When people think of the average EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) card user, they envision a career welfare recipient who has 12 kids by 11 different prison-residing fathers. Because of this notion, when the story broke this weekend about the EBT system failure, many of the responses were quite cold, callous, and even downright spiteful.
Of course, the rioting through Wal-Marts across the nation certainly didn’t help. Within hours the shelves were razed. The abandoned shopping carts of melting food and the carefully selected hungry spokespeople on the mainstream news just served to reinforce the conception that those who were left to go without groceries deserved to miss a few meals.
But….who IS the average EBT user?
Nearly 48 million Americans receive assistance to buy food, which is up from 32 million when Barack Obama took office. While we know there has been a concentrated effort to get more people to accept assistance, the sheer volume of those who cannot afford food anymore is a symptom of the greater economic problems plaguing the country. It’s also important to note that in some states, if a person’s ex-spouse is in arrears for child support and has his or her wages garnished, the custodial parent receives that payment through the EBT system.
For example…
- The median household income in America has dropped for the 5th year in a row, according to the US Census Bureau.
- Over 1/3 of Americans who are able to work are unable to find a job – 36% of the population is unemployed.
- Obamacare is turning us into a part-time nation. For every full time job created in the United States in 2013, we’ve created four part-time jobs. Employers are not hiring people full time if it means they’ll have to pay for skyrocketing insurance benefits.
- More than 2.3 million residential properties were foreclosed on in 2012, leaving families displaced when they could no longer afford their homes.
- 50% of all Americans are considered “poor” or “low-income” according to the US Census Bureau.
- The unemployment rate in the U.S. has been above 8 percent for 40 months in a row, and 42 percent of all unemployed Americans have been out of work for at least half a year. (source)
- Those often being hit the hardest are those just entering the labor market. For example, about 53 percent of all U.S. college graduates under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed last year. Most of the jobs that are available for young college graduates (or for the rest of us for that matter) are crappy low paying jobs that often come with no benefits. In the United States today, one out of every four workers makes ten dollars an hour or less. Now, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.(source)
Over the past decade, many formerly middle class people have been cast into poverty through no fault of their own. They’ve lost their jobs, their homes, and their cars. When you have no job, or you have a job that pays only minimum wage, how can you keep the electricity on, keep your children clothed, and still feed your family? Through the deliberate impoverishing of the middle class, people are being controlled and enslaved. Innocent children, through no fault of their own, are going hungry – for some of these kids the only meal that they get in a day is the free lunch offered at their school.
So before you say, “So what?” or “Well, I had to pay for my groceries – I have no sympathy for them”, stop for a moment and think about why formerly hardworking people may have had to sacrifice their pride and accept some help. Think about the jobs that are no longer available. Consider the hours that are no longer offered at once full-time jobs.
Some people abuse the system. Illegal immigrants are encouraged to be on the dole. We can all tell stories about the “welfare queen” with an iPhone and a grocery cart full of steak and lobster.
But for a large percentage of formerly middle class Americans there has been a mighty fall – one deliberately set up by our own government, by the banking system, and by the “1%”.
There but for the grace of God go I.
This article is not a statement on whether or not the welfare system and social programs should exist, or how they should be funded. This is a discussion of how hard-working families just like mine and yours can quickly fall into desperate straits through the machinations of those in power.
For many people the economic collapse has arrived. Their “end of the world” event has already occurred in the form of a job loss, the foreclosure of the family home, or an illness that has caused such massive personal debt that there is truly no way out of it. Less than 60% of Americans who are of age to be in the work force have a full time job. When you tally that, it means that more than 100 million people are out of work. More than 100 million people in the United States have no jobs. For more than 100 million people, the economic collapse has arrived in full force. (source)
How do we fight back?
If you are lucky enough to still be gainfully employed, it’s time to become self-sufficient.
This is how we will be able to withstand the assaults on our freedom. Every bucket of rice you put away, every seed you save, every bite of food you grow – is a strike against the machine.
Those of us who prepare for the difficult times ahead are the ones who stand between the total domination of the powers that be and the freedom that they would take away from us. By understanding how hunger can be used against us, and then taking the initiative to prepare for that grim day, we can’t be controlled as easily as those who have spent years accepting the handouts and trudging along with the herd.
By making intelligent choices to ensure our survival and that of our children, we can resist. Every meal that you put away keeps you a little bit safer from tyranny. Every seed you plant hardens you against threats and bribery. Your self-sufficiency is what will keep you free. (source)
Be thankful that you have had the foresight and the means to prepare for the eventuality of a further economic decline. Remember that the mainstream media and the government have a vested interest in widening the chasm between the “haves” and the “have-nots” because a divided populace is an easily conquered populace. Don’t be manipulated. Practice compassion. You don’t know the circumstances that caused the person in line in front of you to be swiping a card to feed his or her family. They just might be victims of a system determined to enslave.
Great point, Daisy. It is easy to cast stones when you are still doing well, but for many of us, the good times can stop real fast. In addition to the banking industry (especially the fed), the combination of technology which allows greater efficiency and automatic combined against the war against small business via increased regulation and a tax system in favor of the big corps, a lot of these jobs will not be coming back and the ability for people to adapt via starting their own businesses is greatly hampered. Hell, they’ve got cops harassing six year old girls trying to sell lemonade, God only knows what they would do to an adult in the same situation.
The best way to fight back is to divest from the current systems. Become self sufficient with your friends and family. No one else will fix the system for you. “if you want something done right, do it yourself”
AMEN!! Store food. Plant a garden. Raise chickens.
I am appalled at what happened at those WalMarts. I was on assistance at one point, and took advantage of it and went to school and became a nurse. I figured I had paid in to the system long enough, it was time for me to get something out of it. It took a lot for me to take that step. That said, my stepdaughter is currently ‘in the system’ but she ALSO is using the system the way it is meant to be used, she is attending school full time while raising my grandson, so that she may also find a paying job. So Daisy, you are so right, there are many folks who are in the system, using it for the short term benefit it was meant to be. However, there are so many more who are of the ‘I deserve it’ mentality. I can recall going to my appointments and seeing the limos pull up, full of prostitutes, and their pimps taking their checks when they came back out. As an ER nurse, I saw many ppl who came from that entitlement cycle. I also experienced a wonderful gesture while at the welfare office…I didn’t have the $ to pay for my parking fee, and was trying to figure it out, and a woman gave me the $5 I needed. I asked for her name and adress so I could send it back to her, and she simply told me to pay it forward…So you can’t buttonhole EBT folks, but there are WAY to many out there who are just out for a handout, and those folks that took advantage of Walmart are obviously of that ilk. Full disclosure, I went grocery shopping for our household that day (stepdaughter lives with us)and paid for our groceries out of my own pocket. I don’t need the EBT, but she is amazed at how much I am able to save with frugal purchases. It eases our food bill with the extra mouths to feed. She has learned frugal shopping from going shopping with me.
Sheondra – No one owes you forty acres and a mule. “Whitey didn’t do it” and “Whitey doesn’t owe you a thing” Close your legs and clamp off your sponge puzzy and quit squirting out mud babies.
Vox, you should be ashamed of yourself for this post, it is completely out of line and lends you no credibility whatsoever. You are perfect so you can judge others, right? Back under the bridge Troll.
Thanks Daisy. I am precisely one of those people you’re talking about. Out of a job for the first time at 47. You are so right that this can happen to any of us.
I was a public school teacher for a number of years. During my tenure, 51% of the welfare recipients of the county in which I worked, lived in the town of the school district where I was employed. They were non-minority and not a population many would erroneously assume. The average family in that situation did not have any skill base for self sufficiency, did not handle money well, did not make good food choices, did not sit down for meals together, and ate mostly convenience foods/junk foods.
It would be nice if this was the only population that fits this profile, but this is not the case. Most of our society does not understand, or even wish to understand, that reducing expenditures is the same as cash. They have absolutely no interest in self sufficiency skills. They, too, have the entitlement attitude, and frugal living is something to be avoided. Maybe it is associated with “poor” or “lowly.”
Maybe I am in error, but if those who must have financial assistance would reduce their expenditures through self sufficiency skills, even a minimal amount, they would be able to stretch their finances. Those who are encumbered by physical limitations may not, but I am guessing that is not always the case.
Sorry Daisey, you are to much of a bleeding heart person. I suggest you all listen to a 1957 song-Get a job.
Americans have made the mess we are in.They thought it was peachie AOK to spend billion$ in far away wars for the rich.Kept electing morons in Washington. Hey! folks the drunken party is over, band stop playing the waltz and packing up.Time to clean up the trash and empty bottles. You cheered USA USA USA… and Slick Willy George Bush and Obama are safe and full of cash. Bye Bye America Pie
I have a friend who gets some food stamps, although not a lot. They are “the working poor”. She says cashiers often comment on how nice it is to see someone buying “real food”, rather than chips, cookies, and premade meals. So, they must see a huge amount of junk coming through their lines, if real food is an aberration worth comment. And if people are so desperate when the system goes down for a day, you know they are not shopping wisely. If you are on food stamps, you’d better start planning for the day the system goes down or goes away forever. It absolutely can be done, if you plan and cook you own meals, and stay away from junk foods.
funny the comments i get on my good food choices are “how can you afford to buy this organic stuff with FS?” it is bc in the long run you get better value, better health, than junk convenience foods, which are very pricey. add to that i never buy produce at grocery stores, but at farmers markets or through our farm’s buying club. i get some strange looks everytime i check out with my ebt. add to that i usually come straight from work, dirty.
I hate going to the grocery stores the 3rd of every month seeing the junk people load their carts up with when the SNAP $ comes in. cases of soda, chips, freezer dinners, hfcs laden snacks hormone laden meats little to no fruits and veggies… Then complain they don’t get enough $ to last to the end of the month. Somehow buying only wholesome food, that requires actual cooking, we end up with $ left over at the end of the month…..
I have to agree with you here. When the word vegan is mentioned, high costs ring in peoples heads, but deals can be found, and so can better health too
Yes and I have noticed that many of those chips and soda people do not look to be in the most excellent, robust health. Many have full blown disease and other illnesses. (motorized carts, oxygen, etc.) further burdening the tax payers with unnecessary medical bills. Education is the key for these people. Daisy and those like her who diligently speak and write and publish truth, are breaking down that unhealthy mentality. That knowledge will eventually move into the places where people need it the most.
The old saying goes, throw a pebble into the water and the ripple will circle the universe. Keep speaking and educating and never give up.
We are the working poor. My husband works and goes to school full time while I take care of our kids (I would spend more in day care costs than I could make at a job). We cook from scratch and stock pile food as we can. We budget every last bit of food assistance we receive. We have learned there is ALWAYS at least a month gap in coverage when we reapply every 6 months. We learned this year we could buy seeds and food bearing plants with our cards, so we used that for our garden and have been canning tomatoes out our ears. The stuff that we didn’t grow we had friends with an abundance that allowed us to pick their produce when they were sick of “putting up” for the season. We have bought fruit in season in abundance and canned or froze that too. We want OUT of the system, so we are planning for getting out!
Bless, you Susan, you are the type of folks who deserve assistance! TY for sharing YOUR side of the story, and how you are using the system appropriately!
the system is set up so that people become dependent on it… how easy it would be for me to slack off at work and get laid off collect unemployment, get heap, and snap….. i’d be better of than i am now were i to do that. when i used to live in the city, many folks were 2nd generation welfare cases, never having learned a day of hard work. sad to say, but the system is set up for failure, systematically. no matter how willingly i tried to teach my 2nd gen welfare neighbors to “fish” they would rather sit back, get fat, blow our tax $ on getting loaded pay no attention to their kids and thats how tptb intended the whole thing to go down. the more people are dependent on them, the more power they wield. When the foundations of that system crumble as they are MANY people are in for a frightening ride that none are prepared for. I for one get snap in winter months as a veggie farmer, little to no income from dec-mar. but thats all i get, though we “qualify” for more. This is used to buy staples, as much is put away from the summer months of harvest. This year, however, I am anticipating a failure on a massive scale of our economic system, and feel just fine going into the winter without that assistance, having prepared for the worst for many years.
There are so many reasons that cause people to turn to the government for food assistance. So many of our seniors are living on a very limited fixed income and depend heavily on food stamps if not solely. The legitimately disabled are struggling to feed their families with little or no means to bring in extra income. Abuse is inevitable because of the self centered condition of some and environmental, bad behavior modeled by parents, or lack thereof etc. Lets work to educate that group, but please look at the bigger picture. Thank you Daisy. Well done and Amen.
To the Zombies it may concern
I would say it is their fault. These people know were EBT cards come from, But they don’t know were a dollar comes from. When a nation of people choose to be ignorant of the fact that a group of bankers create the currency they work for out of thin air it’s the peoples fault. Given the power to create money from nothing no mortal man will restrain himself till he has obtained all the wealth in the world, and enslaved the worlds population. END THE FED
It is exactly bleeding hearts like you that entice people not to get ahead and to be looked after by a Nanny State.
As far as I’m concern, all you are doing is fostering the attitude: “Entitled to their entitlements”…lol
It is true that some need help but that all falls back on the governing body of this country, sending jobs abroad,not controlling the borders then giving money to non citizens, bailing out big corporations then giving their CEO big bonuses, allowing companies to hire what they call part time help or temps, sending mega bucks to other countries, starting wars just for the benefit of a few, then you have some having babies with multiple fathers just to get another check. The program is out of control and again I say it is the fault of our so called great lawmakers.
Okay, high horse riders. Let’s talk “moral imperative” for a moment, since you seem to think SNAP recipients generally have none of it.
I am a SNAP recipient, and only SNAP – no TANF. I am a US Veteran. I have a service related disability that prevents me from finding gainful employment, yet my VA benefits are less than $130 a month. I am a mother to two young children under the age of four, and am expecting another gift in March. I live with my partner, who is a non-union elevator mechanic, choosing the lower wage over the corrupted system, and actually performing his work well, rather than signing tickets like his former union co-workers do.
My moral imperative told me to volunteer to protect your right to your moral imperative – which seems to involve putting me down for accepting far less than the usual amount of government assistance. I traded respectable military service for SNAP, and the usual put downs associated with it. How embarrassing. But go ahead. Tell me how I have no work ethic. Tell me how I am on the federal titty and content to get fat. Tell me how bad I am. I earned your right to say it, if you’re American.
I know our government is broken. I wish it weren’t so. I wish it had a magic reset button, oh gods, how I wish. It was not for this current system I volunteered, but for the idea that we should all be free to be ourselves.
Two young children and another gift on the way. That’s what I don’t understand. If you’re not doing well job-wise and you’re on the public dole, why would you want to bring even more children into that environment? Seems pretty selfish, expecting the rest of society to support you and your offspring. When my wife and I were first married, many years ago, we looked at our finances and determined that we could give two children a proper upbringing. We had our two and raised them to be successful, college educated adults. We knew that having more children would have diminished our ability to provide all of them the opportunities and resources we wanted for them in their journey to adulthood.
S’why I called them gifts. None of them were planned, and my oldest was conceived on birth control. I have some strong feelings about breastfeeding as long as I can and equally strong feelings about introducing fake female hormones (birth control) to tiny male bodies, so I chose Natural Family Planning. I learned that yes, I do have two fertile periods during the month when my second was conceived. The third baby is still a complete accident. Before you mention abortion, you better back up – I already placed a daughter for adoption at birth when I was 20, before entering the service.
That is what I don’t understand about your judgment. I am doing the best I can. We don’t expect to be here forever, and never wanted to be here in the first place. But maybe you missed the part where I did my bit for God and Country, and it left me unable to find gainful employment. No, I don’t expect to be worshipped for it, but a little less preconceived judging would go a long, long way.
In some ways, the injury that keeps me home is a blessing. I am doing the hardest, most rewarding job I can imagine. I am raising my children. I do everything for someone else, nothing for myself. And I am damn lucky to have the chance. I had wanted to do it while I was in the reserves, after my active duty period was up. But things don’t always work as planned. So we are doing the best we can with what we can. A valuable lesson for me and my sons. Care to learn with us? If you already took this lesson, please go review your textbook.
Anonna, here’s a snippet to consider:
You’re Not Defending Our Freedom
By Jacob Hornberger
“The reality is that you are not defending our freedoms with your actions overseas. In fact, it is the exact opposite. Your actions overseas are placing our freedoms here at home in ever-greater jeopardy.” …
Also, the reason you are unable to find gainful employment is due to over bearing regulations, and Minimum Wage Madness. Thomas Sowell wrote about that subject if you care to learn more.
Anyway, yes, you are on the federal titty, I hope can wean yourself. And in the meantime, try not to get fat.
Overbearing regulations have nothing to do with being injured.
Yes, federal titty. Content, no. Fat I must get, at least a little – pregnant! Breastfeeding will slim it back down and keep me from soaking WIC benefits for toxic formula. I have chosen a midwife over an expensive OB. (Approximately 1/4th the cost to deliver a baby with no interventions.) Even on the titty, I’m trying to be low impact. Which was the point.
To the poster below me (on the page, never beneath me), yes the systems are all unsustainable. I acknowledged this. Our whole system is broken!
I was asking to not be judged either, for doing the best I can with what is available to me. It is really embarrassing to be in my shoes. To go from serving to taking a handout every month. I still give of my body and donate blood, but even that is closed to me until May, when the post partum period is passed. I still volunteer where I can, but I miss the independence. You have no idea. No idea.
Entitlement is a frame of mind. I don’t have it. I am well aware it can all go away any minute and I will be left with some difficult decisions. So instead, I am grateful and careful with what I am given. And trying desperately to set up a safety net, and an alternative means for support. THERE is where the overbearing regulations are cockblocking me. I would love to work from home as a crafter, but must meet some truly ridiculous standards that will cost me quite steeply in fees and lab tests. The alternative is a loan, which I am loathe to do. Currently, I am blessedly debt free. I “owe nobody nothing” and don’t even have a credit card. Surely you understand my hesitation in this!
Annona…
I didn’t mean to suggest you were judging anyone…it was more of a general statement for everyone…kinda like this one.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Too disabled to work, and happy to collect a check.
But not to disabled to f**k. Got it.
Exactly, Cindy.
My brother and sister-in-law – both professionals – decided long and hard about having children.
They decided that the mom wouldn’t work while raising the children. They pay their own way.
I’m tired as hell of people thinking they have a “right” to reproduce, while their neighbors are paying the bills.
If I was the king, like Obama, every woman applying for any sort of public assistance, would get a Norplant or other long-term birth control device. Men would have a vasectomy, since most are too doggone stupid to use condoms. They just impregnate and run. “Mother” gets a larger allowance on her EBT card.
Oh yeah – my wife is a school teacher. There’s a HUGE difference between (most) students who are supported by welfare mothers and those who are planned carefully and raised accordingly.
I’m also pretty tired of the “I served my country – and so all you people can pay for however many puppies I push out” syndrome.
Note: You chose to serve GOVERNMENT interests. Not mine, or the interests of anyone I know. Sorry about your being able to procreate, but not work, because “work” would cost more than paying for childcare. OK, you have time to procreate, but not to take online veterans benefits paid for college courses to make SOME sort of income. But I’m supposed to be happy to pay for your children’s food, clothing, shelter and education.
Sorry, but in my mind, that makes you an unfit mother.
My dad was a veteran of two different services, I have veteran friends, and all call, or have called, “bullshit” on this “you owe me” crap.
I believe that wounded warriors should have all the care they need – government or citizen interests notwithstanding. But stealing from the public so some can reproduce like lemmings is bullshit.
Can’t work? Insist on fucking? Blame multiple (3???) pregnancies on birth control? Yeah. It’s always someone ELSE’S fault. No personal responsibility whatsoever, right? It just “happened” although preventative steps were taken. Three times.
At one time this would have been unbelievable. Now, its just “normal.”
Cindy….you took the words out of my mouth. Thank you.
Anonna,
Respectfully, I feel for your situation, however you lose credibility when you start talking about “gifts”. You’re about to have your fourth child you can’t afford. Your financial situation, and physical ability to find employment, along with your failed track record of family planning prevent you the luxury of “natural” birth control. You are not in a position to even remotely risk another birth.
Hormones are not the only form of contraceptive. Abstinence during fertility + condoms, spermicides, diaphragms, cervical caps, non-hormonal IUD, Sterizilation and vasectomy (reversable, but with 3 kids, a very viable solution), all offer superior protection to “natural” planning.
I’m not responding to pass judgement, degrade or be hurtful. Just don’t pass the responsibility of four births off as a “gifts”, “accidents” or immaculate conceptions. Four poor decisions led you to your gifts. Accept, acknowledge and most importantly learn.
You’re entitled to every benefit you receive, provided you “respect the entitlement and it’s intent”, and “respect” the help you’re receiving by accepting responsibility and make a drastic change in your family planning.
Best wishes to you and your family.
What you’re all not doing is considering all the angles here. A retroverted uterus and previous births mean that cervical caps and diaphragms are all less effective. Latex allergies and chemical sensitivies mean hormones or rhythm planning ARE my only options. An IUD scares me too much, too many risks of uterine perforation or embryonic disfigurement in case of failure. As fertile as I am (and my female family members!), that’s a risk I am not willing to take with even a potential new life.
You’re all attempting to override my own inalienable right to do as I believe with my own body. I don’t believe in sterilization (or even tattoos!). I’m glad you’ve all had wonderful lives and weren’t thrown out as teenagers to pull yourselves up by whatever means you could grasp at – hence the mistake and correction of placing my firstborn for adoption. I’m glad you could afford to carefully plan your educations and childbearing activities. I really am. I hope to provide the same opportunity to my children.
WAHM crafting isn’t going to be viable for my particular situation, after further research. Not without a large loan.
As for the GI Bill. Isn’t that just another government entitlement? Yeah, short term, but so is the EBT acceptance. After this kiddo is born in March, and things are settled back down for us, I’ve been researching which local college offers the classes I want for the career I want. In between diaper duty and bathtub hijinks, trust me, I’ve been researching, and checking, and looking, and asking. There were things about the benefits I wasn’t sure about, had to ask and wait to get answers on. We moved cities, and I’ve had to wait to apply to the college I want in order to keep the GI Bill from having to pay higher out of district tuition. Again, trying to be low impact. Moving cities also allowed me to be closer to family who can help with childcare duties while I study or attend classes, rather than begging more government assistance for daycare. Just like you all had your reasons for waiting to have kids, I’ve had to have my reasons for my own plans. I have plans. I have always had them. Unforeseen circumstances changed my initial plans, so now I’m trying my best with what I have.
EBT is exactly a hand UP for us. Not a hand out. And we aren’t using everything offered, either. As much as we can, we’re only using what’s necessary to keep us from going under.
So, quit pointing your college educations and perfectly patient dicks and vaginas at me 😛 I’ll get there eventually. Just with more diapers along the way than you had.
Anonna…You didn’t “earn” anybody any rights. Rights are natural and you are born with them…they are unalienable.
It really doesn’t pay to judge any others.
The entitlements and the social welfare programs are all unsustainable and eventually they will end. Good luck to you and your family
Anonna, First off, thank you for your service. I am fully aware of how lackluster VA services are. You should be proud of the fact that you are no other assistance than SNAP! Best wishes on your coming “gift”, and don’t let the negative attitudes of some get you down. I’d think you have more supporters here than detractors. Count me as one!
It is going to be a cold, cold winter.
I think the best thing that we can take from this article is not to judge on another about how we live. None of us can say what we would do if we lost a job, became ill, or had a death of the person that is the bread-winner in our families. We can all prepare the best we can, but life has many unforeseen moments. You can try to encourage people around you to stand on their own two feet, but their personal responsibility is up to them. Do the best you can to take care of “yours”, but we all have choices and consequences based on those decisions. I don’t care for people that “mooch” if others, but I figure that the dear Lord will serve them their piece of humble pie one day. Besides if you are as busy as my family, you have little time to judge or care what others do wrong or right.
“Of course, the rioting through Wal-Marts across the nation certainly didn’t help. Within hours the shelves were razed.”
They weren’t “rioting”. They were “pillaging.” Walmart knew the card weren’t “working” as in they couldn’t pull the limits for the cards. So, Walmart said “You can still use them” without limit. People were pulling anything and everything they could because they thought shit was free, even freeer than before. As soon as the system came back online and they could check limits, those who had filled up the shopping carts but hadn’t gone through the line yet abandoned them.
Animals.
Stampeding for free stuff was well-recognized in the Soviet Union as well.
http://www.worldcomplex.blogspot.ca/2013/10/a-soviet-joke.html
I had to add to this. I have been unemployed since September 13th of 2013. I was laid off because it was cheaper to hire to new employees High school students than it was to keep me.I worked there for five years. I am looking for work and will take the first job offered to me . I don’t have cable tv or internet. my only phone is a basic old pay as you go trac phone. no features on it. I tried to go it alone . pay my bills buy food on my own. I finally had to ebt. I tried to live on 10 dollars a week. was it doable . yeah barely . healthy no. I have had ebt for a week now. I haven’t bought junk food or soda nor do I plan to. I have bought juice , fresh fruit ,fresh produce , as well as other food items. I’m also buying bulk grains , beans ,and protein powder. when I shop with my ebt card I still shop like I did before i had it . I price check everything ask do I really need it and can i make more than one meal out of it. I’m also on the look out for a food dehydrator at the thrift store. hell If i had a sunny patio I would buy seeds and plant a box garden but my apartment is on the “darkside of the moon ” and doesn’t get much sun. you might assume or say that i should have been doing this before I got laid off . I was starting to prep and save . what little I had helped me go as long as i did without help. Not everyone is out to milk the system.
Hang in there! You aren’t alone. So many people are falling victim to the economy. You might consider investing in a little gro-light system to grow some fresh greens to supplement.
Wishing you the very best of luck ~
Daisy