I really hope they raise my foodstamps...

HAHAHAHA!

You definitely should check into getting a subsidy to help with your phone bill. It sure sounds like you qualify. Just apply at your local income support office . . . same place as where you apply for food stamps.

You can get a subsidy for either a land-line, or a cell phone, but not both. The Obama administration has pushed this, and every state participates. (I think the money comes from the Feds.) And you don't have to settle for a stripped down, bare bones phone service. In my case, a subsidy of about $12 is paid by the program to my phone service provider. The program doesn't care how many bells and whistles I have on my service. If you want it for a cell phone, I think you have to go with the cell phone company that they direct you to. Below is a link that explains it:

Lifeline Program for Low-Income Consumers | FCC.gov

Here is a link specifically about subsidized cell phones in your state:
Colorado: Get a Free Cell Phone from the Government

I am really surprised that your food stamp subsidy is so low. There would be no harm in re-submitting an application. Maybe your income was higher, or your expenses were lower, at the time you applied. They do look at rent and utility bills in figuring out what you get. You probably could apply for the phone subsidy on the same application. That's how it's done in my state.

Go on-line to see who in your area provides food boxes. A lot of places don't publicize that they do. Usually, picking up the box is a matter of mainly showing a utility bill to prove that you live where you live. Some of these places don't even check your income, though you would be in the income bracket that most programs are trying to target.

We live in Indiana so that may make a difference. Hubby gets the full $721 for paying $350/month in rent. The food stamp office here told him SSI doesn't count as income and he gets $189/month which is the most a single person can get here. I have no idea why here they would say that it isn't income but where you are they cut you way down. That makes no sense to me. Do they definitely know it's SSI and not Disability?

Definitely check out churches and food banks. At least here a lot of the churches also give out clothing and toiletries. Good luck to you.

I might look into that, however I am pretty satisfied with Net10 so not so sure i want to switch it up...however are these no contract pay as you go phones, does it include smart phones with unlimited text/talk/data and do you know if I can keep my own phone if i was to try and switch over to one of those...because i really like the phone I have, it has an actual keyboard that slides out rather than just a touch screen and that part is important to me otherwise I cannot text and I suck at using a touch screen.

And yeah I plan to adress the food stamp issue, re-explain my financial situation as it is currently and see if that makes a difference.

Some Farmer's Markets have programs where your food stamps count for 2x as much as they are -- so $22 a month would = $44 to spend at the farmer's market where I live. Their produce is often cheaper than the grocery store, too.

Another thing that seems to be popular in my area are community dinners. It's sort of a step up from a soup kitchen, but more family oriented. Some of them charge $2, some of them are free.

You are probably already doing this, but if not, make sure to read the labels on the bottled water. Some companies (Dansani, I think is one) just fill their bottles with tap water. Even Poland Spring is no longer completely spring water. I didn't like the taste of the water when I was on an extended road trip across the country and had a real problem finding actual spring water!

I stay away from Dansani and Aquafina....usually I get like arrowhead mountain spring water, fiji and other simular ones...also I've gotten imported spring water found some that was kinda cool it came in boxes and was from norway....but yeah dansani and aquafina and some others are just 'purified' water basically tap water that maybe was filtered out. but yeah if someone gave me two cups of water...one with some good spring water with mineral content and one with dansani I could tell the difference by taste cause dansani is kinda gross anyways. Sometimes I wonder if it is even real water....or just some synthetic version lol.

Here's another link for you in Colorado. I couldn't find the specific answers to your questions, but maybe this link sheds a little light: Lifeline Cell Phone Eligibility | Assurance Wireless

And here is info on how they calculate the food stamp benefit, but I gotta admit that it was too complicated for me to follow: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1269

I could also schedule an appointment since through the mental health place I go to they have Navigations program that doesn't cost anything to help people with these sort of things, they actually helped me initially apply for assistance...and pretty much did the paper work for me. So perhaps they can make sense of the madness and figure out if I actually do qualify for a higher amount or not. Sort of forgot about that resource

Will look at the cell phone thing a little later.