Mom's Got Money

CHAPTER 3The Family Budget Meeting

The intercom crackled as the grocery store cashier picked up the receiver to speak into it. My eyes grew wide; it was too late to stop her. Her voice reverberated throughout the store: “Customer needs assistance with a WIC check.”

I wished at that moment that the floor would open up and swallow me whole.

I tried to do all the “right” things to prepare for motherhood financially. I used my business income to save a large baby fund. I made sure I had enough freelance writing clients so I could support our family. We lived frugally and saved as much as possible because my husband was a student and I was new to being self‐employed.

But, the expense of my twins' NICU bills, a huge cross‐country move, and the difficulty of working from home with two newborns meant our savings started to dwindle at a rapid pace.

When our twins needed an expensive, specialty formula, our pediatrician suggested we could get help paying for it by applying for assistance at a WIC (short for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) office. WIC is a government program that helps low‐income mothers and babies get the nutrition they need. If you qualify, you get checks that you can bring to the grocery store to use for formula and food. (Even if you've never used a check yourself, you might have noticed the letters WIC next to certain food on the grocery store shelves.)

Although I was very grateful for the help, the way people treated ...