Some of my regular readers know that I live on really what is very little in Canada’s largest urban center. This is what has forced me to be cheaper later maybe I can then be Cheap and after that maybe I can graduate to frugal. This week here in Toronto a study came out about poverty in Canada and more specifically here in To and the number of children. Did you know that 1 in 8 children live in hoseholds that are well below the poverty line, and that gap is growing rapidly here in the city..
I am going to give you some facts:
A single mom who is forced onto welfare( and many are because of unfair IE rules here in Canada) who has one child receives $874.00
She will then receive $ 266.00 for Child tax on the 20th
If she is volunteering she will receive another $100 for a bus pass.
So a mom with one child lives off of $1240 at the most…this is the amount that I receive.
How does that get spent here in the big city?
Here is my budget:
Rent $700 ( for a small basement 1 bedroom that is actually an illegal apt)
Phone and Internet ( the net is my only luxury but it is also a tool for job hunting and school work for Roo) $74.10
Food-$200 ( tomorrow I will write about how I make $200 stretch)
Busfare- $75
Laundry-$40
Personal Grooming and Cleaning Supplies -$15
After School Program for Roo-$10
School Expenses(field trips, pizza lunch, scholastic etc) -$20
Clothing $25
which leaves me with just over $100 for anything else that may come up like the dentist which is not covered properly here in To for poor adults.
In 10 years Roo has never been on a vacation – she doesn’t know what they are. She has never spent a holiday with my family who live in Nova Scotia. These are the realities. Does this bug me? No it is my reality for now..
I am job hunting and luckily I have been given the tools that most months I can squeak by. I will admit with things like Christmas and 2 birthdays around the corner I do worry. I have never wanted Roo to know how poor we are so I don’t talk money with her. I try and teach her that some times mom can say yes to a request and some times the answer is a no. I am trying to teach contentment with what we have.
With that said and done I am really trying hard to live with less. I do this most months by shopping well and entering lots of contests which have given Roo and I some fun times in the city, however we would love that trip to Whistler to play in the snow, or one of the computers , which are only a couple of the contests I am entering all the time right now.
So any ideas for living on less but living well?
Fox Comedians Get It Wrong
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcJn5XlbSFk]
Okay this common sense mom really doesnt ussually make political statements often but this is just WRONG!
First I must say this I personally know one of our Canadians who died in Afghanistan, maybe that is why yesterday as four more of our dead came home from this war on terror it really made me mad. As it did many other Canadians.
How many Canadians have now died in this fight on terror? 116 in Afghanistan.
Theses comedians basically mocked thier service, nice job there! Did you know Canadians basically take care of most things done in the south of Afghanistan an area hardly touched by US soldiers. Did you know the first 4 Canadians killed thier weren’t at the hands of terrorists but killed by US soldiers who didn’t know where to point thier guns.
I think before you can mock another country and thier military you need to look at the problems within your own. Perhaps these comedians should take thier acts to a local VA hospital, it might open thier eyes a bit. The US does a horrid job in how they treat past soldiers, and to me that is a shame( as the ex wife of one this is fact).
I think the show needs to go, and all of them thier that night, well let’s just say I hope none of them are crossing the border anytime soon.
Now this common sense mom will get back to what I love to do, just had to vent.