Living On Disability Income/Low Income

On Reddit people join family plans on Cricket. But I haven't done that because I no longer have a debit and credit card.

We've been surviving on about $1k a month from my husband's part time job but since the companies office is in our living room the company pays most of our bills, but that is soon to go away. The 31st will be my husband's last paycheck from that job for a while. My husband got a new job though and it pays $2750 a month. The bills we have is:
Mortgage $535
Phone $202 (2 phones on contract and unlimited plan, my husband uses a lot of data)
Cable/internet $135
Car insurance $107
Power around $100-$150
Health Insurance $59
Water bill $35
Gym $20
Netflix $10
Auto Club $15
Apple Music $14
Credit Card $60 or so
We also heat our house with wood @ $75 for half a cord and have been though 1.5 cords so far this year
I also have a helper coming in to help me while my husband is away and that's $60-75 a week
Then I have to buy stupid food that I can eat and that's expensive.

I seriously hope I hear something about SSDI soon, cause things will be tight until I meet the out of pocket max on my insurance and won't have to pay for meds or drs visits anymore. Right now meds are around $200 a month.

Fun times.

Wow that housing is going to really change your life!

Something to think about. Ill check it out.

That's the same with boost which is what I have. I don't have any trustworthy people around me that'll pay their part of the bill so I don't do it.

If you teamed up with Newtus, you could get an unlimited plan for $40/ each. On Cricket.

Oops - I forgot newt can't switch yet.

Hello there,

I’m on SSDI. I have two iPhones with unlimited data for $128 a month. You may want to shop around

Problem is, i live in the rural and theres only 2, maybe 3 phone companies i can get good service with out here. Another is im locked into att because im paying installment plans on this phone. My plan was 114 until i got on installments which made it another 50 dollars.

Oh darn I completely understand. I use to have Verizon and was paying a crap load of money. I’ve moved and I have T-Mobile. Best wishes.

Thanks so much! I appreciate your advice, too!

Newtus, do you have a case manager or a social worker? Maybe they can help you with finding a low income place and set you up on food stamps and other programs?

I tried to get stamps and Medicaid. DHS said my income is too high. But yes case managers are good to have

Yes i do. My therapist doubles as my case manager. I will ask. Unfortunately she is out until april or may because she is having a baby. Honestly idk when she will be back in and she never set me up another appt because of her maternity leave.

I got food stamps years ago but quit using them because i made too much so i was only getting 15 dollars a month. It wasnt enough to buy anything really.

I cant get medicaid because in texas medicaid is only for women with children or pregnant women. Texas hasn’t expanded their medicaid program.

@junkdna

Dont want to bother you, but is there more info you can give based on the questions I asked?

Hey sorry. It's hard to type a lot with my hand being messed up but I will answer the questions when I get to my moms house in an hour or so

Ok

You must inform social security when you become employed. You can do this by calling your local ss office.

In order to stay on disability and NOT get put in the trial to work period you have to make under the limit that SS gives. It changes every year. Google the social security limit for 2018. Last year it was around $800/month. This is BEFORE TAXES are deducted from your pay check.

In order to do that, I worked 15ish hours a week at a low pay rate [close to min. Wage] to ensure I never made over their limit. I had to ask for lower hours a week than most people. There are a couple ways to do that without disclosing your illness.... I told them I am a college student and need to have time for homework and classes . However most jobs will ask you to disclose if you have a disability in the application, you can either say yes , no, or opt out of answering. The only reason they ask that is because businesses get tax credits for hiring disabled people. It has nothing to do with how you are treated [or shouldn't].

SS has a term called substantial gainful employment. This is how they determine if you are still disabled while working. Basically, if they think you are doing a job that doesn't match up with your disability claims, they will start a review of your disability . I was working as a cashier, and they never said anything about it

You must notify SS of your income every month. I did this by faxing my pay stubs to their office here.

If you go over the limit, you will lose your next disability check.

As you know you get reviews every few years .in these reviews , if you are working, you must tell them. They have a section where you can write accommodations you need at work. In mine I wrote that I work less hours a week, and work short shifts

Next post I will talk about the ticket to work program and how it works.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom, junk. This is great info.

have you tried Swagbucks? I have been doing it for about 6 years. You do surveys, watch ads, use their search engine, do all sorts of things and you earn points that you can cash out for gift cards (including Paypal). I don't do that much and I get about $25/month. I used to do more and got $50/month. Some people put a lot of effort and get more. I won't lie, it's not really fun, but it is nice to have the extra cash.

(I get nothing for posting here, this isn't an advertisement. I just thought one or more of you might want to look at it to see if it might help out).

Gosh - I’m astounded that some of you can stick to a budget so well.

I had to ask a distant cousin to pay my rent in April because I was so heavily overdrawn this month. And, with my AT&T services disconnected early on 02/09, my bank processed the $867 overdraft and I’m now $1271 overdrawn. But I have food.

My SSDI check is $1989. And I’ve a couple of monthly and quarterly sources of income. Before these overdrafts started I lived very well. I was able to get credit cards again and I went through monthly spending sprees and I do so today. Oh, and I am on a payday-loan scheme that I can’t escape.

I have never been ‘good with money.’ When I was first diagnosed and riskiness and impulsively were called out, I saw myself and what drove me and drives me now.

My SSDI ‘check’ is high, I know, because I had more deducted beyond (what was then) the $87,500 ‘cap.’ Not sure what I’ll do next month. $2000 would solve my immediate problem, but I dare not ask my rich cousin (13 years my senior - in the ‘my god, he might pop off at any time’ years of life) for that much money.

I must read each message here.

Same here - I’ve an ancient 7sPlus, now, and after having three phones stolen in 2017, this phone is costing me a fortune. I avoid even reading about the X because I will never be able to afford a high end iPhone again.

Reviews? I’ve been receiving SSDI, based upon my psychiatric diagnoses (and ‘verfied’ by an SS shrink over a weeks time), since 2003 and have never been told of any review?

I did lose my legs in 2006. Maybe that changes things? All those doctors telling me that I had 3-6-months until death?

What do they do in these reviews?

Living on a small income is very difficult, but you empower yourself by knowing all the numbers.
Your income, per month: ssi, and/or ssdi/and or employment
Your bills:
housing: rent or mortgage-most important, keep a roof over your head, and keep a good track record for yourself/future landlords/lendors!
utilities: gas, electric, water, trash
transportation: car payment, insurance, plates/tag, gas, and/or bus fare, metro pass, subway pass, your monthly expenditure on necessary transportation
prescriptions/medical other: co-pays for monthly meds, diabetic supplies, any other regular medical needs
veterinary: meds for pets, or other special supplies (personally i relegate pet food to grocery, but my eldery dog takes monthly arthritis meds, and i count these here in my own budget)
phone/internet: your communication needs
grocery: food, toiletries, pet food, household supplies like dishsoap, etc. I'm always shocked by what i spend, but it does me no favors to plan for less. I do my best to shop wisely, and then it costs what it costs.
entertainment: put your extras like netflix, cable, other entertainment type subscriptions here. Move cable to communication if it is your phone/internet.
other: if you have anything left over, this is your wish list area. Personally, i make two lists, needs, and wants.
Needs, is things like home repairs that i need to save for, or the pets upcoming vaccinations that they will need.
Wants, is a lower priority that can be borrowed from, and is things like new work shoes, tickets to a summer show, trip to relatives.
If you find your biils are higher than your income, then you have to change one or the other, or both. But that's math. All cold hard facts!

I only get 722 per month. It really sucks considering I have a 209 dollar student loan bill out of that. I am trapped at my parents house because there's no way I could afford rent, car, food, utilities etc on 500 per month.