How does one live on SS!?

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I'm curious about the budgets and work-arounds that people surviving on whatever SSI pays a month utilize.

How do you keep a roof over your head? Keep Food on the (used, three-legged) table? Keep a girl- or boyfriend happy on whatever's left over?

I get $1281 per month,I get by it's tight,I get SNAP(food stamps) and medicare and medicaid/MASS-HEALTH.

It's tight,I am divorced and currently live alone,when I was married I had a part time job,which legal as long as you don't make more than,I think about $800 per month.So on that I supported two people.

If you or your partner have a part time job SS can swing two people living modestly.I don't work now because I don't need to being alone now,and a part time job would cost me SNAP and MASS-HEALTH.

I get $500 per month on SSI and $200 per month on EBT.

IMO, it's actually pretty easy when you accept the fact that you have your own money.

If you become eligible for EBT, always ask for a receipt whenever you buy groceries so you can keep track of how much you spend per grocery trip.

I was on SSI and SNAP for about 18 months. Not possible to survive as a family of 7. I burned through a big chunk of my savings. Fortunately for me I "got better" and found a job in my field again.

They get section 8 or affordable housing, they get free health care from the state or get Medicare which is around $110 a month but they take it out of your social security check, they also get food stamps and get other assistant programs utility companies have.

Because we have programs for low income people, Social Security expects you to use those.

I've never claimed any state benefits, but I gave up working full time in 2000 due to stress and other psychological issues, and lived off around £500-£600 per month for the next 17 years, all derived from running down savings. That would be around $700-$750 at today's exchange rate, though the £/$ rate was somewhat higher for the earlier part of that period.

Since 2017 I've been able to claim a half-pension from my previous employment, which currently amounts to £959 per month. That still technically places me about £6000 per year below the official UK 'poverty line' (defined as a household with an income of less than two-thirds of the average national wage), but in reality I manage pretty well on that sum.

...I had a part time job,which legal as long as you don't make more than,I think about $800 per month.

I've been reading nightmarish stories online about people who work on SSI and have trouble because their bank balances momentarily exceeded some mystical number. Or their income was misreported and they found themselves bounced from the program plus owing monies back. They make its sound like a lot of trouble to work, although in the end if you need the money, what else are you gonna do I suppose

I once sent in my wages and this woman in the office forgot to put them in the computer. So it didn't show my wages being reported and for three months I was only getting $115 a month. I have no idea how disabled people survive if they get screwed over like this. I was lucky to be with my ex at the time and he wasn't charging me any rent or nothing.

So one day my mom had to go into the Social Security office herself in Missoula where I had last mailed in my wages and it turned out this lady never put them in so this man found my pay stubs and printed them off and put them in the computer system and bam I got three months of back pay the following month. So yeah, I have had troubles while on SSI and it was a pain to mail in your wages and it takes for an employee to make a mistake and forget for you to get screwed over in income. Same as if a mail man lost your wages in the mail or somehow it got lost during delivery.

I have SSDI not SSI no bank limit

maybe. i have been making nearly 2000 a month this year and i am still getting a, albeit small, SSI check monthly.

the rest sounds more or less like my experience. the people who run that stuff sure are strict about the $2000 bank account limit. as a result i keep all of my savings in a safe in two non-connected states.
my parents set me up on SSI just before i turned 18 and i am decreasingly seeing a need for it, although it is still very useful covering groceries and car insurance for the month...while i SLAVE AWAY


...never mind the fact that i owe them $13000 (they are paying themselves back by reducing the check amount, i'm afraid that if i get off of the program they will demand the whole sum at once which i won't be able to pay)
that aside, i have a healthy amount of money saved up and i have been talking to my parents (who are keeping some of my savings) about opening a savings account in another bank [hush! hush!] thinking of ways to keep it hidden from the SSI people.
but they seem very uneasy about it and and think keeping my own money with them 1200 miles away is a better idea.

i don't know. the whole situation just seems very controlling.

aim quickly turned to working on health, coping mechanisms, and tricks to keep up with eating and everything else necessary, to get back to school full time to be able to work doing something that can be endured longterm. was basically ready to go back to school this year, but now have to wait on some normalcy returning.

an honest life on ssi is basically solitary confinement that attacks cognition and health in itself, and after nearly a decade alone in the dark, you stop seeing a person in the mirror anymore, while not having the morale to do much anything most days without feeling burned out. it’s surely not so different a life than that of the forgotten elderly... the few that seem able to endure disability better seem to find romantic partners as stable roommates, but dependance on a partner is not found the slightest bit healthy or acceptable.

only money saving advice had is to learn to cook, and look up world recipes for affordable low income foods that are satisfying and somewhat healthy. eating things you like seems to better regulate serotonin, and being able to cook easily saves over a hundred dollars a month. most of what’s eaten are japanese, vietnamese, and thai recipes prepared on weekends in batches, and frozen in portions in freezer safe 2cup containers, or will last the week in the refrigerator... it’s costly in restaurants, but such food is quite inexpensive to make with access to a sufficiently stocked asian market.

also, when it comes to the energy bill, when moving about, always try to find a place with gas heat, water heat, stove, and oven... making those electric is wildly inefficient, and the electricity bill will reflect that, and be difficult to keep down no matter how mindful. that, and anything you use that doesn’t require constant power should be put on a power strip, and unplugged while not in use... the plugs still draw current even if you flip the switch off(plus, it is the best form of surge protection for electronics you cannot afford to replace.).

...as a result I keep all of my savings in a safe in two non-connected states.

I was wondering about saving monies above $2000 rather than just blowing it. How could they track that if you didn't use an account but rather squirreled it away? With my luck, the Government would go "cashless" like India did and crash cash caches

an honest life on ssi is basically solitary confinement that attacks cognition and health in itself, and after nearly a decade alone in the dark, you stop seeing a person in the mirror anymore...

Yikes! I'm already friendless and isolated. That's why I am asking if people have managed to carve out constructive lifestyles, or if it's "Hikkikomori"-town from here on in.

Living on SSI is not fun at all. You are pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and if you aren't on section 8 or other housing plan then it's almost impossible.

There is also stigmas attached such as you being lazy, dirty, crazy, etc. There isn't much money for entertainment or luxury things and eventually it could lead you to living a dull and unfulfilling life of just eating, drinking, using the bathroom, and sleeping. My family and I had many moments of miracles happen that we were even able to keep a roof over our head(and that's while being on section .

Personally I say if you can avoid being on SSI then try your best to do so. There are a few that can make a nice living with it but that is like best case scenario. As for the girlfriend/boyfriend part...I'll just say that it's going to be a tough challenge. It's already hard to get a decent living in this economy with two people working, one person working is going to be a headache.

I have a friend who gets extra money from his parents.. he eats out, goes to casinos and online gambling, has like $50,000 worth of Amazon purchases hoarded in his apartment..

.. he eats out, goes to casinos and online gambling, has like $50,000 worth of Amazon purchases hoarded in his apartment..

I definitely don't want to end up alone in my cave, curled up around my sweet pile of Amazon Purchases, like some sort of Welfare Dragon

Well,.. he got fooled and tricked by the whole disability friendliness movement, where, he was told that because he is disabled due to AS, he would need special accommodations to work, and he kept believing that and never actually tried working, even though, he can work, he is just convinced to avoid it. For example, he can make it to a movie or a concert on time, but he can never come to close or forgets to come to class at all, so he says, I am disabled and can never come to close on time, so college is not for me.. I am not that much better, I did work and still do, but I eat out and waste my money like an idiot too for the past fifteen years.. that was a good friend actually he had a lot of good advice about women that I had no idea about, and he had advice about different stuff like travel and credit score.. he got annoyed and offended with me, so he completely dropped me as a friend forever.. this happened to me with other people before many times, so I think I may not be a nice friend actually..