corey booker is doing the food stamp challenge, and being mocked by FOX news. i use the word news, because that's what they call themselves, they're anything but news. but it got me thinking, when i was reading the article. if he qualifies for $133/mo as a single person, why do we, a family of 3, only qualify for $230? something has to be wrong in this calculation. we get less per person thank a single person? shouldn't we qualify for MORE per person? because it's supplemental, and the costs associated with having a family are GREATER than that of a single person, so why the penalization of supplemental nutritional funds? i'm more than a bit confused.
needless to say, we've gone WAY over budget. how far, i don't know. i'm having a difficult time getting my husband to sit down with me and add up the food bills. he tends to be a "shop as you go" type of person, and i'm trying to break that habit. we need to plan and purchase accordingly. i can't get him on track with this. it's frustrating and causing all kinds of friction, and yes, more than a few fights.
i almost gave up. but i'm trying to push forward. we're only purchasing meat when it's on sale. i'm scouring sale flyers for the best deals, i've almost gotten all processed foods out of the house. but the budget is the biggest sticking point. i want to stick to a set amount, my husband keeps saying it's , "supplemental" and we can spend what we need. well, that's not the point of this exercise, is it? if we do that, why bother?
so i need help, suggestions, ideas. i need to get him back on board, the man that was so gung-ho about this project. the first month was a disaster, not a huge one, but we didn't stick to any sort of budget. i didn't get any help with that. our second month needs to improve. so if you can give me some ideas, i'd appreciate them. i'm just about researched out. i can only spend so much time looking for answers to questions, and getting a stonewall back as an answer. it's so frustrating. so i'm reaching out to anyone that is reading for ANY ideas. help me cut our food budget, stick to the budget, save money, ANYTHING. i don't want to give up, because i think there is a valuable lesson to be learned in this project. i just feel like i'm being sabotaged. and it's really beginning to get old, and hurt.
post script: after much more researching, the original site that i used to calculate our SNAP allowance has been taken down. this was run by the state of Nevada, where we reside. i went to the USDA SNAP website, and by their guidelines, we could receive up to $526/mo. now THIS makes much more sense. we've had a very brief discussion, and we've talked about putting $121/wk aside, and keeping track of our spending in this manner. we still need to finish our pantry inventory, the fighting just wasn't worth it at the time. at this time, i'm more angry that the information i initially had was SO incorrect, and such a source of discord in our family. we all thought that it was just a ridiculous sum, but that was the information the state was supplying. now, i wish i could find that website, so i could prove that i'm not crazy! a sigh of relief, as i know i can make $526/mo go much further. anything left over will go into savings. and i am hoping we will have money left over. but i'm sticking to my guns. no "shop as you go" strategy. we have to plan very carefully and think about every purchase we make. some will be more popular than others, but our daughter is just going to have to expand her taste experiences and try new things. personally, i'm a bit tired of broccoli!
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