Stress explained

I enjoy my job but its just shy of enough money to support my family on. But tell that to the government that continuously tries to tell me that we make more money than we do and therefore they want to take away any small help we ask for.

This year, we will make $19,000 and a little change. Health and Welfare has decided that this is a fantastic amount of income to support a family of 5 with, and that we really don't need nearly as much help as before so they generously cut the food stamps we use in half.  But that was only after I called them and told them that they needed to stop assuming that we were magically earning $16,000 more than we were.  Somewhere along the way, someone decided that we should be making more so *poof* we were.  If only life worked that way.  Instead, someone altered our income in the paperwork, and *poof* we lost our food stamps. It wasn't us.  We have done everything to be honest and truthful in what we report. 

So again, the fight to just survive increases. Just when we were getting to the point where we weren't terrified of losing everything, we take a step back.  A step back to lying awake at night in fear that our children will be homeless. A step back to wondering how we're going to afford enough food to get through the month. A step back to cutting expenses... but what expenses are left to be cut?