Finally got SSI, how do I actually manage it?

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After months of trying to get my mom to get me to the local Social Security office, I had to go to the office myself. A helpful person there got my SSI benefits straightened out and I'm finally have some income rolling in for me. Not to mention I have a massive underpayment (over 2,700 dollars) on top of the $624 dollars per month I get from Social Security due to the fact that I have not worked in over a year.

Now the reason I get SSI in the past and currently is because of my autism, which mostly prevents me from getting any long-term employment.

The real problem is using the money, I want to find someplace to live in DC and managing my money for the long term.

Is your DX classic autism Jkid and are you saying yu were on it before but it lapsed? based on the underpayment I would say you got it relatively fast if you had to start the process from the begining. I'm wondering what basis they accepted you on. In my case I was rejected after THEIR doctor said I can't work in her official evaluation report. At this point in the process, if I ever am approved, they will owe me around $10,000.

look into subsidized housing. check with your local housing authority and check the HUD.gov website.

$624 a month doesn't seem like much to live on. Must be tough.

Don't have to work the rest of your life. Sounds great

Who is the "they" that owes you ? Is it the taxpayers, who wil have to borrow the money from China?

There's no way you are going to find affordable housing in the D.C. area for $624 per month. And that wouldn't leave you money for other expenses. You can try subsidised housing, but it is still unlikely to leave you enough money left over to pay for utilities, and other non food expenses. If you are your own head of household you will qualify for Food Stamps, but that only covers food. It doesn't cover non food groceries, and it doesn't cover vitamins, other supplements, over the counter meds, and personal care items. You might barely be able to do it if you share a house with several other people, but then you will be dealing with their personality issues, too.

I am living alone, on disability, but I live in an old trailer park in a rural area of south west/central NY, so the rent is cheaper here. I am paying the bare minimum market rate rent because my parents own the trailer. I pay them enough to cover the trailer park lot fee, their mortgage on the trailer, and the insurance on it. A stranger would charge me higher rent for the trailer. I've seen in the papers what the lowest rent for just a room in someone's house is around here, and that's what I am paying for a trailer with 2 bedrooms, living room, eat in kitchen, one bath, and a laundry alcove. I'm basically paying a room rent for a full small size house because I am renting from relatives. You aren't about to fare that well in the D.C. area. Rent in city areas tends to be high.

If you are able to find a subsidized apartment for just yourself, it's likely to be in poor shape, and in a bad neighborhood.

If you are able to handle the cost of sharing a house or multi bedroom apartment, make sure you pick one with at least 2 bathrooms. It can be hard to deal with several people trying to use one bathroom. I went through that in one house I lived in with my mother and younger brother. I have IBS, so it was a really big problem.

Remember though, that $624 per month is to cover all bills, not just the rent, so you need to pay as little as possible on rent, so you can pay the utilities, and non food bills. You also need to leave money aside for non bill expenses like transportation, and incidental purchases. So research carefully before jumping into this. Good luck!

It's not great. SSI doesn't pay very much to begin with and circumstances in your life (such as where you live and who you live with) can reduce your payments under the assumption that you don't need that money.

Don't worry I've pain MUCH more into the system than $10,000 over the years. I don't need you to preach to me about the burden I am on taxpayers. I was making $120,000/yr by the time my health forced me to stop. Between the federal tax, social security, state tax, sales tax, airport tax, special taxes for bonds, utility tax, gasoline tax, etc., etc., etc., I paid $50,000 - $60,000/yr in taxes. Now I have some clown telling me I don't deserve $600/mo to pay for basic life necessities while I train to work in a job that won't kill me. You seem to think that it is the citizens' sacred duty to pay taxes without understanding that the reason we pay taxes is to provide a safety net for people who need it. A person has to be a fool to blame people with disabilities for this country's borrowing from China. The debt to China is caused by consumer greed in the general population as well as spending TRILLIONS of tax dollars on corporate bailouts and wars that achieved nothing. With these things glaring you straight in the face you still choose a small minority of the population, people with disabilities, to be your scapegoats. Lets do some quick math:

10,000,000 people get $600/mo.. in disability payments that's $72 billion/yr.

This is what you choose to spend all of your free time bitching about? That's about 1/5 the annual federal and state employee payroll. Maybe there are better places to save the tax payers' money.

Beyond this, the guilt of needing to rely on these sort of options can be huge, as can being upset at yourself for not being able to work and provide for yourself.

I'd much rather be able to get a job than be looking at applying for SSI.

It's not a pleasant process, its not a pleasant thing to need to do, and its not pleasant to have to live on the amount of money that you're allowed to live on with it - especially when qualifying often means that you should be spending a decent amount on medical expenses.

And beyond that, it's more likely for a person who deserves to be on it to be denied than it is for someone who doesn't deserve it to be accepted.

Political drama aside, do not forget that while you may be wanting to save up, you won't be allowed to keep $2000 for more than 6 months. Good fortune on finding a place to stay that allows you to avoid too much month at the end of the check

Yeah. I have that problem myself. Let's just say that the apartments you can afford on that are... uhm. well, not particularly good.

I recommend finding a small town far away from big, expensive cities. Where you're living now has a rather high cost of living. Find a place that costs $400 per month or so; remember that you'll be spending the rest on your utilities, so you can't pay $600 in rent no matter how careful you are with the rest of the money. A small town is also less dangerous. Find someplace big enough to have a bus system but small enough not to have a really bad "bad neighborhood", because you will be living in it and you don't want it to be too tough for you to be able to stick your nose out of your door.

Can you do this on your own? Or will you need your mom's help? I couldn't find a place on my own, but just because we're both on SSI doesn't mean you couldn't.

Besides your SSI, you should be able to get free health insurance through Medicaid, as well as food stamps and subsidized housing. Don't worry. The government will take care of you, just as they do for the ever increasing millions of Americans who are dependent on taxpayer dollars for their livelihood. You will have so much free time on your hands, so why don't you work under the table? Something that you can do on your own and part-time, if that is your choice You should be able to bring in a couple hundred (or more) dollars per week.
The Washington , D.C area is one of the few places in the country where the economy is booming ,so you should be able to manage, perhaps not as well as you would desire, but surely much better than a lot of working folks beyond the Beltway. You've got your diagnosis, and now you have your government benefits rolling in, so just relax and enjoy your life.

If you don't like this thread the doors open, use it and don't forget to shut it behind you.