Voices from the Village - Patricia’s story

As part of its work looking at the impact of rising living costs on families with young children, Little Village recently spoke to mum, Patricia* (not her real name) who lives with her husband and twin baby girls in London. The family was referred to Little Village soon after the babies were born and were provided with items such as nappies, bottles and bedding.

We talked to Patricia about the cost of living with two babies, she said:

“Everything the twins need is so expensive… their clothes, toys, everything costs a lot. And even the things for adults, the food, it’s very costly. I am worried when I hear that prices are going up. The electricity and gas bills are quickly increasing and we find it difficult to keep up with re-charging them every week, but at the same time we have to make sure the flat is warm to keep the children warm.

“My husband works very long hours, he gets up at 4am. So I’m always on my own with the babies. Even with him working, things are difficult. I can just manage, I can go hungry, but I manage. I struggle to eat.

“We are on Universal Credit. My husband has a credit card so we use that whilst we’re waiting for the Universal Credit money to come in, then pay it off before we get charged too much.

“We live in a council flat, there is not enough space. We’ve got a one bedroom flat, the babies don’t have their own room.”

Sadly, Patricia is not alone in finding life extremely difficult this year. Little Village recently carried out a survey of baby banks across the country. The majority of baby banks said they expect 2022 to be the hardest yet for families trapped in poverty. You can read more here.