Its different for everybody.

I live with my family. I am at the bottom of SSDI income pretty much. I'm in my mid 30's. I have a friend who is also my age and he brings in the same amount of money. Granted, I was in school during much of my 20's so that factored into why I don't make very much. But on the plus side, I don't pay a dime for my medical insurance (Medicare) as my premiums and co-pays are paid by my state. If I start working, I'd have to make sure its a significant jump in order to overcome the amount I'd have to pay out of pocket in medical expenses.....sort of why I'm moving in the direction of getting healthy enough to go back to work, but won't actually do so until I am in a better place and can work enough to overcome that difference and then some.

What can you do with your time?

Anything you want to.

I am able to take classes tuition free in my state, so I have taken advantage of this program. (Thank GOD I live in a state that had the incredible foresight to think "hey, lets educate disabled people so they can learn to help themselves and one day get off of disability perhaps!")

Yes, I do have my days when I don't do much of anything, but I also have much more productive days. Maybe part of your goal should be fully focusing on healing? That would give you something to work toward.

A lot of people on SSDI do volunteer work. I think this is where I will start because it won't affect my income (and threaten my medical benefits) but it will give me experience with getting back to a working environment (of sorts) and it will give me a chance to socialize, too. (The only thing that has deterred me so far is that SO many places want you to interview for a volunteer position and my stress levels couldn't handle that right now.)

Oh, and there are SO many freebies out there....if you don't already, I'd start frequenting money saving blogs and forums. My birthday is this week and I can't even count all of the freebies I'm getting....free burger at Red Robin, free burger at Ruby Tuesday, free sub at Jersey Mikes, free drink at Starbucks, free pastry at Panera, free meal at Perkin's, free pancakes at IHOP, makeup freebie at Sephora, $10 off at Victoria's Secret (I got 2 of these....plus, they're always sending me freebie coupons in the mail), $20 off at the Finish Line, Free movie at my local theater, and I know there will be more freebies coming in closer to my birthday. Of course this is just once a year, but even so, you can get a LOT of free stuff and make your birthday special! (Do a search for birthday freebies....most of these you have to sign up for in advance, some at least a month+ beforehand.) There are a lot of other restaurants that offer free stuff for your birthday, so it pays to do a search and find all of the ones around you. Oh, and Denny's used to give a free Grand Slam on your birthday, but I'm not sure if they do that anymore or not.