[LiteraryLark]

I have a few options.

One: Work for the temp agency

Two: Go on disability and SSI

Three: Enroll in the local beauty school

I really don't know what to do. I have a track record since 18 of never spending more than a couple months at a job, the longest was two different jobs for six months. One was Walmart and I was so overwhelmed I developed stress-induced bulimia so I could get out of work. The second was at the Hilton and my bipolar symptoms made work so difficult they fired me.

I got on with the temp agency but haven't worked yet. Not sure I can handle learning a new job over and over and over again every two weeks or two months.

I'm worried about disability because my grandparents don't approve it. They told me living off the government is wrong and if I go on disability I'll dig myself into a hole I'll never get out of. But I really can't handle working, my symptoms get in the way, and my parents want me on disability to focus on my career as a writer. Plus, I get to do whatever the hell I want, it's a fixed income, and I'll be making more on disability than I would be working at the Hilton.

Then there's the beauty school. I get to dress however I want, I feel like I'd fit in, it's a career that will always be needed, and the goal is to help me succeed so I can find a real career to live off of. Downside is that tuition is $22k and I'd probably have to be on SSI or PT work to afford living while I'm in school.

So what the heck do I do? Feel free to give advice or ask questions that need clarifying.

I'm so stumped. No idea what to do with my life.

[seesaw]

How would you be making more on disability than working? Disability only pays like 60% of your previous earnings, and you have to have been working for like 10 years to qualify.

I don't know how much you can handle at one time, but I would suggest working part time and going to school.

Seesaw

[LiteraryLark]

My Social Security page says my disability would be around $800 plus whatever I'd make for SSI

My mom said it's about $2000 for both.

[LiteraryLark]

And I don't get why I wouldn't make more...I couldn't live off my FT job how could I live 60% of that!?

[LiteraryLark]

I think disability is case-by-case. I doubt that I'll only make 60% of what I earn. It's hard to say at 24.

[LiteraryLark]

I am really leaning towards beauty school, but I'm not sure how I'll make ends meet when the school is FT.

[seesaw]

Originally Posted by LiteraryLark

I think disability is case-by-case. I doubt that I'll only make 60% of what I earn. It's hard to say at 24.

I would actually call the social security office and ask them to figure how much you'd get.

[LiteraryLark]

Originally Posted by seesaw

I would actually call the social security office and ask them to figure how much you'd get.

That's my plan, tomorrow I'm headed to the social security office to explain my situation and my goals.

Speaking from experience, I personally refuse getting on SSI and I qualify and the reason is because when they see that you are actually trying to find employment or even going back to school during the long application process, they decline you. Simply put, if they see you trying to find any kind of employment (temp agencies, regular jobs, or even working with DRS) or looking to attend college, they assume that you are able bodied and don't need them.

Even if you do get approved, unless you are middle aged or elderly and have been working your whole life, all you can really obtain is SSI (not SSDI) and SSI pays a measily $730ish a month plus medical which is hardly enough to live on. Not to mention, the application process takes months or sometimes even years, and is utterly dehumanizing thanks to all of the doctors visits they make you do expecting you to constantly tell them why you can't work or about your disabilities.

Not to mention that they expect you to put your life completely on hold and not try to find employment or go to school on your own for months or years on end while you wait for their unbearably slow process to finish. They don't even care if you are at risk of being homeless and need an income ASAP to survive. If you want your precious SSI you had better be willing to sleep on the streets while the application process goes through... screw that.

Sorry but I have zero trust in the mental health system so asking me to put my entire faith in them while living on the streets ain't gonna happen. I would sooner become a criminal.

So yeah, I would say just get a grant and go to school or college. Grants and loans can also help you pay for student housing if needed as well. That's what I may end up doing instead of dealing with the B.S that is corporate America... seriously **** capitalism.

[Nammu]

To earn SSDI you must have worked long enough and earned enough money to qualify if you haven't worked long enough you can try for SSI which is not much at all but currently depending on the state you live in will make you eligible for free health care. No way are you going to be getting 2000 a month more likely half or less of that. Have you looked into vocational rehabilitation? They help disabled people find jobs that they can keep.

My father worked his entire life and my mother gets 1200 based on his life long upper middle class income.

[LiteraryLark]

Originally Posted by DarknessIsMyFriend

Speaking from experience, I personally refuse getting on SSI and I qualify and the reason is because when they see that you are actually trying to find employment or even going back to school during the long application process, they decline you. Simply put, if they see you trying to find any kind of employment (temp agencies, regular jobs, or even working with DRS) or looking to attend college, they assume that you are able bodied and don't need them.

Even if you do get approved, unless you are middle aged or elderly and have been working your whole life, all you can really obtain is SSI (not SSDI) and SSI pays a measily $730ish a month plus medical which is hardly enough to live on. Not to mention, the application process takes months or sometimes even years, and is utterly dehumanizing thanks to all of the doctors visits they make you do expecting you to constantly tell them why you can't work or about your disabilities.

Not to mention that they expect you to put your life completely on hold and not try to find employment or go to school on your own for months or years on end while you wait for their unbearably slow process to finish. They don't even care if you are at risk of being homeless and need an income ASAP to survive. If you want your precious SSI you had better be willing to sleep on the streets while the application process goes through... screw that.

Sorry but I have zero trust in the mental health system so asking me to put my entire faith in them while living on the streets ain't gonna happen. I would sooner become a criminal.

So yeah, I would say just get a grant and go to school or college. Grants and loans can also help you pay for student housing if needed as well. That's what I may end up doing instead of dealing with the B.S that is corporate America... seriously **** capitalism.

This is exactly what I'm worried about. My grandparents always say you'll end up in a hole you can't get out from. I just need sustainable income while I go through beauty school. Obviously, from what I've heard from, you can't work or go to school on disability, because if you need it you wouldn't be capable of working, but SSI? I know very little about it, and it may be just enough to get me through beauty school. But I won't know until I go in and talk with them. I really don't want to live off the government, but if I am entitled to it, it's worth a shot and it's only temporary, right?

I just need to weigh my options. I don't need to make a decision right this second.

From what I have heard from other members, SSI is less than $800 a month (it seems quite similar to the amount given by Canada's welfare system). Not really enough to live off of, at least comfortably.

Originally Posted by LiteraryLark

This is exactly what I'm worried about. My grandparents always say you'll end up in a hole you can't get out from. I just need sustainable income while I go through beauty school. Obviously, from what I've heard from, you can't work or go to school on disability, because if you need it you wouldn't be capable of working, but SSI? I know very little about it, and it may be just enough to get me through beauty school. But I won't know until I go in and talk with them. I really don't want to live off the government, but if I am entitled to it, it's worth a shot and it's only temporary, right?

I just need to weigh my options. I don't need to make a decision right this second.

Disability (or SSDI) is for people who have been working for a lot of their life and became disabled. It works off money that have locked into social security combined with the standard SSI payment amount.

If you are only 24 then you will most likely only qualify for SSI which pays around $730 a month and limits your options greatly. While the application is in process, expect to wait many months or even years and be forced to put your life entirely on hold for them. If you are working or receive any type of unemployment you had better get off now or they will decline you. Also, if you do get approved you can only make a certain amount on top of what the already small payments pay (I think it's somewhere between $200-300 a month) and they won't allow you to save up more than 2 grand in the bank.

I speak from experience because I attempted an application for myself awhile back without help from a lawyer and my uncle is on it and he is in his 50s, yet, unable to afford all his living expenses so he would always leach off other people, and my uncle used to be financially well off before the recession hit as a self employed auto mechanic. I used to hate him but my own negative experience with the whole screwed up system has caused me to gain a bit more empathy.

To make a long story short they punish those of us who want to be self reliant and are trying to work on our problems, yet they have no issues helping those who simply do not care and have given up; something that I have a serious problem with.

[seesaw]

You can work while on ssdi. You just are capped at making a certain amount or you'll get kicked off the system after 9 nonconsecutive months of earning over the cap anount. Trust me, I just went through this whole thing with ssdi as I went back to work full time.

Ssdi is based on your prior income, and you have to a certain length of employment history to qualify. I'll give you an example, I made $4,750 before taxes monthly before I went on ssdi. When I went on ssdi, I got $1850 a month. That was 39% of my gross income (pretax).

You absolutely can go to school on disability. And you can work. The cap on income is around $800. Check with your ssi office to be sure of the cap.

Originally Posted by seesaw

You can work while on ssdi. You just are capped at making a certain amount or you'll get kicked off the system after 9 nonconsecutive months of earning over the cap anount. Trust me, I just went through this whole thing with ssdi as I went back to work full time.

Ssdi is based on your prior income, and you have to a certain length of employment history to qualify. I'll give you an example, I made $4,750 before taxes monthly before I went on ssdi. When I went on ssdi, I got $1850 a month. That was 39% of my gross income (pretax).

You absolutely can go to school on disability. And you can work. The cap on income is around $800. Check with your ssi office to be sure of the cap.

While on it, there is more you can do, but for those who are still in the application process, they are a lot more strict.

Yes, they have periods where you can work more, but I am unsure as to how they work since I have never been approved myself (refuse to waste my time with it if they won't let me try to work on my own while I wait on their slow turtle asses).

[LiteraryLark]

Seesaw, what should I say tomorrow at the Social Security office? I feel like I can't sleep until I have a game plan.

[seesaw]

Originally Posted by LiteraryLark

Seesaw, what should I say tomorrow at the Social Security office? I feel like I can't sleep until I have a game plan.

Ask them if you can work while you are applying. Ask them how much you would receive from SSDI if you were approved. I don't know if you can get both SSDI and SSI at the same time, so I would ask that.

Ask them if you were approved, how much you could make monthly if you worked part time. Ask them if you are allowed to go to school while applying and/or while on SSDI.

If you get on SSDI, you have to be on 2 years before qualifying for Medicare. Ask them if you would immediately qualify if on SSI.

Remember too, that most people who apply for SSDI get denied the first time and it takes a few appeals (meaning a year or longer) to get approved. You'd get back pay to the time of application, but still, could you wait that long?

Seesaw

[seesaw]

Feel free to PM with any questions. I'll help where I can.

[LiteraryLark]

I think I'm too nervous and not ready to go to the social security office tomorrow. I just don't know what to do..

I would say submit a FAFSA and get a federal student loan and/or grant and go to college. I don't know all that much about the cosmetology field but they have to have something that benefits that field in university. If you need housing taken care of, grants and loans can cover student housing as well.

If you are at least able to pay your living expenses and have no use for full fledged college education then hit up a trade school which would also be able to be funded with a FAFSA and would also cost less than a 4 year university should you have to take a loan over a grant.

While I would advise against it, if you are still considering SSI, do what seesaw suggested and call the office and verify if you can work while the application process goes through. While I am pretty certain you can't considering the whole point of getting on SSI in the first place is to prove that you are too disabled to work, it could always be different in your state. If they say no, then you will have to decide for yourself if you would be able to wait several months up to a few years for your application to complete. If you would be unable to get your basic needs met yourself for that length of time and you can't have family help you, then going to college might be a better bet.

[LiteraryLark]

I looked at the brochure for the beauty college. I will have Sun/Mon off and Tue-Sat I'll be in school until 4pm. That gives me two days with full hours and shifts at 5pm on school days. It's certainly possible to find a PT job like Walmart or McD's. I've worked at both and I think Walmart would be a little more flexible than McD's.

EDIT: Even if I only work Sun/Mon that should give me enough to cover bills and a little mad money for the week.

[Nammu]

If you google am I eligible for SSDI you should get a screen from the SS to fill out and give you a quick answer. Be weary of taking out loans or accepting any money you must pay back with interest.

[LiteraryLark]

I feel a little more hopeful than i did last night. I really want to stay away from disability and SSI if at all possible, mainly because I want to earn what I make and keep my independence. Hopefully my T calls today and we can discuss my game plan in detail. I spend so much time relying on others to make my decisions for me because I doubt so much and I am a people pleaser, but this is my life and I am the only one who can decide my future. And I think it's time I apply for beauty school.

[seesaw]

Originally Posted by LiteraryLark

I feel a little more hopeful than i did last night. I really want to stay away from disability and SSI if at all possible, mainly because I want to earn what I make and keep my independence. Hopefully my T calls today and we can discuss my game plan in detail. I spend so much time relying on others to make my decisions for me because I doubt so much and I am a people pleaser, but this is my life and I am the only one who can decide my future. And I think it's time I apply for beauty school.

I think that is smart. Stay away from SSDI or SSI as long as possible.

I went on it because I truly couldn't work. I had self-harmed so greatly that I was too physically injured, and in addition, was having psychotic moments caused by my depression. So was not fit to work. But being on disability helped me go through treatment and eventually get stable and back to work.

So it can be helpful for some. But if you can stay off of it, stay off. It can be too much of a hassle.

Seesaw

You've made a smart decision, my friend. Always strive to be proactive and take what you want in life.

Unfortunately, society demands too much out of those of us with a MI. They expect us to work like everybody else and either go to college or work for slave wages when all we should be doing is focusing on improving ourselves and following our passions.

Do what makes you happy. **** what other people especially society as a whole thinks.

I wish you the best