But shouldn't the benefit or wages be enough?
In many cases, it seems not.
Speaking with a friend about the situation to find out if they were also finding it difficult to stretch the family budget, she admitted that at times she has had to make a choice.
Without question, her kids always come first.
It's all about priorities, she says.
Our friend doesn't have a flash car parked in the driveway, she sews clothes for herself to wear and they "never eat out".
She doesn't smoke or drink or have any habits that take money from her limited family budget.
It's not easy.
As my kids were growing up, I can recall making similar decisions.
School shoes were the worse thing to deal with.
But with friends in the same boat, we soon learned how to pool our resources. We collected all the old shoes our kids had grown out of and we started a small shoe bank among ourselves.
Mostly it worked fine and I can't remember any of them ever going to school bare-footed.
Maybe if you have an old pair of shoes your kids have grown out of, you could pass them over the back fence or drop them off at the local school for a needy family.
It only takes a small sacrifice to share or think of others.
Imagine the delight and warmth you will add to that child's life.
