Making Do: Family & Friends
When money is tight, participants often receive help from families and friends by borrowing money, sharing food, and sending children to visit family members.
34% of survey respondents borrowed money to help feed their children.
Melanie describes how her mother will bring her food from the food bank.
“So far we’ve never run out of money that we’d have to go hungry, but I feel like we’ve come closer than I’m comfortable with…suffice to say, we’ve been extremely lucky to have family who send money for birthdays and Christmas still, and in an extra time of recent car hardship even lend money to us, so those occasional boosts top us back up to not being nearly broke.”
—Ariel, U.S.
Violet*, Canada
“We are fortunate to have family around who can help us with a meal or two when things are getting tight. There is always an anxiety when we are cutting it close, and there is a mild background stress throughout the month trying to make sure we don’t overspend. I always feel quite excited when our weekly grocery bill comes in under normal or I find a sale item which we like or have on our list.”
—Francesca, Canada
“Every now and then we need to borrow food or go to a food bank. We also have a couple sets of grandparents that help us with diapers and random expenses that we can’t budget for. I pick up additional shifts to cover gaps in our finances but it exhausts me and I did have a health scare from overworking. Whenever the money doesn’t run out I feel that we have kept on our strict budget and it does feel good. We feel safer. Whenever we have no money in the account I cry and worry.”
—Liliana*, United States
“Sometimes I reach out to family and friends, you know, when they [groceries] really go, I mean low. So, these are all the resources that I’ve had to put in place to ensure that the kids are well fed and cushion the effects of the reduction in income.”
—Omolade, United States
I get by okay, my needs are met, and I feed myself well so I can nourish my son with my breastmilk alongside some solid food for him. But this is only a reality for me and my son because of the support I get from my family and friends helping me out here and there when it comes to some of [my baby’s] needs. Things like new clothing and diapers, the biggest help is my mom only charging me 400 dollars for rent and helping us out when the car breaks down.
—Celie, Canada
“Payday in our house is going grocery shopping. We will sometimes go to a nice butcher place and buy meat. This case was a case of meat from prairie meats. Worth $160 . Not all items are in photos. Of course I had a $10 off coupon. Underneath is meat that my parents dropped off from the farm as they had a cow butchered […] My parents will send me money (without asking) because they want to make sure we are ok. They also raise animals/ have friends that do so they get beef/ chicken/eggs at a cheaper price at times or free.”
—Karen, Canada
My parents give us money every month, which rounds out our income. […] The money I get from my parents is almost entirely used at the grocery store. We never really go out to eat, all of our food is made at home.
—Deana*, United States
