mickeyfan2 said:
So how much do you figure I make to assume the $166 is change in my pocket?
Actually yes, you can get free school lunches. Tax credits. I have a friend who is a divorced mom of three. She mades about $18,500 and gets $100/week in child support. So she mades $23,700/year. I helped her fill out divorce forms and questioned her when she wrote that she paid $3.00/week to the federal government. She showed me her pay stub and it was true. At tax time she got over $3000 in a refund. Paid $156 get $3000 - good deal. And yes she has a house and is making the combined house/taxes of $850/week. So she did raise a family of four on ~$2000 and owned a home too.
Stop labeling all of us as so uninformed. I know as much as you do and I do not live under a rock.
As my actual example showed, it can be done.
Free lunchs? Where did that come from? I never ever had a free lunch in school. Where do you think thats coming from?
My sister gets $200 a month for her son from child tax credit. At $1400 a month, that puts her wage at $1600. BEFORE deductions. Now, let's do the math....
Figure on $200 a month for taxes, Employment Insurance, and Canadian Pension Plan. EVERYONE contributes to EI and CPP in Canada. If you have a job, you contribute. She pays
taxes, etc. $200
rent $300
basic utilities $300 (thats water, electricity, and natural gas to heat the home. Btw, this rate is during SUMMER when the gas is usually turned off. During winter, its usually $250 just for the gas. And, in Canada, you CANNOT go with heating your home because you can die from it since it can reach extreme cold to the point that a few minutes of exposure can lead to frost bite)
gas for car $100
telephone $40 (recently increased basic telephone cost)
cable $60 (which she doesn't have btw. She can't afford it)
child care $400 (because what else is she supposed to do with her child while she and all her family works?)
That leaves $200 a month for food.
That doesn't include anything that may come up unexpectedly, or clothing for her child. It doesn't include anything fun to do. Thats basic neccesities.
Now, can you imagine what it must be like for a family of 4 to live on that? Even if she went to the government assisted housing, its not much less than that.
Btw, all those rates are with a ROOMMATE.
I really don't think you know what your talking about. I don't think you've had to struggle to make ends meet. It can be done yes, but doing it for years and years on end? Lets see YOU live that way.
Your sister may have gotten money in her divorce settlement but my sister gets NOTHING from her ex because he's a druggie thats been in and out of rehab at least three times, and is forced by the gvt to have weekly drug tests to protect her child. My brother in law is a slimeball that hasn't been able to keep a job at any place more than three weeks in his life.
Your sister doesn't have it so bad. Your sister doesn't know what poverty is. I don't mean that to be offensive but when you have to crawl through the window in your sisters car to get to the drivers seat because if you open the door you can't close it because she can't afford to have it fixed...
When YOU have to do that, THEN you can talk to me about poverty.
Oh and my sisters tax refund for last year was $150. Our tax refund is based on how much we make during the year. Not on what you need.
Gods, I wish I received $23000 a year. I and many others can only dream.
Last year, I made $1300 a month. With deductions, that came to about $14000 a year. Thats $10 000 below poverty level in my country. After all of my bills, I barely had enough to live on with about $100 a month left over for something fun.
This year I will make about $1700 a month. That's about $20 000 a year. Thats the first time I've ever even seen that much money. When I got the job, I almost cried. I spent alot of money to get here and alot in student loans.
If I can barely make it on $14 000 a year, what makes you think that a sigle mother with a child can make it for years on that kind of wage?
I've been starving. I started working at 15 years old to help my mom pay bills because we'd have been on the street if I didn't. How do I know this? Not from my mother. From ME. I took care of my mom's bills. When she and I got paid, I took both paychecks, I'm the one that paid the bills, I'm the one that kept track of everything. I was the household accountant.
Yes, its possible. But if you have lived this kind of life in abject poverty... if you have, if your parents have, if your grandparents have...
How easy do you think it is to get out?
I've had to fight every step of the way. My sister is still fighting.
Thats not to say they don't try.
But that is to say YOU don't understand. I don't think you've ever went to your cubboard and found ONE loaf of bread and a jug of cold water in your fridge for your only food for the entire week. I HAVE.
In this case, YOU are misinformed. Because you don't know what poverty is. I've gone a week without ANYTHING in my stomach. I know what starving is.
I honestly hope you never ever have to experience it. I hope you never ever know how bad it can really get. But you need to show some compassion for those who actually do understand and have lived through this.
Try putting yourself in the other persons shoes. You may be very surprised at what you experience.
