I only really know 3 families who have serious money problems. When I say serious money problems I mean they have bill collectors calling them regularly. Here's a list of things which are common to 100% of this (albeit small) sample size).
Car payment on a car bought brand new
Smart phone with unlimited texts and a $20/mo data plan
Not just cable, but many and afaik all of the premium packages (HBO, Starz, Cinemax, etc.)
The highest end internet speed package
Regularly eats dinner via one of those "we deliver from any restaurant" places
So let's rack up the savings on those items alone:
car: Typical car payment is $450/mo nationally, buying a used car cuts that in half, $225 savings
phone: Lose the data plan and/or use a discount carrier, save ~$40/mo
cable: Cut the cable bill in half: $45/mo savings
cut to lowest DSL/cable internet package: $25/mo savings
Just with those alone we've saved $335/mo and we haven't touched the eating out regularly or other expensive habits.
A person with that much room in their budget doesn't need to be getting food stamps.