people that abuse the christmas assistants.

[candyshopgirl]

I was eating my salad at lunch and was talking to one of the housekeepers that helps out the salvation army this time of year. She was telling me that they have had to turn away people this year.Before you say thats too bad...
They were people that were getting help already from the other 6 places in town to get xmas help from.Yes folks you heard that right.The people were keeping help already from the other 6 places in town. Stuff like this makes me mad because I read a local article that says that the salvation army is 500 help baskets/toys short. I had one of the other maids come up and stick papers in my face about three months about the salvation army xmas giveaway.Now what made me mad about that is that this woman is single,has plenty of food(I know this because she brings in enough lunch for 2 people) and no kids.Why does she need assistants.I say unless you're homeless or have no food at all,or have kids.Leave the assistants to the people that REALLY need it.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I don't normally correct people's English, but I think you mean assistance. Using the word assistants in the title made me think you were talking about people abusing Christmas temp workers. I had to read your post 3 times before I understood what you were talking about.

[wagegoth]

Some people abuse the system. I had a friend who had to go on disability. Things often were very tight for him financially, and he occasionally went to food banks. He would get so upset to see people dressed extremely well, including furs, all kinds of real jewelry, driving Mercedes and Cads, and getting free food, especially since these food supplies are limited. That's not to say that possibly some of these people had just lost jobs or were having business problems, but most of them were probably just doing another scam, just more entitlement whores taking advantage of the kindness of others.

[AnaKhouri]

My mother taught for years in a school located in a very poor part of town, in the middle of the projects. She loved helping those kids, but was often disgusted by the attitudes of the people living there. She said the same thing- some of these people bragged about how they received help from several different agencies every Christmas and listed the presents their kids got; it made her angry because she was a single mother working her ass off to raise two kids on $20,000 a year and some years we only had presents because of the kindness of her fellow teachers, who left anonymous packages for us on her desk. It's a testament to my mom's ingenuity that it was only recently I found out how very poor we actually were.

Sure, there are many people who take advantage of the system but there are others who truly need help and are grateful for it. I prefer to concentrate on those people.

[bainsidhe]

Sure, there are many people who take advantage of the system but there are others who truly need help and are grateful for it. I prefer to concentrate on those people.

Exactly. Growing up I never had to worry about having food to eat or clothes to wear. But we were poor. Not poor as some, but poorer than most in my town. It's hard not to judge, but I remind myself that I'm not living peoples lives for them and I don't know their situation or hold the same values they do. There's a lot of need in my city and I try to focus on the good being done. There's been many layoffs here with people living large on large salaries now trying to support those house/car/whatever payments after being laid off and out of work. These people now find themselves deep in debt, some now without their former homes, and finding it hard to feed themselves. Sure some people play the system, but you don't have to look poor to be poor.

[JoitheArtist]

It's a testament to my mom's ingenuity that it was only recently I found out how very poor we actually were.

My mom and dad are the same way. One year, we got tin can stilts for Christmas---which we LOVED! We wore 'em out. Wasn't till I was 16 that I finally realized that we hadn't had any money that year. Thanks be to all that's good for parents who walk that fine line between making their kids overly anxious about money, and yet still letting them know that they can't afford everything that they might want!

[blas]

This might sound a little silly and unbelievable, but after dating my most recent ex and seeing just how materialistic some people can be and how differently children can be raised, I think it's actually a GOOD thing I grew up with parents of very, very, very (did I say very enough yet?) SIMPLE means.

I have bitched and whined before about how I had to wear a lot of handmedown BOYS' clothes growing up (not a lot of girls in my extended family, and of the few girls there are, most of their clothes didn't fit well except for my one cousin's clothes) and not having the nice stuff my friends had....

But I digress.....as this economy has slowly gone down the shitter more and more, even though every day is a struggle, I can do this. I CAN make it. I CAN do it. Being very simple is in my blood. I can live without fancy stuff. I can make it day to day and not beat myself up over not having a sports car or $100 jeans or a brand new motorcycle. Watching my last boyfriend drive himself into severe mood swings and almost a depression of sorts over no longer being spoiled by his parents and not being able to have every nice thing he wanted really put things in perspective.

I am confident I will make it. And when the day things finally pick back up and I'm once ahead of the game and I can treat myself and splurge, I'll appreciate it even more than I do now when I get the rare occasion to splurge.

[jedimaster91]

I can make it day to day and not beat myself up over not having a sports car or $100 jeans or a brand new motorcycle.

I have a hard time justifying paying $30 for a pair of jeans, much less $100. Second hand shops and the DAV/Goodwill FTW!

Although I do miss being able to drop $100 at Borders whenever the mood struck. Dang this responsible adult thing.

[Pagan]

But I digress.....as this economy has slowly gone down the shitter more and more, even though every day is a struggle, I can do this. I CAN make it. I CAN do it.

I've got kind of the opposite problem. The economy is slowing down, but I've just gotten into a career path that is recession proof (I'm not kidding, it was in an AP article about the 5 careers that are recession proof). I'm actually making damn good money.

BUT, even when I wasn't and I would have qualified for assistance, I never took it because I figured that there were people out there that needed it more than I did. And believe me, there was a couple of times that I had to pick between rent and getting some food.

[blas]

The only assistance I'm getting is my parents are offering to buy my groceries for me. I keep refusing, but I think I will have to give in soon. But I WILL refuse to let them buy me toiletries and non food items. I still feel like shit about it, though.

When I was younger and lived at home, I planned for the day I'd no longer be able to shop for clothes, so when I worked at the gas station and had an already paid off car, I went to my favorite stores nearly every payday and over time had 7 pairs of the same pair of pants from AE. They still are holding up. I take very good care of my clothes, knowing I won't be able to shop again for a very, very long time.

So when I tell people how broke I am and they look at me and give me the catbutt face......I take very good care of my clothes and when I had more money, I went bananas with brand name clothes. Plus, I only get to wear nice clothes on the weekends...during the week it's old jeans and tshirts. Oh, and my makeup? The cheap shit. Sometimes I splurge on *gasp* Cover Girl.

I wash my face with Dove soap. I can't afford face wash anymore.....or I use baking soda, since it's 50 cents for a big box. I buy the cheapest of everything and don't really give a shit.

[Misanthropical]

I was once on food stamps, since all my money went for rent. I didn't like being on them, but they kept me from starving for awhile, till they were cut off because I didn't attend a workshop they demanded I go to, which I would have, but my boss said I couldn't take the time off.

So the stamps were cut off and I went to bed hungry most nights. That stopped when a guy who was interested in me came over and asked if I had beer in the fridge. I told him I didn't have anything in the fridge, so he went through my kitchen and left. I figured he went on a beer run.

Anyway, he brought all this food back with him and stacked my kitchen with food. He told me he couldn't have his girlfriend starve. Yes, that is how he asked me out.

He was a very sweet man who saved me from dropping to danger levels of weight.

I almost married him, but it didn't work out that way. He told me that if I ever wanted to come back to him, he would take me back. He wouldn't care how many children I had he would take me back and treat my children as his own.

Yes, he is still waiting.

So, back to the topic, it did embarrass me to use food stamps, even though I was on the verge of starving. I could never go around taking things that should go to someone who needs it more than I do.

[Nyoibo]

This annoys the hell out of me, I know how to play the system, I have a low income healthcare card because I'm a student so bugger all money, I could get food parcels from multiple locations, now they usually only let you get a couple a year, but with so many places I could drive to them all and never have to buy food. I don't, why? Because there are people out there who really need it, people who can only afford to eat every couple of days, I can live on the $400 a fortnight the government gives me, I live at home and don't have many expenses, there a many people out there who do, why the hell do people feel the need to be so greedy?

[Becks]

I have a hard time justifying paying $30 for a pair of jeans, much less $100.

Same here. Sometimes I have trouble with $20.

I gotta hit up Goodwill again one of these weeks. (Maybe after Christmas...)

[wagegoth]

For many years, I did buy better clothes, like Blas, and they lasted a long time.* Sometimes you do get what you pay for.* I can buy Fruit of the Loom and have it last a few months, or I can buy Jockey for Women and have it last for years.

Now, I've found a pair of pants I like that this catalog has carried for years and I buy a few more pairs every year.* The best part is they often do a buy two get three offer, or a general 25% discount on everything, or give a discount for buying two or more of the same item.* That's when I stock up.

I've found the best clothing deals with catalogs and shopping online. Several merchants on OneCause (you sign up your school and the merchants on there give a percentage of your purchases to the school) list online coupons, and since I normally go through OneCause to see if a merchant is a participant, I can often get a discount anyway.

[edible_hat]

Same here. Sometimes I have trouble with $20.

I gotta hit up Goodwill again one of these weeks. (Maybe after Christmas...)

My most expensive pair of jeans cost $7 from the Salvos.


A guy at my gaming group works for a charity and they've had a lot of idiots lately. Since everyone on welfare just got at least $1000 to "stimulate the economy", the first question they ask is what did you spend that on?

The single mother with 4 kids who bought a washing machine, dryer and fridge got help.
The bloke who blew it all at the casino got nothing.