To me, essentials are basic things like a safe place to live, a basic/cheap phone plan (for employment purposes), internet (because i do half of my courses online so it's for education), utilities, at least one car, gas, groceries, then there's insurance (which is our third largest expense monthly after the mortgage), health care costs out of pocket, home and car repair, the unexpected repair bill, I'm sure I'm missing something. All of these things add up and it aint cheap. If I worked full time, we'd need to add to that the cost of daycare for two kids under five, one not potty trained. We've cut cable tv, our cell phone plan (we're now on my parent's family plan), and we rarely go out. My point is, many other people are in similar situations. And to be honest, if his job didn't pay more than what unemployment offered, we would have held out. And frankly, I don't blame the people that do hold out. What these people are getting in unemployment is nothing compared to the trillions the pentagon lost in a single year. Corporations are making record profits while the average person is supposed to "cut back." I don't buy it.