This is South Wales --A BONYMAEN mum says she has been unable to sleep and plagued with suicidal thoughts, because of the spectre of the bedroom tax looming over her.
Megan Wheatland joined protests in Castle Square and at Swansea's Civic Centre in recent days, and fears her family could go under if they were hit with the tax, though currently she has a period of grace.
A recent widow, Megan lives in a three-bedroomed house with her 13-year-old daughter Deanndra, and she will learn in January if the bedroom tax will affect her.
"I'm on bereaved parent's allowance so it hasn't happened to me yet, but we are already struggling."
She told the Evening Post she was surviving on £40 a fortnight after meeting household bills.
"I am in the house with jumpers and a coat on, my daughter has given up most of her out-of-school activities, like drama and the Girl Guides because I can't afford the subs or the petrol to get her there."
Megan is getting by, she says, thanks to support from her brother and friends.
"They have been angels, but I worry how I will able to pay them back."
The 53-year old suffers from arthritis, and while she is looking for work she says her illness makes it tough, and fear for the future is an added burden.
"I don't sleep, and the other night, if my daughter wasn't asleep in the next room I wouldn't have been here the next morning."
While she accepts cuts must be made, she thinks they are targeted in the wrong place.
"They are hitting the poorest in society, when the Government should be work- ing from the top down.
"The council put me in a three-bedroom house, and even if there was somewhere smaller to move to I couldn't afford the removal firm.
"I've been here more than nine years. My memories of my husband are here because he died here.
''They make you feel you are entitled to a roof over your head, but not to a home." Reported by This is 3 hours ago.