In poverty: We skip meals so our kids can eat
Thursday, 17 May 2018
There should be a lot more emphasis on working families such as myself and my family. Working people struggle too.
My husband works 40 hours a week as a mechanic, earning $20 an hour. After tax, he gets $460. But our rent is $330. Then there's power, Sky, and petrol. Other things come up and we've taken out loans, because as the saying goes, we've had to rob Peter to pay Paul.
By the time we get to buying groceries, we're looking at $80 to feed five people - two adults and three children.
Brand new doesn't exist for us, instead we have op shop things. Gone are also the days of having meat and veggies on the table every night. We now often have noodles, eggs and baked beans.
**READ MORE:
* New Zealand's 'working poor'
* Are you part of the working poor?**
Don't get me wrong, I love life, but it would be nice to go to bed without lying awake and worrying how I will feed my children tomorrow. Five years ago I could. But now, it's a complete and utter joke.
I grew up in New Plymouth and it didn't seem that big to me back then. Life was always easy and affordable. It used to cost just $5 to go the movies, and entry to the swimming pool was just 50 cents.
You could ask your mum to take you to your friend's home in Inglewood for $3 in gas money, and a bag of potatoes wasn't the price of gold.
Back then, we could pile the butter on the toast and drown the porridge in cream. Bread, milk and rent used to be so cheap.
My husband and I moved to Picton, but I became homesick. We eventually moved back to New Plymouth, but we couldn't survive there. We couldn't eat or afford petrol, and we struggled to pay rent. The city was way too big, and the economy had changed. So, we ended up back in Picton.
Now, we are nearly back to the days of rationing food so we don't starve. My husband and I often skip meals ourselves to feed the kids. Sometimes, I don't have tea at all and I don't say anything so he won't feel bad.
We can survive here - just. But there should be a lot more emphasis on working families, because yes, we struggle too.