Newbie!

[AmyZNC]

Hi everyone!! New to the group.
Im a mom of two boys, 12 and 14, married 17 years this week

My famly has been receiving food stamps about 2 years now..money has been tight, self employed, etc...
I hated the day i had to sign up..took a huge step to swallow my pride and ask for help.

Now, finances are a tad better...but not great. But I feel like I should not receive them anymore and try my hardest to budget, shop sales and get back into couponing.
Some months I would run out of stamps before my next refill on my card..but thats because I wasn't being "savvy" because i knew i could get the stuff the kids wanted, etc...
I admit we waste food at times..not good with keeping leftovers to use as another meal, etc..

So basically, Im thiniking of withdrawing my application for our food stamps, and seeing If "I can do this"

anyone else in my shoes, or has been, sort of?

[bjl584]

I've never been in your shoes, but I suggest that you post up your finances for us to look at. There are tons of smart people here that are willing to help.

[AmyZNC]

Thanks.
It is hard for us to budget, being we live basically day to day on income..we have a retail store and my husband is in construction, altho that has slowed down significantly.

we have been going thru a modification on our home for 30+ months...its a HUGE mess that we are basically going to have to just walk away from.

We were able to have an extremely kind soul put money up and buy another older house, adn we are doing the necessary renovations ourselves to make it move in ready.
Living there will lower our monthly bills (smaller home to heat, power, etc.. better interet meaning we can get a bundle package with home phone, vs the ridiculous internet bill we have here for satellite)

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

It's hard to say how you should handle this without knowing what your situation is, but as you yourself have observed, you should be using your EBT judiciously--shopping sales, budgeting, using coupons, not wasting food--all the things you mention. So whether you stop the food help or not, I think you should be careful with the food spending.

[bjl584]

better interet meaning we can get a bundle package with home phone, vs the ridiculous internet bill we have here for satellite)

This is a good indication of some of the problems that you have.

You have internet and satellite tv, but you need food stamps. These are luxuries and need to be cut out immediately. If you post a budget I'm sure we can find many other areas where money is being wasted.

[snafu]

Yikes! Do I read and interpret this correctly? For 30 months Construction Worker DH 'modifies' your house into a wreck which is better abandoned! Someone else is providing a house with better internet service. As a recipient of a taxpayer funded food card you've provided the kids with stuff they like. Were you the woman I regularly saw at the grocery store with a cart full of expensive, poor nutrition, chemical laden junk food ? I'm not surprised that you don't plan menus, eat leftovers and throw out food. You didn't earn the sum spent does that mean it has no value to you, DH or DKs?