Those of you who have followed this column for years know that there were numerous periods in my life when there were hard times. I grew up in a single parent home when that was anything but the norm.

The presence of my grandparents in the home made it multigenerational. That was a blessing since my grandmother was my caregiver while my mother worked outside the home. I love them for shepherding us through hard times when my dad just up and left us. They made a comfortable home for us giving up their privacy as a couple and the solitude that their age should have afforded them. My grandfather was still working, but he was a laborer.

My married life brought struggles as well. I love the lifestyle farm life provided but I was not fond of the long hours my husband worked. Dairying was a job that was 24/7, 365 days a year.

Having to spread my budget for a month was a challenge. The first check we received from the dairy was an advance so it was always the same. The second check reflected the production so that it varied from month to month. During the summer there were times when the second check was under twenty-five dollars.

I purchased groceries for the month. I learned how to make the food last even though I often fed the men who worked for us as well as our family of four. I do not think I could have done it if we had not had a garden and I had not preserved food by canning and freezing it.

I thought I was well prepared for the poverty simulation. When I arrived I was placed into a simulated family grouping. I was the grandmother who due to unfortunate circumstances was unable to care for herself so she was on disability. That also meant that someone was always at home with me.

The father worked and there was a teenager who attended school. We had two cars, but only one driver so we decided to sell the car to eliminate a car payment. There was no way to turn that car into cash in the simulation so we just did not make the payment. That was the only requirement that we missed in our month simulation period.

Our group worked out a budget that said our income should cover all of the bills. The most frustrating part was that we were paid weekly so we had to go back to the drawing board.

We all came to the same conclusion. This was a very frustrating experience. None of us were used to not being able to meet our needs. There were blips along the way that caused additional problems. The daughter had to have money for school supplies. Unfair merchants took advantage of us charging items incorrectly or neglecting to give us proper credit for payments. Someone stole money from us.

Each time we left the house we had to use transportation vouchers. The vouchers came at a cost of 10% over their cost. They miscalculated that so we lost money there. We wanted to walk to pay our bills but even if we walked we needed a voucher so that was not feasible.

The chart we received did not have a scenario for a family with three adults and an almost grown teen. The category that came closest showed an income of $11.00 per hour in the poverty wage category. The father made less than that. Even with the lesser wage our figures showed that we should be able to eat, have shelter, and pay for utilities.

When we went to pay our utility bill we were told we were several hundred dollars in arrears. Couple that with the loss of grandma’s disability classification and we were behind the eight ball. We had items that we could pawn but when we arrived at the pawn shop none of them yielded anything but a minor amount of money.

We followed all of the rules but still had to juggle our budgeted items. We felt fortunate that we met our mortgage, paid all but one bill and fed the family for the whole month.

It is hard to believe that people are forced to live this way. We had designated our $6.00 surplus to go into a savings account to save for an emergency, but that was not possible.

All in all it was a worthwhile experience. Many of the service agencies reported they had money left over because no one applied for assistance. I guess none of us were used to living this way and did not even consider asking any of the agencies for money. I think when you are pressured to make decisions quickly you do not always make the best ones.

Although our “family” felt they planned adequately and were well prepared we were sorely lacking. After our first month on the learning curve we made different plans for the remaining months.

We also realized up front that our various backgrounds provided insight that most clients of the system do not possess.

I feel truly blessed for all of my past experiences. Deep inside I felt I was restrained by the methods that we had to conform to. On our own our group would have figured out ways to meet all of our needs and probably have funds left over. If we could have been more inventive our group would probably have planted a garden to save on food costs. We would have ditched that extra car. I would have enjoyed using our ingenuity to solve problems.

Maybe what our system needs is mandatory classes that include coping skills. To receive their monthly stipends the clients would have to work with a counselor. It would not be automatic. While it might cost the government more initially I think it might save money in the long run. The clients would have to make do on the monthly stipend.

Remember that in my day we did not have Obamacare to cover the insurance that is mandatory. My husband always said that we could sell a cow if an emergency arose because we could not afford the high cost of health insurance. I actually went back to work so that our family was covered by insurance. By the way plugging our income on the farm into the free lunch charts we always qualified, but never took advantage of it. You might say we were too proud to take a handout.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, PA. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net