What I'm finding so very hard to stomach is the attitude of "oh stop the melodramatic angsty hysterics and get over it". I posted this on another thread and I'm re posting it here.
The thing is that some of us are living these cuts. Some of us are right at the bottom, clinging on by our fingernails and worrying about how we get out of this mess. No labour didn't make any clear outlined statements on how they would do things differently. However the Tories have PROMISED cuts so in electing them, it's a given that our situation will definitely get worse. I didn't give a fuck who people voted for as long as it wasn't a conservative vote. I just wanted them out.
I say this without a hint of hysteria and as calmly as possible so as to avoid being called a hysteric: I left an abusive relationship. I went into refuge. That refuge has now closed. I have a 2yo with asthma which is as yet not being effectively controlled leading to frequent hospital admissions. I have a 4yo with sensory issues who is slightly on the spectrum. Neither of these are conditions which in any way entitle me or them to disability/carer benefits yet they do mean that I would struggle to hold down a job with the frequent medical appointments and three day stretches of time off I'd need every time DS was admitted to hospital (frequently). The benefits I do receive are barely enough. Bedroom tax means I pay a hefty amount on top of my housing benefit to make up the rent, and my house is "cheap" for this area. I manage to sell a few craft bits and get some maintenance from exP and this just about keeps our heads above water. We eat very little meat and I'm on iron supplements to hold the anemia at bay. I grow veg, and have fruit trees, I keep hens and feed them on scraps so we always have eggs. I'm breaking my tenancy by having the veg patch and the hens but with no inspections it's a risk I'm willing to take to ensure we have more than we did if I tried to buy all our veg/eggs.
If the benefits I receive are cut I can only see one option. (And it's likely they will be, I'm under 25, they've threatened a cut to tax credits, housing benefit will prob be squeezed a bit more etc) I've sat down and gone through my options over and over but if my money decreases I won't be able to afford to keep the house, I won't be able to afford the essentials like heating in winter and the tv license, new shoes, winter coats. If this happens I will have to get back with my ex. I can't see another way out. It's ok though, because he wasn't very abusive, just a little bit and it's only for five years right?
That's my calmly explained reality. It's not even that bad compared to an awful lot of people. So many people aren't lucky enough to have an abusive ex who would take them in and pay all their bills. An awful lot of people will be forced down the route of patching up old school shoes, layering jumpers in place of coats, not heating their homes, selling their tv, radio, tumble drier, hair dryers as my friend has, just to try and free up even a few extra pounds for some basics like big bags of spuds and rice in an attempt to keep her kids fed. I'm luckily, incredibly so, to have the luxury of the veg patch and hens. A lot of lone parents on benefits don't get maintenance either, so they are already struggling far more than I am now. I eat less than I could to ensure the kids have enough. We already eat porridge for dinner twice a week to keep costs down. It's scary. I'm scared. Actually scared. It upsets me that those of us at the bottom have to spell this out actually. When we rant on about people starving any lives being destroyed do the Tory posters think we are just being dramatic for effect? Don't they understand that we are talking about our own lives? When I post that families will be plunged into further poverty I'm talking about myself, my family. I'm upset that I and others are being told to "shut the fuck up" when we really need to be able to sound off somewhere about the bleakness we feel looking ahead at the next five years.