WITH 12 children under one roof, single parent Veronica Merritt’s budget is understandably pretty stretched.
However, without a partner to help her Veronica, 38, admits she ends up haemorrhaging money in order to keep the house in order.
Veronica, who had her first child at 14 years old, says she finds herself splashing extra cash on takeaways to make life easier, even though she is on 'food stamps' and US version of benefits.
This is despite space in her house being so tight one of her kids at one point living in the kitchen cupboard.
She said: "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."
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And addressing the help she got with food, she said: "
Speaking to Truly, the mum hit back at trolls who slam her for using benefits to feed her children.
She said: "One thing I hate is that people go on and on about how I get food assistance."
Meal-prep for 12
The mum, who split with her second husband in 2021, says that Instagram trends like meal planning go out of the window when you have a bumper brood.
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Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, the self-employed, art seller mum says: “The only reason I haven’t run out of food already is because there had been a bit of a food shortage so I stocked up on meat.
“I do meal planning but I’m not consistent, I’ll admit it.
“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.”
Veronica says that while she does cook for her family most nights, some dinners require less effort than others.
“There are days when I really make an effort with the kids' food but then there are other days when they just eat cereal for dinner,” she says.
“I only have one kidney and suffer anaemia which means I sometimes am simply too exhausted to cook a full meal from scratch so we get a takeaway or use canned food.
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.
“People judge me of course but the way I look at it as long as they’re fed I am happy.
“Trolls say I should not have had so many kids because I don’t feed them properly.
“The mum-shamers have also told me to get five different jobs and care for my kids.
“They tell me I am not a proper mum unless I cook three meals from scratch each day.
“I am also told I am abusive because I let them have canned food a couple of times a month.”
Financial incentive
Catering aside, when it comes to keeping the house in order Veronica admits that she often finds herself forking out more money for extra help.
But it is not professional cleaners she’s employing.
“I still don’t seem to be able to teach my kids how to clean,” she says.
“There are so many of them that if they all pitched in then the housework would be done in no time but they simply won’t.
“It’s not that they’re bad kids, they're just a bit lazy.
“Sometimes they will help me if I offer to pay them £15 per child to help me get through the laundry pile.
“It depends on how desperate I am, sometimes they will take advantage of me in that situation.”
While Veronica would love it if her kids helped out more, she admits that she’s reluctant to nag them too much.
“I don’t want them to help out because they’re scared of being punished,” she adds.
When we bought this house </a>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.
“I want them to help because it’s the right thing to do.
“I don’t want them to feel afraid of me or want to leave.”
Veronica, who is mum 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, says that there is plenty of room in her nine-bed home for more.
“I definitely want about six more children but if I could go higher,” she says.
“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.”
Finding Mr Right
Veronica may be on the hunt for her own Noel Radford but she says that she won’t settle for just anyone.
“I was with someone who didn’t make me happy and it ended up as a very unhappy marriage,” Veronica says.
“So I won’t be with anyone who isn’t thrilled to have me ever again but it’s not like I’m short of offers.
“I constantly get offers from blokes offering to be my next baby-daddy but I just think they’re gross.
“People get mixed up with the fact that I like having kids and that I have some kind of breeding kink, but that’s not the case, it's just a natural result of that act.
“For now I will stay abstinent until I find my next husband.”
The mum is unable to take the contraceptive pill due to the fact that she suffers from blood clots but admits she is fairly lenient when it comes to other forms of birth control.
She says: “When I had baby number seven I was going to get my tubes tied but the surgeon talked me out of it and thought ‘wouldn’t it be cool to get to ten?’
“There are other forms of contraception but I don’t use them because I can’t get enough of being pregnant.”
While she never planned to have as many as 12 kids, Veronica had always wanted to have a family of her own due to her ‘loveless’ upbringing.
“Growing up was hard”, Veronica says, “I never had a traditional mum and a dad, just my mum and her boyfriend.
“My mum had a brain injury and my dad was already married to someone else when I was conceived so I didn’t have the traditional picket fence upbringing.”
“I had no relationship with my dad’s side of the family. The truth is I was the product of a one night stand.
“My mum and dad had a fling with each other. So I was without a traditional mother and father and the community that normally brings. That is the reason I want to create a big family with a core parent, me as the mum, committed to them.
Veronica was just 14-years-old when she became pregnant with Victoria having broken up with her daughter’s dad shortly before.
She recalls: “There was never an option in my mind about not keeping the baby.
“A friend handed me a pamphlet about adoption and I didn’t talk to her for ten years – I would have killed for her.
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“It was scary but I was very stubborn – I was going to be a better mum than anyone.”
Veronica, had her second child Andrew at the age of 18 with her daughter’s dad after briefly getting back and has since gone on to have a child with almost each consecutive year.
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