LIFE as a single parent can be tricky at the best of times, but for mum-of-12 Veronica Merritt the costs keep piling up.
Veronica, 38, is on ‘food stamps’ and the US version of benefits, despite earning up to £5.5k a month from posting videos on TikTok.
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As a self-employed art-seller, Veronica’s income can vary a lot from month to month, but despite claiming some benefits she said she doesn’t get all she could.
“I don’t even get everything we would qualify for,” the mum, who had her first child at just 14-years-old, explained.
“I get $1400 food stamps a month and medical coverage.
“We would qualify for things like WIC and disability because my son was fighting cancer but we don’t get those extra things.”
The main goal for the mum is to have “food security” which is partly why she took up posting clips on TikTok.
But the income from that isn’t reliable enough to depend on, she exclusively told Fabulous.
“My TikTok income really fluctuates.
“I had a month where I made over $7k on TikTok but the average has been $2,700 but this last payout was only $300 because I’ve barely been posting anything,” she said.
Although now two of her 12 kids have moved out, leaving a bit more room, there was a point things were so cramped one of her kids lived in the kitchen cupboard.
“When we bought this house we thought this was a kitchen cupboard.
“I use it for Halloween storage now, but it was my eight-year-old’s bedroom too, it’s just big enough that he could stand up in there,” she previously explained.
Trolls have been cruel to the busy mum in the past, telling her she shouldn’t have so many kids if she needs to claim benefits to house and feed them.
“People judge me of course but the way I look at it as long as they’re fed I am happy,” she said.
I had a doctor joke that I was made for making babies and I think I let that go to my head.”
Veronica Merritt
Veronica said she does cook grub for her bumper brood most of the time, but when she doesn’t have much energy she’ll cough up the cash for a takeaway.
“Come dinner time I won’t want whatever I’ve prepped or I’ll simply feel lazy and order a pizza which costs around £90 to feed us all.
“As well as the added cost of a takeaway it also means that I have wasted the £25 on the food I have bought because it will go bad,” she said.
But the mum-shamers haven’t stopped Veronica from doing the best she can with the little she has, and she has no plans to give up her right to benefits either.
“I’m a single mom with 10 kids still living at home and no support whatsoever from their father.
“So yeah, I accept the food benefits. Life is expensive,” she said.
The mum previously confessed she’d love to have more kids.
Already mum to to Victoria, 23, a mum of one, Andrew, 18, a trainee marine, Adam, 17, Mara, 16, Dash, 14, Darla, 13, Marvelous, 10, Martalya, eight, Amelia, six, Delilah, five, Donovan, three, and Modi, one, Veronica said there’s room in her nine-bed home for more – especially now Victoria and Andrew have flown the nest.
“I definitely want about six more children but if I could go higher,” she said.
“If I could get pregnant with 11 at once and know they would all survive I would do that in a heartbeat, I wouldn’t care about what happened to my body.
“I had a doctor joke that I was made for making babies and I think I let that go to my head.”