I don't begrudge them at all. The reality is, no matter how big your emergency fund is, Shit Happens. They weren't expecting a pregnancy, let alone with expens

I don't begrudge them at all. The reality is, no matter how big your emergency fund is, Shit Happens. They weren't expecting a pregnancy, let alone with expensive, high-maintenance twins. They weren't expecting to lose their jobs. They weren't expecting to be stuck for more than one year looking for a job ("The days of unemployment turned into weeks, months, and, eventually, years."). Everyone has a guilty pleasure or two, and it's not always as obvious as a cheapo Mercedes (which is not a bad choice at all if you're looking at long term costs vs a cheap car). A $240k house is hardly "luxury" and may make more sense than renting in that area. Even if they had a 1 year emergency fund (a fairly rare thing to do in itself), they likely would have been back on food stamps anyway. Sure, she could have sold both cars and possibly lose a job as a result. Sure, she could be homeless. Sure, she could do a lot of other really shitty things. I'm glad WIC helped her so she didn't have to give up everything. I only wish SNAP (food stamps) and WIC and other programs could help more people before they feel like they gave up everything they had and then some. My husband and I both make six figures, we manage to save most of it with cheap rent and very little spent on necessities let alone luxuries, and we have Oh Shit savings for more than one year. But this kind of doomsday scenario is why we have yet to buy a house or a car (thankfully half decent public transit in the bay area) and having children requires us to make a leap of faith, assuming that most people like us do it all the time. The "pay rent and bills, food, and other necessities for a few years" fund doesn't look big enough even for one person accidents, let alone anything else... If you find yourself in a situation where you blew through your emergency fund and you're still having problems making ends meet, I sincerely hope that you can find the help you need without judgment.