I'll always remember the point at which I realised I was poor compared to the rest of the kids in school (before that, mum and dad had gone without stuff to make sure we didn't know that they were very short on cash). I knew I was on free school meals and stuff, but when I was in early primary school I didn't realise that that was because we didn't have much money, I thought all school meals were free (ahh, youth). But there was this residential trip in year 6 that I was really excited to go on and we got the cost slips and stuff like that and mine was costing my parents £50 (still a fair bit of money for us, but I didn't realise that and we were given it like 6 weeks before it had to be paid) but the girl sat next to me had £150 on her cost slip. When she made a fuss that mine was costing less the teacher explained that those on free school meals had £100 paid for by the school/government; and that was because those who weren't on free school meals had lots of money coming in every month while those on free school meals didn't. It was at that point when I realised school meals weren't free for everyone and people started bullying me for being poor.
When I reached high school was when I noticed it. My mum's disability got a little better (still on DLA, but didn't need my dad to look after her so much) and my dad was able to get a full time job so we had a little bit extra money and I started getting pocket money. Then my dad broke his leg at work and was treated horribly by the company about his sick pay etc. so he quit and we ended up back where we were when I was at the end of primary school. I suddenly noticed things like less biscuits and chocolate and stuff, and we had to get rid of the Sky TV and downgrade our internet to the evening plan instead of the unlimited plan (I still needed internet for school so we couldn't get rid of it completely). Christmas presents dropped in value and replacement school uniform for my brother no longer came from M&S (he has dyspraxia so would fall over and rip stuff or spill stuff and stain his shirts etc.) but was as cheap as possible and the only time I got takeout or fast food was when I stayed at my nans. When I went to college and got EMA, I had to give £20 of it to my parents - £15 of which covered my bus fare and the £10 I had left served as the pocket money they could no longer afford to give me.
Now I'm at uni, mum's disability money has been totally cut despite her being worse than when she was first assessed and they've had to switch to buying smartprice stuff. Dad works part-time to cover the internet for my brother who's now in college but they had to get rid of the landline and switch to the cheapest possible pay as you go for their mobiles (all of which are approx.2-3 years old, except my brother who keeps breaking them due to his clumsiness so keeps getting spares from family and friends while my mum saves up any spare money she can to try and buy him a new one). My nan pays for the Sky TV because my mum is stuck in the house on her own most of the day because when she lost her DLA she lost her motability car as well and sometimes she can barely get from couch to toilet and going on the computer is not an option because her hands hurt so much she can't type or use a mouse if she's particularly bad. Dad's boss has been fantastic and lets my dad use the minibus he drives for work to go shopping etc. and takes my mum to the library on a Saturday, but she also struggles with her eyes sometimes due to diabetes so reading isn't always available as a source of entertainment so the TV is kind of essential for her.
Now there are people worse off than me and my family, but it's by no means easy. I'm glad I got to go to uni, I thought my parents might need me to stay at home and get a job and pay them rent etc. so they could afford stuff, but they've managed okay.