Another year of scraping by...

with no real options to improve my situation in any way is what I have to look forward to. Not sure I even can be approved for SSI and the longer the wait is the more unsure I get about it...I am pretty stressed about the appeal process and wording things wrong and all that to where I come off as more functional than I am.

But yeah I found out this will likely take another year and there is still the chance of being denied. I looked at what help is available in my state and I wouldn't qualify for anything useful at this point that i know of. Even any cash assistance requires a physical examination proving disability seems like mental problems are just disregarded for that particular help.

Just don't know how to get by another year, with no income of any kind to even attempt to do anything useful/smart with...also I am somehow supposed to stay motivated to complete the process and play the game and all that. I mean even with SSI moving out of my moms place may not prove to be ideal but at least I'd have a little money to get out of the house and maybe save up some till I could figure something else out.

Not sure why I am posting this, it seems like everything points towards this being my confusion overload to figure out regardless of if I have the ability to do so. So yeah when I'm 25 I might be able to start having a life and afford more actual help for my conditions

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. I've had the quite the struggle myself, first leaving my job due to mental illness (almost two years ago), then having to apply and prove my illness to employment insurance, then apply and prove my illness to social assistance, then apply and prove my illness to disability (at the federal and provincial levels). And they're not exactly kind and supportive. There's a lot of judgment and stigma, even by those who work in those fields. And everything takes awhile to go through. So I applaud your perseverance. Just keep hangin' in there.

have been there, still somewhat there, and facing possibility of going back there, all I can say is take one day at a time. Do what you can to enjoy life's tender mercies, cut costs, like plant and grow and put up garden produce, etc. Try to never give up! I know it's hard. We get hit by life sometimes when we are already down. I still believe that we must just keep moving forward, as best as we are able. Laugh. Enjoy the little things. Help someone else. Just telling you this cuz it's how I cope! The best!

I'm right there with u in a sense. Right now I'm awaiting the hearing decision
They have 30 more days to let me know. I am past the point of hopeless. The kind of broke where toilet paper is a luxury. Someone asked me what i wanted for my bday. I said tp, pads, laundry soap and shampoo. They looked at me like i was crazy but i was completely serious. I don't know what i will do if they deny me. I have a pysical disabilty as well as mental. They agree to all my disabilities. but since the drs didn't document that i have to keep my leg elivated several hrs a day they aren't. sure even though every er doc and there have been many and every other I've seen all say the same. How not one of them charted it i will never understand. But anyway sorry for rambling. I just want you to know ur not alone. I know the struggle of being so broke can hurt so bad and it seems no one gets but i hope better is coming for you soon.

I'm waiting on my hearing decision also. I'm real worried about it.

I don't know how they expect people to survive while waiting for this stuff. One thing that has always helped me when dealing with all the red tape is contacting my Congressperson. They have people in their local offices whose job is only to help their constituents. I have gotten help from Senators from two states in dealing with Social Security and the Federal Government HR Department for my employee disability retirement. They have phone numbers and contacts that we don't and when Senators start putting pressure on these people, they have to respond. Congress controls appropriations, which in turn can control these people's paychecks.

Hellion, here are some links to your Senate offices:

Michael Bennet - United States Senator for Colorado : Services - Help with a Federal Agency

Request Assistance with a Federal Agency | Mark Udall | U.S. Senator for Colorado

Now, as a more immediate cost-saving measure, and I don't want to seem trite here, but for people who are buying their own food, I seriously want to put in a plug for couponing. Not just clipping a few coupons from the newspaper, but serious couponing at the "crazy coupon lady" level. It can take a bit of time to get started and does take some effort to plan your shopping trips, but the benefits can be truly amazing. There are days when the store owes ME money. It may not be a lot - maybe even a few cents - but nothing comes out of my pocket on those trips. Sometimes it involves stocking up, which means you've got to have some storage space, but most people have more space than they may even realize when they get creative. And I'm not talking about some of the BS you see on Extreme Couponing. You don't have to live on Ramen noodles to do this! Nor am I talking about buying 20 bottles of mustard. I'm buying real food at much less than retail.

For example...yesterday I scored big on pasta and sauce. I got 16 jars of Classico sauce and 8 boxes of pasta for $3. Seriously. Here's how I did it:

The sauce was on sale for 2 jars for $3.
With every two jars of sauce, the store had a deal where they gave you one box of pasta for free.
I had printed manufacturer's coupons worth $4 off the sauce.
I found out about a "Catalina coupon" for the sauce (those coupons that print out at the register in many stores) - I got $3 back for every four jars of sauce I bought.
I am also a member of Savingstar (free online signup) - Savingstar is a website that gives you cash back when you buy certain items and scan your store's loyalty card (make sure you get one of those cards!). I got a deal where if I bought $15 worth of sauce, they gave me $5 back. You can use paper coupons with the online savings. They credit you for the purchase price, not what you actually spent.

So here's how it worked out:

16 jars of sauce at 2/$3 + 8 boxes of pasta at $1 each = $32
minus $8 in free pasta (store deal) = $24
minus $4 in paper coupons = $20
minus $3 for every four jars = $8
minus $5 in Savingstar savings = $3!

Now, you have to split your orders sometimes, which can make people behind you a tad grumpy, but that's too bad. I do try to let people with just a few items go before me, but that's also what Express lines are for. The Catalina coupons are used on your NEXT order, so you will have $3 left from the last sauce transaction that you need to spend on something else (meat or veggies to go with your pasta maybe!), and the Savingstar savings are in the form of a cash deposit into an online account that they then deposit into a PayPal account or your bank account, so your out of pocket cost will be a little more, but you get it back. My out of pocket cost was $11, then I got the last $3 Catalina and I'll get the $5 Savingstar sometime next week.

There are lots of websites and blogs that can help you get started. Here are two of the ones I use the most:

Coupons | Grocery Coupons | Printable Coupons | Coupon Codes | Free Coupons
Printable coupon deals and extreme couponing tips by The Krazy Coupon Lady

Seriously. Try it. Make a game out of it to see just how little you can spend on an item. If we're waiting for disability, we typically have the time to do this. And I understand that there are days/weeks where we simply don't have the energy or brain power to do this. Those are the weeks that you can use what you have stocked up on. You do what you can, when you can do it. You can do this even on food stamps to make your monthly benefit go further. It doesn't matter how you pay. I feel like I'm doing something active to help contribute to my family's finances. It helps keep my mind active. And it gives me the security of knowing that if something happens to my husband's income, at least we have food. With the pasta and only half of the sauce I bought, I can feed my family of four one good meal a day for more than a week on 24 cents a day. (Of course I'll feed them more than one meal a day, but if I can get deals like this on other things, my daily cost can be just a few dollars a day.)

Try it out. Even if you can save $10 a week to start, that's $40 a month, which is a tank of gas these days. I'm saving at least $100 a month by doing this. It works.

Oh, and some people might say, "but you've got to spend tons of money on paper and ink to print the coupons". Not necessarily. Staples usually has some awesome deals on paper and ink. Get the rewards card. Use the rebates. Recycle your ink cartridges. Watch for coupons on paper and ink. The money I save from just a few pages of coupon prints pays for my paper and ink.

And classico sauce is pretty good. I'd given up couponing because ive been trying to eat more fresh stuff. I will have to look into it again.

Plus you can probably print at your local public library for not too much.

Sometimes you can find coupons on fresh produce, meat, and dairy too! Check out FTM Coupon Database - and enter a search for "produce" or "milk", etc. It will give you links to a lot of available coupons that are out there, all from one search engine. You can also get coupons from different companies' Facebook pages. Baking season is almost here - there will likely be coupons out for fresh eggs soon. If you go to the Driscoll's website and register an email address (make up a gmail account if you don't want to give out your regular one), you can get a coupon for money off fresh berries. They're out there, it's just about knowing where to look!

As for printing at the library, that may or may not work. There's a small coupon printing software file that needs to be downloaded to print coupons that can legally scan. Most libraries won't let you download software onto their systems, but you may be able to use a laptop and just use their printer.