Food stamps; do you think one's purchases/taxes should be looked into?

In My Humble Opinion
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I guess this is a timely-enough thread… As of Friday, my family receives food stamps (SNAP.) Just to provide some current information, we used the Georgia Compass website to apply - it asked for family size, earnings/income (including child support, self-employment, disability or pension benefits, etc.,) bank account numbers and balances, and location. We had to provide the benefits office a copy of my husband’s last two pay stubs, and social security numbers for everyone included on the application. So the process isn’t quite as rigorous as some are describing, but not quite as lax as others imagine…

As for what I buy, and what I wear when I buy it? So far, I’ve only used the card once (it arrived the day after I stocked up for the week) to buy milk and cheese, and I took advantage of a sale on “junk food” at my local grocery - buy 2 large frozen pizzas, get “free” 2 frozen appetizers, a carton of ice cream, and a 2-liter soda. The budget has been really, REALLY tight of late, so I don’t feel guilty about having a junk food “feast” with the kids one night out of the past 6 months. That was $15 well-spent, even if it was crappy food. It was such a welcome change from beans and rice! And I have a pretty nice wardrobe (decent brands, all from Goodwill and Salvation Army. I’d much rather have a gently used Ann Taylor suit than a brand new bit of Walmart crap.) If the cashier saw the Lord & Taylor label on the blouse I wore to the grocery store, she probably made some incorrect assumptions… :smack:

And I don’t really feel bad about using food stamps. I lost my job in October. I found out in late October that I was 5 months pregnant. (Long story, involving negative tests, several doctor’s visits for extreme exhaustion, advice about early menopause…) Anyway, I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to hire the pregnant broad. And I can’t find a job now that pays enough to cover expenses - childcare, transportation, etc. I’m still searching, but I’m not optimistic. Meanwhile, we wait for my husband’s VA disability paperwork to be processed. If that comes out as expected, we’ll no longer qualify for SNAP, but that’s absolutely okay. All we’re after is being able to feed our family. And I’ll probably take advantage of some other state subsidies to go back to school while the girls are small, so that I can find a decent job when Lily starts to school…

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There are also prefectly legitatmate reasons why the person actually shopping with the FBT card is not the person listed on it. The actual recepiet could be housebound and have a friend/relative/neighbor do their shopping. Or they could work at a group home for mentaly disabled adults like my mother once did and have to use EBT cards issued in the resident’s names to buy groceries. One of my mother’s co-workers being an older woman who only worked partime and drove a Cadillac and wore designer clothes. I’m sure she raised all kinds of eyebrows too.