of the people there had jobs and were basically getting by. They were, for the most part, middle class. But socially speaking, they were very low class. Now, we live in a place where everyone has substantially less in terms of money, but they are good people who are sacrificing today to have a better future for their children.
The little girl next door knocked on our door the other day and asked my son to come out and play. I was happy to open the door and let him out. It truly is like a village here, where all the parents know each other and the kids do to. If I need someone to watch my kids, I have people I know and trust here that can help me.
It’s sad to me that most neighborhoods, even the high class ones with the nice houses, are not like this anymore. People in our society are choosing to have either no kids or just one or two. They are choosing this because people just don’t have the money for big families anymore. The whole idea of the neighborhood kids is disappearing. If you have the money to live in a nice place, likely both parents work and the kids are in daycare most of the day. They really don’t have time to get to know the neighborhood kids, so they just sit at home all day and watch tv.
I feel truly blessed to live where I do. Yes, it’s roach infested and the airconditioners are so nasty that my allergies have gone nuts, but for once in our lives we live in a true “village.” I just hope when we finally “make it” and are able to afford a home, we can find a neighborhood where our kids can have friends. Or, I hope we have enough money that I can afford more kids and we can make our own friends at home :-)
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Value of Education
My husband and I have talked about this issue a lot. Sometimes it seems to me, based on our own experiences and those of our friends, that a college degree ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Education is an incredibly valuable experience that makes your interior life better. We are no doubt about that. An educated person is more introspective, more interested in the world, more interesting to talk to. But, in today’s economy it’s questionable whether it’s something everyone should aspire to.
Is a bachelor’s degree still worth the cost both in financial terms and in time? I guess the answer to some degree is, that depends on your degree.
When I went to college, I was told by so many people that it didn’t matter what you majored in. The important thing was to get a college degree, and that told employers that you were “trainable,” and basically smart enough to work for them.
Having since graduated and seen so many of my friends struggle, I wonder if that validation of trainability is really worth more than the experience you would have built up had you just gone straight into the workforce out of high school.
I’m a big fan of tech schools and the idea of apprenticeships. I think that education in the liberal arts is incredibly important, but not necessarily a ticket into the world of the gainfully employed. I think in many way it would make more sense for people to pursue the liberal arts on their own and through community courses instead of paying massive amount of money to focus four or more years on it.
I also think that if fewer people got a four-year degree, the degree would once again have a value in the employment world.
This morning I heard on NPR the story about the big class action suit against “for profit” colleges. You know, like the University of Phoenix and other “colleges” you see advertised on billboards and on TV. There was this sob story about a woman who went $75,000 in debt to get a degree at one of these school and now she can only find a job working retail at $10 an hour. Well let me tell you something, I went to a public university with a good reputation. I got, what I consider, an excellent education in journalism, and you want to know something? My first job in that field paid $10.30 an hour as the starting salary. Was it worth it for me to invest all that (admittedly parent-provided) money to make that kind of salary? If I had gotten a job as a bank teller right out of college, would I have become a manger by the end of those four years? It’s possible. On the other hand, I learned an incredible skill that not many people have. I get enjoyment out of writing, and I can still make a few bucks here or there doing freelance.
My husband got a master’s in philosophy. He attributes his conversion to his studies and feels that his view on the world is so much clearer because the challenge of his degree forced him to sharpen his brain. But he couldn’t get a job delivering mail or even driving a truck if he wanted to. He doesn’t have those skill sets.
So the question remains: Is the life value you receive from a college degree worth the financial burden you get with it? I still haven’t decided on the answer, but it’s something that haunts me frequently. I have two children and hope to have more. Right now, there is no way we would be able to pay for their college degree. What will I say when my son tells me he plans on majoring in the arts? Will I tell him it’s a waste of time and money, or let him take the risk and see what fruits his works will bear?
Education is an incredibly valuable experience that makes your interior life better. We are no doubt about that. An educated person is more introspective, more interested in the world, more interesting to talk to. But, in today’s economy it’s questionable whether it’s something everyone should aspire to.
Is a bachelor’s degree still worth the cost both in financial terms and in time? I guess the answer to some degree is, that depends on your degree.
When I went to college, I was told by so many people that it didn’t matter what you majored in. The important thing was to get a college degree, and that told employers that you were “trainable,” and basically smart enough to work for them.
Having since graduated and seen so many of my friends struggle, I wonder if that validation of trainability is really worth more than the experience you would have built up had you just gone straight into the workforce out of high school.
I’m a big fan of tech schools and the idea of apprenticeships. I think that education in the liberal arts is incredibly important, but not necessarily a ticket into the world of the gainfully employed. I think in many way it would make more sense for people to pursue the liberal arts on their own and through community courses instead of paying massive amount of money to focus four or more years on it.
I also think that if fewer people got a four-year degree, the degree would once again have a value in the employment world.
This morning I heard on NPR the story about the big class action suit against “for profit” colleges. You know, like the University of Phoenix and other “colleges” you see advertised on billboards and on TV. There was this sob story about a woman who went $75,000 in debt to get a degree at one of these school and now she can only find a job working retail at $10 an hour. Well let me tell you something, I went to a public university with a good reputation. I got, what I consider, an excellent education in journalism, and you want to know something? My first job in that field paid $10.30 an hour as the starting salary. Was it worth it for me to invest all that (admittedly parent-provided) money to make that kind of salary? If I had gotten a job as a bank teller right out of college, would I have become a manger by the end of those four years? It’s possible. On the other hand, I learned an incredible skill that not many people have. I get enjoyment out of writing, and I can still make a few bucks here or there doing freelance.
My husband got a master’s in philosophy. He attributes his conversion to his studies and feels that his view on the world is so much clearer because the challenge of his degree forced him to sharpen his brain. But he couldn’t get a job delivering mail or even driving a truck if he wanted to. He doesn’t have those skill sets.
So the question remains: Is the life value you receive from a college degree worth the financial burden you get with it? I still haven’t decided on the answer, but it’s something that haunts me frequently. I have two children and hope to have more. Right now, there is no way we would be able to pay for their college degree. What will I say when my son tells me he plans on majoring in the arts? Will I tell him it’s a waste of time and money, or let him take the risk and see what fruits his works will bear?
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Poor Is The New Grunge
Hey do you guys remember the 90s when we rejected our parents’ bourgeois lifestyles and started wearing a lot of second-hand store plaid shirts? The thing with grunge is it’s only cool when it’s just a choice, which kind of negates the whole concept behind grunge and makes me realize what a bunch of stupid spoiled kids we were. Now that second-hand stores are more of something I should be using, I’m just not that into it. I feel like the clothes are either in bad condition, or they are in good condition and therefore priced almost as if they are new.
Again, some of you might not know about this, but there are these massive consignment sales that moms groups get together and organize throughout the year. You can get some amazing deals, but you also have to navigate lines that can snake through the length of the basketball court these sales tend to be located in. I just don’t have that kind of patience, or more to the point, my kids don’t have that kind of patience and think it’s the epitamy of comedic genius to run away and hide from me behind the clothes racks. I did find one sale once with no line at all, and I snagged up about 15 puzzles (half of which were those nifty Melissa and Doug ones) and one of those baby bead mazes for about $20. Apparently, if you sell stuff at these sale you get the benefit of shopping early with fewer crowds, and you get a discount. The thing is, we plan on having more kids so it’s hard for me to part with a lot of the kids’ clothes. I want to store them and use them again. I’ve become a kids clothes hoarder.
But, I’ve found there are alternatives to the mega-consignment sales - namely, buying clothes out of season in clearance sales! A 3-year-old boy’s Polo shirt runs about $50 bucks at the store, which is not only ridiculous, but hilarious to me. No way am I going to pay $50 bucks for a shirt my kid is going to wipe grilled cheese grease all over, even in the theoretical future where we have money. But, wait until Dillards has it’s Additional 40% Off sale and whamo! My kid’s are well dressed little monkeys. All clearance items, which are marked at 75% off get an additional %40 percent of the lowest marked price! I can literally get those same Polo shirts for $5. That’s pretty much what a used Gymboree shirt would cost at a consignment sale, but it’s brand new (even if it’s “last year’s style”). Speaking of Gymboree, they sell their clearance clothes for as little as $3 for a dress, though most of them end up more in the $8-10 range. That’s still a sweet deal for a cute new dress! Plus, you don’t have to wait in line forever like you do at the consignment sales.
Again, some of you might not know about this, but there are these massive consignment sales that moms groups get together and organize throughout the year. You can get some amazing deals, but you also have to navigate lines that can snake through the length of the basketball court these sales tend to be located in. I just don’t have that kind of patience, or more to the point, my kids don’t have that kind of patience and think it’s the epitamy of comedic genius to run away and hide from me behind the clothes racks. I did find one sale once with no line at all, and I snagged up about 15 puzzles (half of which were those nifty Melissa and Doug ones) and one of those baby bead mazes for about $20. Apparently, if you sell stuff at these sale you get the benefit of shopping early with fewer crowds, and you get a discount. The thing is, we plan on having more kids so it’s hard for me to part with a lot of the kids’ clothes. I want to store them and use them again. I’ve become a kids clothes hoarder.
But, I’ve found there are alternatives to the mega-consignment sales - namely, buying clothes out of season in clearance sales! A 3-year-old boy’s Polo shirt runs about $50 bucks at the store, which is not only ridiculous, but hilarious to me. No way am I going to pay $50 bucks for a shirt my kid is going to wipe grilled cheese grease all over, even in the theoretical future where we have money. But, wait until Dillards has it’s Additional 40% Off sale and whamo! My kid’s are well dressed little monkeys. All clearance items, which are marked at 75% off get an additional %40 percent of the lowest marked price! I can literally get those same Polo shirts for $5. That’s pretty much what a used Gymboree shirt would cost at a consignment sale, but it’s brand new (even if it’s “last year’s style”). Speaking of Gymboree, they sell their clearance clothes for as little as $3 for a dress, though most of them end up more in the $8-10 range. That’s still a sweet deal for a cute new dress! Plus, you don’t have to wait in line forever like you do at the consignment sales.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Clock-Roaches
We are not alone here. We share our little two-bedroom university dorm with a family of what my 3-year-old son calls clock-roaches. These clock-roaches believe that the cozy warmth and soothing hum of the back of the refrigerator make it a perfect place to build their filthy nest.
Clock-roach family and human family will have to agree to disagree.
Today we will have our weekly visit from our friendly exterminator. Apparently no one else around here has this problem, which was likely caused by the previous tenant thinking that clock-roaches were perfectly fine companions and no reason to inform the University. Exterminator man comes once a week and puts poisoned bait out for the little buggers to take back to their home. Apparently they die in their nest and their family members eat them, which in turn poisons them. I have nightmares about what the back of the refrigerator looks like!
Exterminator man cracks me up. He’s a short little thing with a constant smile and a slightly insane look in his eyes. He reminds me a little of someone from a David Lynch movie. He really seems to like figuring out how to “get” the roaches and one-up them. He makes frequent comparisons of roaches to children. He apparently worked for several years at an elementary school. He talks about how roaches are social creatures who, much like children, will share any kind of treat they find (which, again, is how the poison works). He says roaches are curious creatures, much like children, who will wander around the house when no one is looking. He also said that roaches, much like children, go crazy during electrical storms because all the ions in the air excite the neurons in their brains.
Seriously, he said that.
I haven’t figured out if these little nuggets are meant as compliments to the roaches, or insults to children. I just hope he doesn’t start leaving “treats” for my kids when he stops by.
Apart from the roaches, I actually like our little home. It’s smaller than our last place, but it’s safe and the kids have a lot of outdoor space to run around in. There is also something kind of cool about living in a dorm again. We live here because we can’t afford anything nicer, but it’s really not a big deal. I’ve learned that it’s really true that home is where the heart is, and we have gotten good at turning any living space into a cozy home. Kids are good at helping with that.
I’ve also realized that no matter how low your standard of living goes, everyone has at least something they won’t put up with. For me it’s the clock-roaches. I’m not quite sure yet what it is for my husband. I have high hopes that the problem will at some point be resolved, and so does the friendly exterminator. My husband on the other hand has made peace with the clock-roaches and doesn’t even bother killing them when he sees them unless I ask nicely, although he does get a macabre kick out of watching them die slowly from the poison This makes me suspect that the previous guy, who was a bachelor, wasn’t necessarily gross. He was probably just a guy, like my husband, who has a higher threshold of things he’ll put up with.
Clock-roach family and human family will have to agree to disagree.
Today we will have our weekly visit from our friendly exterminator. Apparently no one else around here has this problem, which was likely caused by the previous tenant thinking that clock-roaches were perfectly fine companions and no reason to inform the University. Exterminator man comes once a week and puts poisoned bait out for the little buggers to take back to their home. Apparently they die in their nest and their family members eat them, which in turn poisons them. I have nightmares about what the back of the refrigerator looks like!
Exterminator man cracks me up. He’s a short little thing with a constant smile and a slightly insane look in his eyes. He reminds me a little of someone from a David Lynch movie. He really seems to like figuring out how to “get” the roaches and one-up them. He makes frequent comparisons of roaches to children. He apparently worked for several years at an elementary school. He talks about how roaches are social creatures who, much like children, will share any kind of treat they find (which, again, is how the poison works). He says roaches are curious creatures, much like children, who will wander around the house when no one is looking. He also said that roaches, much like children, go crazy during electrical storms because all the ions in the air excite the neurons in their brains.
Seriously, he said that.
I haven’t figured out if these little nuggets are meant as compliments to the roaches, or insults to children. I just hope he doesn’t start leaving “treats” for my kids when he stops by.
Apart from the roaches, I actually like our little home. It’s smaller than our last place, but it’s safe and the kids have a lot of outdoor space to run around in. There is also something kind of cool about living in a dorm again. We live here because we can’t afford anything nicer, but it’s really not a big deal. I’ve learned that it’s really true that home is where the heart is, and we have gotten good at turning any living space into a cozy home. Kids are good at helping with that.
I’ve also realized that no matter how low your standard of living goes, everyone has at least something they won’t put up with. For me it’s the clock-roaches. I’m not quite sure yet what it is for my husband. I have high hopes that the problem will at some point be resolved, and so does the friendly exterminator. My husband on the other hand has made peace with the clock-roaches and doesn’t even bother killing them when he sees them unless I ask nicely, although he does get a macabre kick out of watching them die slowly from the poison This makes me suspect that the previous guy, who was a bachelor, wasn’t necessarily gross. He was probably just a guy, like my husband, who has a higher threshold of things he’ll put up with.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Why Food Stamps Rock
We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our EBT card. Contrary to popular belief, food stamps no longer come in stamp form. They come on a nice little EBT card, which stands for Electronic Balance Transfer. It looks just like a credit card and as far as the person behind you is concerned, that’s exactly what it is! We were on it for a short time in Massachusetts, but haven’t had one in about 2 1/2 years. It’s pretty awesome because, unlike WIC, there are no restrictions on brands of food you can use it for. If it’s edible, it’s eligible! There are some obvious caveats, like you can’t be beer with it, but other than that it’s pretty flexible.
The coolest part of the food stamps is that their value is doubled at farmers markets! That means I can manage to buy free-range chickens, organic grass-fed beef and hand-crafted sausages and cheese at a fraction of the cost of the factory-farmed junk at Wal-Mart. It tastes great, helps support local agriculture, eases our conscience about the environmental impact of factory farms, and best of all it’s a great outing with the kids, who love to look at all the different stands and beg for free samples! At the farmers market here in town, everyone uses these wooden coins. You go to the farmers market information booth, give them your cash, credit card, debit card or EBT card, and you buy these nifty coins. To the individual farm stands, your coins are exactly the same as anyone else’s coins. It’s a great equalizer, which is another benefit of this system.
I hope that other people on food stamps take advantage of this deal. I make a conscious effort to prepare healthy meals for my family with fresh produce whenever we can. We also try to buy organic when we can, because I’m paranoid about all the pesticides in the blueberries and genetically mutated giant chickens. But it’s hard to buy healthy food when you are poor. The thing is, when you are broke you can cancel your cable, stop going to the movies, stop going to restaurants and buy second-hand clothes, but the cost of food keeps going up and up, so it’s hard to save in that area. I can see why so many people who live in poverty are also fat. Junk food tends to be cheaper than healthy food, at least it appears that way. The cost to your health makes it an unwise temporary bargain that ends up biting you in your ever-expanding ass. Doubling your food stamp value at the farmers market is a great way to counter that trend!
The coolest part of the food stamps is that their value is doubled at farmers markets! That means I can manage to buy free-range chickens, organic grass-fed beef and hand-crafted sausages and cheese at a fraction of the cost of the factory-farmed junk at Wal-Mart. It tastes great, helps support local agriculture, eases our conscience about the environmental impact of factory farms, and best of all it’s a great outing with the kids, who love to look at all the different stands and beg for free samples! At the farmers market here in town, everyone uses these wooden coins. You go to the farmers market information booth, give them your cash, credit card, debit card or EBT card, and you buy these nifty coins. To the individual farm stands, your coins are exactly the same as anyone else’s coins. It’s a great equalizer, which is another benefit of this system.
I hope that other people on food stamps take advantage of this deal. I make a conscious effort to prepare healthy meals for my family with fresh produce whenever we can. We also try to buy organic when we can, because I’m paranoid about all the pesticides in the blueberries and genetically mutated giant chickens. But it’s hard to buy healthy food when you are poor. The thing is, when you are broke you can cancel your cable, stop going to the movies, stop going to restaurants and buy second-hand clothes, but the cost of food keeps going up and up, so it’s hard to save in that area. I can see why so many people who live in poverty are also fat. Junk food tends to be cheaper than healthy food, at least it appears that way. The cost to your health makes it an unwise temporary bargain that ends up biting you in your ever-expanding ass. Doubling your food stamp value at the farmers market is a great way to counter that trend!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Take a little trip with WIC
Any of you who have ever tried grocery shopping with two toddlers know how confusing, frustrating and embarrassing it can be. Now add to it a ridiculously specific grocery list and method of paying that screams "I'm poor!" and you have a perfect recipe for humble pie.
I have a real love-hate relationship with WIC. When I first got on it in Massachusetts, it was interesting to me that I actually recognized about half the families I saw at the WIC office. They were people I knew from church and from playgroup. They were well educated and often times they were people who were actively looking for jobs or worked at least part-time. Many of them were like me - mothers who chose not to work full time because they wanted to actively raise their children.
This was my first view into the world of modern America, where higher education does not necessarily buy you a spot in the American Dream. It braced me for dealing with life on a strict budget and started easing me into the idea that I might never actually "make it." By "make it" I mean being able to have a house in the suburbs and maybe take a nice trip on my 25th anniversary or something.
I also learned to see the tell-tale signs that someone was on WIC - the bountiful supply of Juicy-Juice bottles in their house. Which brings me to the "hate" part of the program.
For those of you who have never heard of it, WIC stands for Women, Infants and Children. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding a child under 1 and children from working families below the poverty line are eligible. It is not the same thing as well fair. You have to work and bring in at least some money to qualify. Any way, you get these checks for each person in the family who qualifies, and the checks are dated so they are only good for one month. One check might let you buy a gallon of whole milk, a 16 ounce block of cheese and a dozen eggs. If you have eggs in the house, but need the cheese, you may end up getting it any way and suddenly finding yourself with two full cartons of eggs and two extra bottle of milk in the fridge. It's very inefficient and there ends up being quite a bit of waste. We have checks for 8 1/2 gallons of milk this month. Seriously, does any family of four drink that much milk? Also, checks for the child under 2 say "whole milk only" and checks for kids over 2 are skim or lowfat. I'm know that may sound straight forward, but when you are dealing with three or four different checks at a time and trying to make sure you have the right amount of everything, you inevitably end up at the counter with a gallon of whole and a half-gallon of skim when it should have been the other way around.
The biggest problem is the massive amount of juice they give you. Seriously, we couldn't drink that much juice unless we had a birthday party once a month or so! And yet there it is on the check, begging you to pick up two more 64-ounce bottles...just in case. I would much rather have a check for the same amount of money, but for more veges and fruit or something. Maybe another loaf of bread. I wish they would let you have a little more say in what checks you get, like say I could tell them, "No we don't need that much juice, but we would love another check for fresh veges!" We used to go ahead and get the juice and then we would use it as our donation for potluck meals at church. Now I know that any money not used on the check goes back to the WIC program, so I just don't use them. But I know a lot of people with less nutritional knowledge than me are getting these checks. Is it really a good thing that the government is giving out so much juice to children while at the same time telling parents not to give their obese children so much juice!? Even the nutritionist at the WIC office told me she thinks it's ridiculous. I sometimes get the feeling that the nutrition lists are created by lobby groups.
Any way, I hope that one day they re-write the nutrition lists to make things a little more simple and and straightforward. I mean, why is it that Chex is ok, but Raisin Bran isn't? Why is it that I can get a 16 oz loaf of bread, but not the 8 oz? Any way, that's just my little rant for the day.
I have a real love-hate relationship with WIC. When I first got on it in Massachusetts, it was interesting to me that I actually recognized about half the families I saw at the WIC office. They were people I knew from church and from playgroup. They were well educated and often times they were people who were actively looking for jobs or worked at least part-time. Many of them were like me - mothers who chose not to work full time because they wanted to actively raise their children.
This was my first view into the world of modern America, where higher education does not necessarily buy you a spot in the American Dream. It braced me for dealing with life on a strict budget and started easing me into the idea that I might never actually "make it." By "make it" I mean being able to have a house in the suburbs and maybe take a nice trip on my 25th anniversary or something.
I also learned to see the tell-tale signs that someone was on WIC - the bountiful supply of Juicy-Juice bottles in their house. Which brings me to the "hate" part of the program.
For those of you who have never heard of it, WIC stands for Women, Infants and Children. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding a child under 1 and children from working families below the poverty line are eligible. It is not the same thing as well fair. You have to work and bring in at least some money to qualify. Any way, you get these checks for each person in the family who qualifies, and the checks are dated so they are only good for one month. One check might let you buy a gallon of whole milk, a 16 ounce block of cheese and a dozen eggs. If you have eggs in the house, but need the cheese, you may end up getting it any way and suddenly finding yourself with two full cartons of eggs and two extra bottle of milk in the fridge. It's very inefficient and there ends up being quite a bit of waste. We have checks for 8 1/2 gallons of milk this month. Seriously, does any family of four drink that much milk? Also, checks for the child under 2 say "whole milk only" and checks for kids over 2 are skim or lowfat. I'm know that may sound straight forward, but when you are dealing with three or four different checks at a time and trying to make sure you have the right amount of everything, you inevitably end up at the counter with a gallon of whole and a half-gallon of skim when it should have been the other way around.
The biggest problem is the massive amount of juice they give you. Seriously, we couldn't drink that much juice unless we had a birthday party once a month or so! And yet there it is on the check, begging you to pick up two more 64-ounce bottles...just in case. I would much rather have a check for the same amount of money, but for more veges and fruit or something. Maybe another loaf of bread. I wish they would let you have a little more say in what checks you get, like say I could tell them, "No we don't need that much juice, but we would love another check for fresh veges!" We used to go ahead and get the juice and then we would use it as our donation for potluck meals at church. Now I know that any money not used on the check goes back to the WIC program, so I just don't use them. But I know a lot of people with less nutritional knowledge than me are getting these checks. Is it really a good thing that the government is giving out so much juice to children while at the same time telling parents not to give their obese children so much juice!? Even the nutritionist at the WIC office told me she thinks it's ridiculous. I sometimes get the feeling that the nutrition lists are created by lobby groups.
Any way, I hope that one day they re-write the nutrition lists to make things a little more simple and and straightforward. I mean, why is it that Chex is ok, but Raisin Bran isn't? Why is it that I can get a 16 oz loaf of bread, but not the 8 oz? Any way, that's just my little rant for the day.
The Great Recession
I grew up with money. We lived in a nice two-story house on a big chunk of quiet woods, got to take frequent trips to foreign countries and always got nice new clothes in the fall before school started. Growing up, I knew that money was not necessary for happiness and a frequent prayer I had was to ask God that no matter what, I most wanted to have happiness in my life and to be with those I loved. I went as far as to pray that I would much rather be happy than to have money. To be poor and happy was a better life than to be rich and lonely. I still think I'm right in that belief, and I think God has really taken me up on that deal. But even though I knew that fancy cars and nice houses weren't necessary, I still kind of figured I would someday own some kind of house, and maybe even have a little money left over for family trips to the beach. On that thought, I was mistaken.
So, I went to college and "followed my heart" to major in the liberal arts instead of the hard sciences my teachers always pushed me towards. I majored in journalism, and I was pretty good at it too. The problem is, you can't really make a living on writing these days. I had my first child and faced a dilemma: Is it really worth it to put my children in the hands of strangers so I can bring home a whopping $11 bucks an hour!? Half that would go to pay daycare, plus I would lose about $3,000 in the first year of my child's life in formula costs if I couldn't stay home and breastfeed. I quit my job, took on a part-time writing job from home and got on WIC for the first time. Since then, we have had to move across the country twice in pursuit of jobs and have been on and off benefits.
My husband also majored in liberal arts with the goal to be a teacher. We were committed to making a life that revolved around family time instead of big bucks and trips to Europe. But seven years and two kids later, he is now back in school to become a lawyer instead. Our savings had dwindled to $20 bucks and we were tired of having to pick up and move every year. So here we are. He can't work while in school, and I'm trying my hardest to find jobs I can do from home while watching the kids.
There are nearly 40 million Americans on food stamps. That's 1 in every 8 people. And what's worse is that 1 in 3 eligible people aren't using them. To be honest, we have never not been eligible for benefits, but in times when we are able to, we preferred to tread water on our own instead. Now, we figure we can live in debt to family, the government or the credit card corporations. Our families help us, but we don't want to burden them too much as they are facing the possibility of not having enough money in savings for retirement.
So that's it. That's how we are here and we are not alone. All across the country there are families that don't fit the stereotype of poverty. And the way things are looking, they will probably get worse before they get better.
So, I went to college and "followed my heart" to major in the liberal arts instead of the hard sciences my teachers always pushed me towards. I majored in journalism, and I was pretty good at it too. The problem is, you can't really make a living on writing these days. I had my first child and faced a dilemma: Is it really worth it to put my children in the hands of strangers so I can bring home a whopping $11 bucks an hour!? Half that would go to pay daycare, plus I would lose about $3,000 in the first year of my child's life in formula costs if I couldn't stay home and breastfeed. I quit my job, took on a part-time writing job from home and got on WIC for the first time. Since then, we have had to move across the country twice in pursuit of jobs and have been on and off benefits.
My husband also majored in liberal arts with the goal to be a teacher. We were committed to making a life that revolved around family time instead of big bucks and trips to Europe. But seven years and two kids later, he is now back in school to become a lawyer instead. Our savings had dwindled to $20 bucks and we were tired of having to pick up and move every year. So here we are. He can't work while in school, and I'm trying my hardest to find jobs I can do from home while watching the kids.
There are nearly 40 million Americans on food stamps. That's 1 in every 8 people. And what's worse is that 1 in 3 eligible people aren't using them. To be honest, we have never not been eligible for benefits, but in times when we are able to, we preferred to tread water on our own instead. Now, we figure we can live in debt to family, the government or the credit card corporations. Our families help us, but we don't want to burden them too much as they are facing the possibility of not having enough money in savings for retirement.
So that's it. That's how we are here and we are not alone. All across the country there are families that don't fit the stereotype of poverty. And the way things are looking, they will probably get worse before they get better.
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