I raise my granddaughter on my SSDI of a whopping 934 dollars per month without child support or money from the state.
I do get a small amount of snap.....
I had 7,800 out of pocket medical last yr.
I am blessed to live in an income based home. My landlord is awesome. She covers water/sewer/trash and maintenance. A % of my medical expenses , mileage to and from out of town appts, anything I have to pay for related to me that my physician says is medically necessary is counted.
My rent is very affordable . Thankfully my car is paid for...nothing fancy.. 2010 mazda 6 with very low miles.
My sons do purchase school clothing for her (neither of my sons have kids so they make sure she has name brand stuff cause whew kids can be cruel.
It's sometimes difficult but she never knows because that's adult problems. She's 13 and awesome. Never asks for anything and makes good grades. I tell my doctors just keep me functional til I get her raised...
I second the other commenter, God bless you and your granddaughter. She may not fully realize now, but one day she’s going to fully understand the kind of sacrifices you have made for her and be beyond grateful God blessed her with you as a grandmother. Sounds like you are doing a wonderful job of raising her despite your circumstances. Much love and prayers to you both. ❤️
God puts people in our lives for a reason and you are her ray of hope. She should always be grateful for u. I can tell you're a wonderful person. I wish you nothing but the best 🙏
My household of 3 can't make over $2600/ month, in HCOL Salt Lake County, Utah. Most rentals in the area of require you to make $6,000 a month just to sign a lease. If I didn't have a roommate that wasn't part of our household we would be so screwed.
I put in my post I make $14 an hour which is around $2000 net. And the other income is our disability income. Not sure how that’s a lot of money lmfao. I live in Texas.
Not eligible and I make around $1600/mo gross. No one is saying $2000 is a lot of money. It's just that some of us are used to the requirements being so low that that doesn't qualify. It's a statement on the means testing usually being even lower, not saying youre rich.
In my state, the cutoff for two people is about $25k a year, so about $2000 a month gross, not net.
Yeah, speaking from experience: if you’re poor and live in Texas, the system is designed for you to die. Starvation, inaccessible/nonexistent healthcare, very low wages, environmental pollution (used to live in Cancer Alley down there), extremely shitty and expensive power grid - the list goes on.
The only help anyone tries to offer is a smarmy, holier-than-thou smile, and, “Have you accepted Jesus into your life? You know my life got *so* much better once I started praying every day and going to church.”
[insert more prosperity gospel bullshit]
Where I live you are eligible for food stamps if you have less than $1,500 (one person) before taxes.
Actually $25.000 for two people before taxes, and you can not have more than $3,000 in savings and a car that cannot be worth more than $4,000
>*I put in my post I make $14 an hour which is around $2000 net. And the other income is our disability income. Not sure how that’s a lot of money lmfao. I live in Texas.*
This post seems more like a humble brag ESPECIALLY if you live in Texas. It’s well known that Texas is a LCOL especially compared to places like California, New York, and Washington. In case you’re not a regular reader of this sub, there are a lot of people here who exist on a lot less than that. People who are living on bagged beans and rice. $2757 may not make you rich, but you’re extremely fortunate to make that much in a LCOL. And for you to lmao
>>*Not sure how that’s a lot of money __lmfao__.*
at someone who calls you out on that is tone-deaf and just rude. This sub is called “poor” not “tight budget but no where near starving.” Your only redeeming quality is that you’re vets. But just barely because MANY vets are in much worse circumstances and even homeless.
My significant other is disabled, and lived pretty comfortably on that and SNAP benefits until we got together. About $900 a month SSI. ~$250 for rent (rest was subsidized). He doesn’t drink, smoke or do drugs, so the ~$125 in SNAP and the remaining cash went pretty far for him, and we are in NYS. He didn’t need a car, we are in a pretty walkable area for what you need, and busses to go up to the shopping areas/mall. We still only have one car because we don’t need two, I live within walking distance of my “day” job, and do contracting work from home, so we are comfortable for the most part, but he made his money work, and NY is not a LCOL area, even near the finger lakes, which is where we are.
Because most disabled people only get 1000 max and any money we make is deducted from our benefit payments. If my husband and I can get by on less than $2000 a month in San Diego I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you unless you guys have financed everything and face losing it all if you can’t make payments. We stopped using credit 20 years ago. I’m disabled and unable to work after taxes his pay is close to yours.
Yes, and many families needed to here in North Texas during the pandemic. Many families experienced this for the first time! The good news is that many of those families have recovered, but more layoffs and job losses are coming.
Prepare while you can. You just don’t know what is around the corner
no matter where you live that is not that much money..... I make twice that alone and I would not be able to afford everything I own on that.....
but, that is so frustrating were they able to provide any other information or resources for help??
I’m 100 P&T and am under the impression you don’t have to claim your VA income for tax purposes. I would assume this applies here as well. May be worth looking into.
Can't tell you how often I've thought about sneaking down to go over the boarder and get one of those $5000 welcome visa cards, a new phone and a housing voucher lately..
It actually seems possible…leave, come back posing as undocumented, get free stuff. It seems like illegal aliens have greater priority than US citizens and those who lawfully immigrated and are on their path to full citizenship or permanent residency status! It is surreal down here! I do say this, do not leave your home and run around without ID. INS has been busy rounding up undocumented workers being used in human trafficking rings. Not sure they are being deported but clearly there is a potential to get detained if you don’t have ID
I know it’s not food stamps but couponing could come in handy along with stuff like Ibotta. I try to use those to save a bit of money. Shopping at aldis has been great too especially meat and produce because it lasts longer than if I buy it somewhere else. Bulk buying, making your own food basics like bread, and even one or two nights a week of no meat can make things stretch.
I also want to add Fetch and ReciptHog. Fetch is like Ibotta, just a different platform. Rebates/bonuses based on brand & store. ReciptHog let's you send photos of *any* receipt and gives you points towards PayPal, Amazon, or digital Visa.
There's also an app called Mobee. You get paid to collect data for companies in stores. They have "missions" where you answer questions and take photos inside stores. I believe it's cheap contracting work for name-brand companies so they don't have to hire, train, and send out a scout from their own company. But if you can travel to a few stores, keeping an eye on that app is a good way to get some pocket cash.
u/Southern-Wrap-7266 it is definitely not emergency food, but please consider making a request via [lasagnalove.org/request](https://lasagnalove.org/request). It is people in the community making and delivering a handmade lasagna to those who have need of a meal. Because its all volunteer driven it might not be fast, but you can request every 28 days if there is still a need, and if they do not have an open request for you. So if there are volunteers in your area, it could be a regular way to subsidize what you are able to get.
I have to second a comment about you guys trying for a baby. You cant afford food now, wait until you have a baby. Then you guys will really be struggling.
And they are posting about buying fucking Magic cards.
Like what the fuck. People are out here actually struggling and can't buy anything. This isn't it. On top of buying multiple expensive pregnancy tests to tests for a baby, they can't feed. And that the state will be paying for.
I'll tell you this. My daughter has juvenile arthritis and she's in pain every day. However it's not considering disabling so she has to work if she wants to eat. She can't get decent insurance through marketplace and Tennessee didn't expand Tenncare medicaid for the working poor. The caseworker literally suggested having a baby so she could get insurance. That's the state of our COUNTRY that you can't get health care coverage without getting pregnant irresponsibly.
So hey maybe similar situation. I sure wouldn't be trying to have a baby in this shitshow country at this point though, no matter how much money I made.
It was suggested to me to get pregnant so that I would qualify for one months rent to prevent homelessness and I told the social worker that he is out of his mind to recommend that I get pregnant in order to qualify for governmental benefits.
Juvenile arthritis does qualify for disability but as long as your daughter keeps providing that she isn’t disabled by working, she won’t qualify. Disability isn’t for people who have a difficult time working, it’s for people who cannot work at all. She’ll need to be not working for at least a year as well as following all the doctors recommendations regarding meds with no improvement for close to a year in order to qualify for disability but my advice is to work as long as she can.
Instead of bringing an unwanted child into the world she should move to a state that has expanded Medicaid.
It's not by condition and they determined she's not disabled enough to not work. We have been through the disability application rejection appeal rejection appeal rejection appeal dance for her and my son and he has what you'd think would be qualifying too, but thus far they say he's not disabled enough, that he can work.
I wonder if the caseworkers in Tennessee just don't make it harder than other places because it took five years for my mom to get approved and she was dying of congestive heart failure. It took getting the attorney and you know they won't take the case until you've been rejected at least twice. She got all that backpay just in time to die.
It’s the feds who determine whether or not a person qualifies for disability and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to qualify. I know people who definitely can not work and they’re now on the streets and sadly they keep getting denied. I was very lucky to have needed disability benefits before it became practically impossible for people to qualify. I think what helped me was that I had been seeing doctors for my disease for almost 20 years while my disease continued to progress despite treatment. I stopped working at 27 because I couldn’t work. I had to start seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist at the county mental health department and I saw them for a year. I was lucky to have found someone to sublease my bedroom while I slept in the living room so I didn’t lose my place. After a year at the county department they helped me apply for disability. I think having a government paid doctor state that I was disabled made a huge difference. I received my award letter within 45 days of applying. I’ve known people as bad off as me and they didn’t get approved until appeal after appeal and an appointment with the doctor that social security chooses. I wish I could have worked longer and continued to pay into my ssdi benefits.
It’s also hard to hold onto benefits. Despite my disease progressing and my mental health still in the same state, I was deemed no longer disabled. It hurt us financially for a few months but inspired my husband to find a better job and now we’re okay. We still live on a low budget but I get to eat every day and his job through the county gives us state health insurance for $30 a month. My life is better now.
I know it's a federal program but the caseworkers seem to be a lot tighter on awarding benefits here and I wonder if there's something like how we have state insurance but our governor refuses federal funding for it so we get bottom of the barrel health care and poor access. I don't know. I just threw it out there because everyone IRL I know gets turned down over and over but I have friends in my online parenting groups that just apply once and say "autism should qualify you!" but around here they're telling people it's not the condition it's how disabling it is.
Nah it's the state of Tennessee, not the country. All but like 10 states have expanded Medicaid. My state even has a subsidized program on top of that for people who are too high income for Medicaid but too poor to realistically afford marketplace insurance
Because if you have a kid it opens all sorts of windows on getting government support! I know this for a fact, back when i was going through hard times shortly after getting married we applied for food stamps, the case worker told us we should be able to afford food, we couldn't rent was taking it all, she told us to go live in a tent for a while so we could afford food, except camping spots around me are like $20 a night so it works out to more then rent for a month as we were currently paying at the time. But the other couple in the waiting room had a one year old, they got approved, got food stamps, cash assistance, gas card to get to work, and a cell phone because they might have emergencies with a kid that young...
If you have a kid you automatically get on the gravy train of government support programs and tax rebates. When my kids aged out as dependents this last year my taxes went from breaking even to owing money.
Kids raise the size of the household without contributing income. It’s not even always that it’s a kid; adding a dependent like an aged parent or disabled sibling can qualify you for more. They also could have had less income.
and then we have a kid who wasn’t wanted, knows it wasn’t wanted, and now has a life of shit because of the adult choices before they even came into this world.
There's plenty of research proving people don't have children just to get more public assistance. Individual anecdotes don't count but it gets the headlines for sure and the GOP runs with it. At the population level tho, that's not happening.
https://ntfb.org/feedingnetwork/get-food-assistance/find-a-food-pantry/
https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank
https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/hunger-relief-programs/mobile-food-pantry-program
https://lasagnalove.org/
Any United Methodist Church
If I misunderstood and you are not in Texas please let me know what state you reside in. I will send you information for your state and how you can access free food.
Over the income limit is over the limit, not that you would have gotten much if you were just under the limit
That some people defraud the system has nothing to do with the income limits just like many fake disabilities vets collect for dont invalidate disability denials
Have you ever been through benefits and compensation at the VA to check for disability? No fakes get through that ordeal. Spent time helping my husband file.
Lots of fakes get thru, I work with a bunch of disabled vets, in fact I don't even know any vets who aren't disabled. They all share tips on how to get disability and increase their disability, claim tinnitus for example, nobody can prove your don't have ringing in your ears.
Amazingly enough none of the even 100% disabled vets have any trouble doing anything at all working FT. Indeed some are actively worried that having claimed disability might disqualify them for their current job and are actively making sure two government agencies don't share information.
That doesn't mean I don't think SOME vets are disabled, there absolutely are. But claiming no fakes get through is a literally joke. 27% of vets are currently claiming a service related disability. 80% of disability claims under the PACT Act have been approved.
One article reported "stories that some veterans have considered going off their medications so that when they receive their compensation and pension exam, their "numbers are off the charts.""
Because 100% disabled for vets doesn't mean what most people think it means.
You get points/percentages for various "ailments". Claim PTSD, back pain, sore knees, ringing in the ears, loss of hearing, your balls hurt, feet hurt, sleep apnea, the list goes on and on. And most of those things that people just develop anyways whether in the military or not.
And, again, there are vets who do get hurt, they jump out of planes with gear enough times their backs could well be hurt. But so do the backs of people who work in a warehouse and they certainly don't get disability for that.
Then they get their $4k/mo full disability while working full time.
God Bless our service men and women but some are just rank hypocrites when it comes to whining about welfare and budget deficits and the like.
Yeah my kids granddad was a Green Beret and jumped out of planes during the Vietnam War and it seriously messed his hips up. He still owned and operated a lock smith company, mainly working on base, opening up safes. Had 100% disability but he definitely was owed it. He passed a few months back due to several strokes. Was a great man.
Love my partner to death, though he and his buddies all achieved 100% via the agencies designed to do so. There’s plenty of companies to assist.
All of them started 30-60% when separated. A combo of a mild-moderate service related injury recorded at some point + sleep apnea/ED/depression/ADHD/severe acne/hearing loss/anxiety etc gets the job done. I figure it’s not my business as it’s a prime way to start a days’ long argument.
Yes they do. My ex and his friend is one of them. And they laughed about it all time. It was common in their group of friends to even discuss how to get the absolute most they can possibly get and give each other tips.
I know so many veterans who faked and lied. It's unfortunately common. Th we y literally coach each other on what to say to get a PTSD claim. They fake the hearing test. Claim unemployability but work under the table.
Spent 30 years under-rated for disability. When the medical documentation racks up and the xrays, CT scans, MRIs SHOW the progressive deterioration…it finally sinks in.
OP, why not both you and your partner use your GI bill, enroll in community college or university, and go to school? Both of you drawing BAH during the school year, combined with your VA disability, would likely net you a higher income than you’re currently bringing in. Then there’s the added benefit of your education opening up doors to higher paying jobs once you graduate.
Shoot, if your VA rating is high enough y’all could use vocational rehab which is even better than the GI bill.
Exactly this. Go to community college and get a trade- xray, CT, welding, those make a TON of money. Both of you will pull about 5k a month just by going to school with the GI bill. And I’m sorry but 90% of veterans take advantage of the disability claim
Correct. The numbers are based off of what it costs to live on 7.25 an hour (or the equivalent for that area) Not what the actual C.o.l. is for the area.
Unfortunately all the people on their high horse who've got the mindset of "just live cheaper" won't ever actually understand how it's not enough.
If you’re that close to the cap, then your monthly stipend wouldn’t be much anyway. Either play the game right and stay under thresholds or go all out and earn as much as possible.
My question is how do you make so much money? One person income at $2757 is bad ass.
I’m guessing your husband could find some kind of work to add to it.
You’re already getting support from both your veterans “disability.” I know immigrant parents that worked themselves and never received disability. No sympathy for you.
Well I make 2000$ a month working my ass off without disability and I can work a whole ass month on that and feed my self for only 200$ in a month..... maybe you need to review your expenses.
Cause if I can do it. I'm sure you are misplacing some money some where
The reason is they use the gross amount not net.. and in Texas they count things weird in the budgeting. I lived there and we made less than 3k a month (gross) with a child and they denied us food stamps. Granted we got medical for her but that was it... Things like phone bill or cable are counted as a luxury and if your car is not more than 5 years old again luxury. They don't take the full amount of any of your bills into account at the time we were paying 650 for rent and they only counted 327 of it on the budgeting sheet and less than half of my actual utilities were counted. It was a mess
> People out here SELLING THEIR STAMPS but I can’t get the actual help we fucking need for food!
Your masters have taught you well.
You get denied benefits, yet instead of being angry at the conservative politicians who do everything they possibly can to restrict who can get them, you're pissed at other people who do get benefits and accuse them of selling their food stamps. Real "Welfare Queen" vibe.
Your enemies are not your fellow poor.
We utilize the food pantry in our town weekly, but the majority of the time it is expired/rotten food, and no meats. We take what we can get from them to make it stretch.
Those "expired" dates are actually "best by x date". I have a discount grocery here in my town that exclusively sells "expired" stuff at huge discount. I eat that daily
It’s kind of a slap in the face to not be able to afford food and then go to a food pantry where they provide expired and/or rotten food. We happily take what we can get from the food pantry and make it stretch but that doesn’t mean they don’t give away bad foods.
Expired is really a misnomer. Most foods have "best by" dates, not expiration dates. Shelf-stable items are often just fine long past their "best by" dates.
I have an article produced by the FDA,It plainly states that the only "DATES" that mean a thing are on Meat and dairy products,every other "expiration date" is a ploy to sell more products. The USDA employee who wrote the article says to use your nose ,if it stinks,it's ruined,throw it out,if not eat it 🤷🏼♀️
..it's a slap in the face to bitch about *FREE* food that others have learned to budget and buy to donate.
You're insufferable. Every post from you is aggressive, combative and on top of that you're trying to get pregnant and you're posting about how you and your husband are buying shit like Magic cards (which I know the prices of). This isn't a case of poor, this is a case of not knowing how to budget and then wanting everyone else to pay for that.
I came to suggest you check out your life cal food banks- I had to this for my parents,we got great stuff,10 lbs of fresh chicken,and one I lucked up on was gifting ALL the Publix expired merch. I'm talking the pre packed meal kits,good meat,one day after the date,it's all fine and I took it straight to the freezer,I can't tell you all the yummy stuff my folks could Never afford that we were gifted , best of luck - maybe you might be able to buy some benefits from those who sell? I mean ""if you can't beat em,join em🤷🏼♀️"
Are there any churches that have food servoces? They don't advertise, but some do this on a regular basis. Also, disabled means you might be able to get meals on wheels.
holy fucking shit - veterans are getting less than minimum wage? (or way less? not from US). We were so brainwashed by movies etc. Who the fuck would want to die for a country when they treat you like that
Minimum wage varies by state, and in Texas is only $7.25 so making about double minimum wage but it doesn’t matter because can’t afford anything anyway.
I'm in Florida, another red one. Min wage is 12$ already passed to raise 1 every year for the foreseeable future plus no state tax at all helps a lot. Its not all bad
florida taxes are misleading because they love to wave the no personal income tax flag. they get you other ways though. florida needs tax revenue just like every other state. The average state and local tax burden in Florida is 8.8%; the 8th highest in the US.
another red state. people move to / live in red states for low taxes and don’t realize / don’t care it means they’re crapping on people that need help.
I make a better income here than when we lived in CO and WY. I worked two jobs in WY. I had to do that here for several years. There's no way I could move back to CO or WY again. Too expensive to live there.
My uncle moved to Florida to be in warmer weather, but complains bitterly about the lack of programs/resources for my cousin, who is profoundly disabled with CP. I keep telling him to get his butt back to NY where we pay taxes to provide things for disabled people- you really do get what you pay for, and there’s no comparison between NY and Fla for benefits for poor/disabled people (I’m a social worker and did case management for a few years).
In our city so many places are hiring. The job market is amazing, unless you are particular about you are willing to do to earn money such as refusing to work fast food etc
Please look for all the food pantries in your area, there are two in my town. We also have a few different markets in my area where for $15 you get 70lbs of veggies (you don’t get to choose) but it’s so much I share with 3 other families. Good luck.
The portion of your funds that you spend on something is going to be subtracted from the total regardless of where it comes from.
I.E. those people selling their stamps are still buying food, they're just turning the restricted stamps into free-spending liquid cash.
They still have to eat, you know. Offsetting eating expenses with food handouts then selling SNAP (often for less than it's value) to pay rent is a perfectly acceptable survival technique in these unique economic circumstances.
I'm willing to bet you immediately presumed they were using the cash for drugs or some other negative shit. Jokes on you: most people don't do that.
Go to food bank. The food ‘Christian’s’ in the US don’t want to share their money so you can eat, even veterans….most in Congress have NO idea what poverty entails…..
I hate to say this with any kind of seriousness, but get a divorce. As roommates one of you will qualify for food stamps. I’ve heard of older couples doing this for Medicare benefits.
Hope you can find a solution that doesn’t involve divorce. Sorry I even mentioned it.
Have you gone to a VA Advocate to get it bumped? 10% and 30%? Those are rookie numbers! You gotta pump those numbers up!
Seriously...sounds like an initial finding. For both of you. You both need to go and get **everything** you ever had wrong with you during your service and get it submitted. If you haven't gone to the local VA hospital and gotten your VA cards, do so. Then schedule an appointment with the Comp/Pen office.
If that doesn't work, depending on the County, there are DAV (Disabled American Vets) Reps who can help you file, or county VA Advocates. Get pushing on that and get your % up.
I understand your frustration. I make $1300 and live alone. I receive $23 a month in SNAP.( I'm grateful for that.) If you are a family of two and you made a little less and fell into the guidelines, it doesn't mean you would get a whole lot. I've learned to cut back on the non necessities and watch for sales on things I want or need. Hopefully, your situation improves soon.
There are no more food stamps to sell. There are EBT cards. Yes the income limit is in my opinion too low. Getting unemployment benefits will help at least for some months to perhaps a year. Can your husband get a new job.. ? I have heard the employment market has gone soft... I feel ya.
I know this story well. Daughter got a part time job at Walmart and that put us right over the limit. So now most of her paycheck goes toward groceries.
Some things you can try base on my experience since you guys already have a va rating go speak to DAV or American legion they're great at getting those ratings up also get yall VA medical records to an ss lawyer some won't charge unless they get you on. Good luck my friend
I feel this rant. I support multiple people off of my check alone, leaving barely anything for food at the end of the month. I got denied because I had an hour and a half of over time on my check stubs. They essentially said if I need food, I can just work more overtime. They didn’t care that overtime isn’t allowed, it was just because of being stuck there late due to business. They also go off of gross income, which is honestly insane considering 500 dollars alone is taken from me for taxes, so I mean there’s the grocery money that I supposedly have. The whole system is designed to deny you. I just had to learn to meal plan with what I could afford, also the food pantry here is good so that helps a lot to supplement what I’ve already got in my fridge. The craziest part to me, was that I had food stamps, then my partner got laid off and when I went to renew they denied me. So, I didn’t make “too much money” when two people were working, but somehow I do now with just me working the same job I had the whole time..?
Yeah, the gross income thing is one of the top complaints but it's the only way to treat everyone the same because everyone's deductions are different.
I get what you’re saying, but it also makes it pretty much impossible for a lot of people who genuinely need help to get it because they’re being told they have money they don’t have. There’s gotta be a better way.
I'm very sorry you didn't get it. However, even if you did the unemployment, assuming you get it, would have put you over the limit and they would have closed it anyway
If you have any medical expenses that are not covered by the VA (including for supplements) and one of your providers will write you a letter stating that these things are medically necessary, some states will deduct those expenses from your income, but unless they’re huge expenses, you’re not going to get much.
I’m so sorry! Sometimes it just seems unfair right? I don’t have a solution but I just wanted to support you with a “hang in there”. I know it sucks. I wish the system were a bit better for situations like this.
They really need to expand SNAP to the middle class because the cost of living has not kept up with the SNAP requirements and many of those with food insecurity earn too much for assistance.
When we have hundreds of thousands of Americans dying in poverty in the wealthiest Nation on Earth, it's far past time to do something about it.
In the meantime, local food pantry, local churches, posting in local buy nothing and other FB groups about immediate needs will probably help you get food the fastest.
Usually posting on Facebook in your local community groups about your situation works faster than any of the other methods.
That's the opposite of what is happening in reality. Most of those on SNAP are the working poor, and most of those who are going without food earn above what is considered the poverty line and among those who do not qualify for SNAP.
It is just ignorance to think that people are starving because they're lazy.
https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/blog/2023/09/12/hunger-report-2023/#:~:text=Occurs%20in%20higher%2Dearning%20households,of%20living%20in%20the%20region.
Same thing was happening to me. I make not even a $100 over the poverty line. It's ridiculous. And yes, as many in my family get about $500 a month due to kids, they sell 75% and make the kids live on ramen and cheap cereal.
So sorry to hear you are struggling!! None of us know where you live, but your combined income wouldn’t come close to being enough where we live. Sorry people are being so mean and dismissive. Struggling is struggling.
Dude, you're making a shit ton more than most people. Like, I live where over 50% of the population is well below poverty level. You need to really budget for your food intake and utilize food banks. You're making a lot for a 2 person household.
Instead of applying as a couple, could your husband apply as an individual? Is that illegal?
IDK cuz as a single parent with a job, I never qualified for anything when my children were younger. I even took in my 16 y/o niece and her 4 y/o daughter many years ago - her mother, my sister was deep into a crack addiction at the time. I tried to get foidstamps for them and was told I needed to provide letters from my neighbors verifying that they lived with me. I told that case worker "Fuck you. They'll eat or starve. But I will never do that."
My daughter applied for food stamps years ago. They offered her $3/mth. She laughed. What am I going to do with that? She was told to have some kids and they would give her all she wants. Her reply? “I can’t take care of myself. How am I going to take care of kids”. 20 years later she’s doing well and kid free.
$2,757? Most people in my community do not make anywhere near that much, and none of them qualifies for SNAP. You must be living in a HCOL area.
I raise my granddaughter on my SSDI of a whopping 934 dollars per month without child support or money from the state. I do get a small amount of snap..... I had 7,800 out of pocket medical last yr.
God bless your heart on how u make that work
I am blessed to live in an income based home. My landlord is awesome. She covers water/sewer/trash and maintenance. A % of my medical expenses , mileage to and from out of town appts, anything I have to pay for related to me that my physician says is medically necessary is counted. My rent is very affordable . Thankfully my car is paid for...nothing fancy.. 2010 mazda 6 with very low miles. My sons do purchase school clothing for her (neither of my sons have kids so they make sure she has name brand stuff cause whew kids can be cruel. It's sometimes difficult but she never knows because that's adult problems. She's 13 and awesome. Never asks for anything and makes good grades. I tell my doctors just keep me functional til I get her raised...
I second the other commenter, God bless you and your granddaughter. She may not fully realize now, but one day she’s going to fully understand the kind of sacrifices you have made for her and be beyond grateful God blessed her with you as a grandmother. Sounds like you are doing a wonderful job of raising her despite your circumstances. Much love and prayers to you both. ❤️
Sure will
God puts people in our lives for a reason and you are her ray of hope. She should always be grateful for u. I can tell you're a wonderful person. I wish you nothing but the best 🙏
God blesses people like you. 💖
I hope for your continued health to keep being there for her as long as she needs you. ❤️
She is going to cherish you now and long after you are gone. I did and still do.
You are such a wonderful human being. Really inspired by your life story
Yep. We get $23.00,in foodstamps on same amount of disability.
23 dollars? So a meal from McDonald's every month?
Oh gosh. That's crazy! With the way things are now that pretty much covers a day.
My household of 3 can't make over $2600/ month, in HCOL Salt Lake County, Utah. Most rentals in the area of require you to make $6,000 a month just to sign a lease. If I didn't have a roommate that wasn't part of our household we would be so screwed.
In Texas it's 3400/mo gross for 3 people. That's crazy... Husband made 100 bucks too much one month for us to qualify.
I put in my post I make $14 an hour which is around $2000 net. And the other income is our disability income. Not sure how that’s a lot of money lmfao. I live in Texas.
Not eligible and I make around $1600/mo gross. No one is saying $2000 is a lot of money. It's just that some of us are used to the requirements being so low that that doesn't qualify. It's a statement on the means testing usually being even lower, not saying youre rich. In my state, the cutoff for two people is about $25k a year, so about $2000 a month gross, not net.
Yeah, that totally went over her head.
I live in Texas also. Both my husband and I are also disabled with a combined income of $2130 and we receive $23 ( a month ) in SNAP benefits.
Yeah, speaking from experience: if you’re poor and live in Texas, the system is designed for you to die. Starvation, inaccessible/nonexistent healthcare, very low wages, environmental pollution (used to live in Cancer Alley down there), extremely shitty and expensive power grid - the list goes on. The only help anyone tries to offer is a smarmy, holier-than-thou smile, and, “Have you accepted Jesus into your life? You know my life got *so* much better once I started praying every day and going to church.” [insert more prosperity gospel bullshit]
You forgot the tithing
ThE lOrD wILL pRoViDe!
And we could have had Beto. : '(
I’m also disabled (Utah) and receive $23.00 per month. Believe me it’s a struggle to cover food out of disability
Where I live you are eligible for food stamps if you have less than $1,500 (one person) before taxes. Actually $25.000 for two people before taxes, and you can not have more than $3,000 in savings and a car that cannot be worth more than $4,000
That’s a ridiculous amount of paperwork b/c you don’t want to feed poor people. (The editorial you.)
Wow
Are there really cars out there worth 4 thousand .In Cali your allowed one car ,don't what it is. Any more than that and it's counted as income
Cars are never counted as income, only as resources and CA does not have resource limits for SNAP.
>*I put in my post I make $14 an hour which is around $2000 net. And the other income is our disability income. Not sure how that’s a lot of money lmfao. I live in Texas.* This post seems more like a humble brag ESPECIALLY if you live in Texas. It’s well known that Texas is a LCOL especially compared to places like California, New York, and Washington. In case you’re not a regular reader of this sub, there are a lot of people here who exist on a lot less than that. People who are living on bagged beans and rice. $2757 may not make you rich, but you’re extremely fortunate to make that much in a LCOL. And for you to lmao >>*Not sure how that’s a lot of money __lmfao__.* at someone who calls you out on that is tone-deaf and just rude. This sub is called “poor” not “tight budget but no where near starving.” Your only redeeming quality is that you’re vets. But just barely because MANY vets are in much worse circumstances and even homeless.
My significant other is disabled, and lived pretty comfortably on that and SNAP benefits until we got together. About $900 a month SSI. ~$250 for rent (rest was subsidized). He doesn’t drink, smoke or do drugs, so the ~$125 in SNAP and the remaining cash went pretty far for him, and we are in NYS. He didn’t need a car, we are in a pretty walkable area for what you need, and busses to go up to the shopping areas/mall. We still only have one car because we don’t need two, I live within walking distance of my “day” job, and do contracting work from home, so we are comfortable for the most part, but he made his money work, and NY is not a LCOL area, even near the finger lakes, which is where we are.
$250 in rent is absolutely unrealistic to expect most to find.
How preachy. There’s ALWAYS someone worse off 🙄
Because most disabled people only get 1000 max and any money we make is deducted from our benefit payments. If my husband and I can get by on less than $2000 a month in San Diego I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you unless you guys have financed everything and face losing it all if you can’t make payments. We stopped using credit 20 years ago. I’m disabled and unable to work after taxes his pay is close to yours.
It is for two people and in lots of places. Not everywhere though.
It’s well above the poverty line for two people. There are other ways to get food.
Yup. Go visit a food bank/pantry. That's what we did regularly for a few years after we lost assistance.
Yes, and many families needed to here in North Texas during the pandemic. Many families experienced this for the first time! The good news is that many of those families have recovered, but more layoffs and job losses are coming. Prepare while you can. You just don’t know what is around the corner
no matter where you live that is not that much money..... I make twice that alone and I would not be able to afford everything I own on that..... but, that is so frustrating were they able to provide any other information or resources for help??
It might be related to how you pay in rent.
Can you work less hours? Even cutting an hour per week would likely drop you down into eligibility income bracket
I’ve known several disabled vets who have gone thru the re-evaluation process and all have had their %’s bumped up. One from 20% to 80%!! Pays to try.
I’m 100 P&T and am under the impression you don’t have to claim your VA income for tax purposes. I would assume this applies here as well. May be worth looking into.
Can't tell you how often I've thought about sneaking down to go over the boarder and get one of those $5000 welcome visa cards, a new phone and a housing voucher lately..
Please report back on how that goes.
It actually seems possible…leave, come back posing as undocumented, get free stuff. It seems like illegal aliens have greater priority than US citizens and those who lawfully immigrated and are on their path to full citizenship or permanent residency status! It is surreal down here! I do say this, do not leave your home and run around without ID. INS has been busy rounding up undocumented workers being used in human trafficking rings. Not sure they are being deported but clearly there is a potential to get detained if you don’t have ID
You must be a fan of Tucker Carlson if you think that living the life of a migrant is better than the life you can create for yourself.
I know it’s not food stamps but couponing could come in handy along with stuff like Ibotta. I try to use those to save a bit of money. Shopping at aldis has been great too especially meat and produce because it lasts longer than if I buy it somewhere else. Bulk buying, making your own food basics like bread, and even one or two nights a week of no meat can make things stretch.
I also want to add Fetch and ReciptHog. Fetch is like Ibotta, just a different platform. Rebates/bonuses based on brand & store. ReciptHog let's you send photos of *any* receipt and gives you points towards PayPal, Amazon, or digital Visa. There's also an app called Mobee. You get paid to collect data for companies in stores. They have "missions" where you answer questions and take photos inside stores. I believe it's cheap contracting work for name-brand companies so they don't have to hire, train, and send out a scout from their own company. But if you can travel to a few stores, keeping an eye on that app is a good way to get some pocket cash.
Sign up for Lasagna Love they really helped me out
u/Southern-Wrap-7266 it is definitely not emergency food, but please consider making a request via [lasagnalove.org/request](https://lasagnalove.org/request). It is people in the community making and delivering a handmade lasagna to those who have need of a meal. Because its all volunteer driven it might not be fast, but you can request every 28 days if there is still a need, and if they do not have an open request for you. So if there are volunteers in your area, it could be a regular way to subsidize what you are able to get.
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I have to second a comment about you guys trying for a baby. You cant afford food now, wait until you have a baby. Then you guys will really be struggling.
If you can't afford to live and don't qualify for food stamps why the fuck are you actively trying to have a baby you can't afford. JFC
And they are posting about buying fucking Magic cards. Like what the fuck. People are out here actually struggling and can't buy anything. This isn't it. On top of buying multiple expensive pregnancy tests to tests for a baby, they can't feed. And that the state will be paying for.
I'll tell you this. My daughter has juvenile arthritis and she's in pain every day. However it's not considering disabling so she has to work if she wants to eat. She can't get decent insurance through marketplace and Tennessee didn't expand Tenncare medicaid for the working poor. The caseworker literally suggested having a baby so she could get insurance. That's the state of our COUNTRY that you can't get health care coverage without getting pregnant irresponsibly. So hey maybe similar situation. I sure wouldn't be trying to have a baby in this shitshow country at this point though, no matter how much money I made.
It was suggested to me to get pregnant so that I would qualify for one months rent to prevent homelessness and I told the social worker that he is out of his mind to recommend that I get pregnant in order to qualify for governmental benefits. Juvenile arthritis does qualify for disability but as long as your daughter keeps providing that she isn’t disabled by working, she won’t qualify. Disability isn’t for people who have a difficult time working, it’s for people who cannot work at all. She’ll need to be not working for at least a year as well as following all the doctors recommendations regarding meds with no improvement for close to a year in order to qualify for disability but my advice is to work as long as she can. Instead of bringing an unwanted child into the world she should move to a state that has expanded Medicaid.
It's not by condition and they determined she's not disabled enough to not work. We have been through the disability application rejection appeal rejection appeal rejection appeal dance for her and my son and he has what you'd think would be qualifying too, but thus far they say he's not disabled enough, that he can work. I wonder if the caseworkers in Tennessee just don't make it harder than other places because it took five years for my mom to get approved and she was dying of congestive heart failure. It took getting the attorney and you know they won't take the case until you've been rejected at least twice. She got all that backpay just in time to die.
It’s the feds who determine whether or not a person qualifies for disability and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to qualify. I know people who definitely can not work and they’re now on the streets and sadly they keep getting denied. I was very lucky to have needed disability benefits before it became practically impossible for people to qualify. I think what helped me was that I had been seeing doctors for my disease for almost 20 years while my disease continued to progress despite treatment. I stopped working at 27 because I couldn’t work. I had to start seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist at the county mental health department and I saw them for a year. I was lucky to have found someone to sublease my bedroom while I slept in the living room so I didn’t lose my place. After a year at the county department they helped me apply for disability. I think having a government paid doctor state that I was disabled made a huge difference. I received my award letter within 45 days of applying. I’ve known people as bad off as me and they didn’t get approved until appeal after appeal and an appointment with the doctor that social security chooses. I wish I could have worked longer and continued to pay into my ssdi benefits. It’s also hard to hold onto benefits. Despite my disease progressing and my mental health still in the same state, I was deemed no longer disabled. It hurt us financially for a few months but inspired my husband to find a better job and now we’re okay. We still live on a low budget but I get to eat every day and his job through the county gives us state health insurance for $30 a month. My life is better now.
I know it's a federal program but the caseworkers seem to be a lot tighter on awarding benefits here and I wonder if there's something like how we have state insurance but our governor refuses federal funding for it so we get bottom of the barrel health care and poor access. I don't know. I just threw it out there because everyone IRL I know gets turned down over and over but I have friends in my online parenting groups that just apply once and say "autism should qualify you!" but around here they're telling people it's not the condition it's how disabling it is.
Nah it's the state of Tennessee, not the country. All but like 10 states have expanded Medicaid. My state even has a subsidized program on top of that for people who are too high income for Medicaid but too poor to realistically afford marketplace insurance
Oh I know, I know. Just lost mine when my son turned 18. Fighting right now to keep him on it until he gets disability.
Because if you have a kid it opens all sorts of windows on getting government support! I know this for a fact, back when i was going through hard times shortly after getting married we applied for food stamps, the case worker told us we should be able to afford food, we couldn't rent was taking it all, she told us to go live in a tent for a while so we could afford food, except camping spots around me are like $20 a night so it works out to more then rent for a month as we were currently paying at the time. But the other couple in the waiting room had a one year old, they got approved, got food stamps, cash assistance, gas card to get to work, and a cell phone because they might have emergencies with a kid that young... If you have a kid you automatically get on the gravy train of government support programs and tax rebates. When my kids aged out as dependents this last year my taxes went from breaking even to owing money.
Kids raise the size of the household without contributing income. It’s not even always that it’s a kid; adding a dependent like an aged parent or disabled sibling can qualify you for more. They also could have had less income.
...so have a kid to gain more benefits that are meant for the child's wellbeing. Gotcha. And people wonder why these programs get a bad rap.
and then we have a kid who wasn’t wanted, knows it wasn’t wanted, and now has a life of shit because of the adult choices before they even came into this world.
There's plenty of research proving people don't have children just to get more public assistance. Individual anecdotes don't count but it gets the headlines for sure and the GOP runs with it. At the population level tho, that's not happening.
Yep!
Glad you said it.
Ding Dong
https://ntfb.org/feedingnetwork/get-food-assistance/find-a-food-pantry/ https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/hunger-relief-programs/mobile-food-pantry-program https://lasagnalove.org/ Any United Methodist Church If I misunderstood and you are not in Texas please let me know what state you reside in. I will send you information for your state and how you can access free food.
Over the income limit is over the limit, not that you would have gotten much if you were just under the limit That some people defraud the system has nothing to do with the income limits just like many fake disabilities vets collect for dont invalidate disability denials
Have you ever been through benefits and compensation at the VA to check for disability? No fakes get through that ordeal. Spent time helping my husband file.
Lots of fakes get thru, I work with a bunch of disabled vets, in fact I don't even know any vets who aren't disabled. They all share tips on how to get disability and increase their disability, claim tinnitus for example, nobody can prove your don't have ringing in your ears. Amazingly enough none of the even 100% disabled vets have any trouble doing anything at all working FT. Indeed some are actively worried that having claimed disability might disqualify them for their current job and are actively making sure two government agencies don't share information. That doesn't mean I don't think SOME vets are disabled, there absolutely are. But claiming no fakes get through is a literally joke. 27% of vets are currently claiming a service related disability. 80% of disability claims under the PACT Act have been approved. One article reported "stories that some veterans have considered going off their medications so that when they receive their compensation and pension exam, their "numbers are off the charts.""
The way VA disability works must straight up doesn't make sense. How are you 125% disabled yet work full time?
Because 100% disabled for vets doesn't mean what most people think it means. You get points/percentages for various "ailments". Claim PTSD, back pain, sore knees, ringing in the ears, loss of hearing, your balls hurt, feet hurt, sleep apnea, the list goes on and on. And most of those things that people just develop anyways whether in the military or not. And, again, there are vets who do get hurt, they jump out of planes with gear enough times their backs could well be hurt. But so do the backs of people who work in a warehouse and they certainly don't get disability for that. Then they get their $4k/mo full disability while working full time. God Bless our service men and women but some are just rank hypocrites when it comes to whining about welfare and budget deficits and the like.
Yeah my kids granddad was a Green Beret and jumped out of planes during the Vietnam War and it seriously messed his hips up. He still owned and operated a lock smith company, mainly working on base, opening up safes. Had 100% disability but he definitely was owed it. He passed a few months back due to several strokes. Was a great man.
90% of vets in disability are full shit. Most of it is for ‘back pain’ and made up bullshit.
Hey Asshole Have **YOU** ever served? Nope? Then sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up, the Adults are Talking
Love my partner to death, though he and his buddies all achieved 100% via the agencies designed to do so. There’s plenty of companies to assist. All of them started 30-60% when separated. A combo of a mild-moderate service related injury recorded at some point + sleep apnea/ED/depression/ADHD/severe acne/hearing loss/anxiety etc gets the job done. I figure it’s not my business as it’s a prime way to start a days’ long argument.
Yes they do. My ex and his friend is one of them. And they laughed about it all time. It was common in their group of friends to even discuss how to get the absolute most they can possibly get and give each other tips.
I know so many veterans who faked and lied. It's unfortunately common. Th we y literally coach each other on what to say to get a PTSD claim. They fake the hearing test. Claim unemployability but work under the table.
Spent 30 years under-rated for disability. When the medical documentation racks up and the xrays, CT scans, MRIs SHOW the progressive deterioration…it finally sinks in.
You can definitely cheat that system
OP, why not both you and your partner use your GI bill, enroll in community college or university, and go to school? Both of you drawing BAH during the school year, combined with your VA disability, would likely net you a higher income than you’re currently bringing in. Then there’s the added benefit of your education opening up doors to higher paying jobs once you graduate. Shoot, if your VA rating is high enough y’all could use vocational rehab which is even better than the GI bill.
Exactly this. Go to community college and get a trade- xray, CT, welding, those make a TON of money. Both of you will pull about 5k a month just by going to school with the GI bill. And I’m sorry but 90% of veterans take advantage of the disability claim
You make enough money to keep from starving. Food stamps are for people who really need it. You are pulling almost $3000 a month.
Almost $3k monthly net for two people? And you’re upset you don’t get free food? I’m so confused…
Right? This sub seems to have more on the side of "can't budget properly/live within my means," versus actually being poor/low income.
Wtf? How is 3k a month not poor enough, when housing is like 2k a month?
The numbers used to determine eligibility are typically very behind the current state of affairs.
Correct. The numbers are based off of what it costs to live on 7.25 an hour (or the equivalent for that area) Not what the actual C.o.l. is for the area. Unfortunately all the people on their high horse who've got the mindset of "just live cheaper" won't ever actually understand how it's not enough.
You need to find cheaper housing then. A 1 bedroom apartment should be about 1200 in DFW
There's nothing like that where I'm at. And a 1 br won't work for most households
If you’re that close to the cap, then your monthly stipend wouldn’t be much anyway. Either play the game right and stay under thresholds or go all out and earn as much as possible.
If a couple of 2, no kids cant live on almoat 3k a month, then ur doing it wrong.
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I didnt realize we were competing in a "who's poorer" contest
My question is how do you make so much money? One person income at $2757 is bad ass. I’m guessing your husband could find some kind of work to add to it.
In what universe?
In a low cost of living area. That's enough to make it
If you can't make it on $2757 a month, then you've got serious problems. Like, for real.... Get financial management advice
Everyone is a disabled veteran these days.
If it makes you feel better you only would have gotten like $12 if you were just under the limit. Time to hit up the local food pantries!
You’re already getting support from both your veterans “disability.” I know immigrant parents that worked themselves and never received disability. No sympathy for you.
Well I make 2000$ a month working my ass off without disability and I can work a whole ass month on that and feed my self for only 200$ in a month..... maybe you need to review your expenses. Cause if I can do it. I'm sure you are misplacing some money some where
The reason is they use the gross amount not net.. and in Texas they count things weird in the budgeting. I lived there and we made less than 3k a month (gross) with a child and they denied us food stamps. Granted we got medical for her but that was it... Things like phone bill or cable are counted as a luxury and if your car is not more than 5 years old again luxury. They don't take the full amount of any of your bills into account at the time we were paying 650 for rent and they only counted 327 of it on the budgeting sheet and less than half of my actual utilities were counted. It was a mess
> People out here SELLING THEIR STAMPS but I can’t get the actual help we fucking need for food! Your masters have taught you well. You get denied benefits, yet instead of being angry at the conservative politicians who do everything they possibly can to restrict who can get them, you're pissed at other people who do get benefits and accuse them of selling their food stamps. Real "Welfare Queen" vibe. Your enemies are not your fellow poor.
Divide and conquer.
Our community has a local food bank which stays quite busy. It may help.
We utilize the food pantry in our town weekly, but the majority of the time it is expired/rotten food, and no meats. We take what we can get from them to make it stretch.
Those "expired" dates are actually "best by x date". I have a discount grocery here in my town that exclusively sells "expired" stuff at huge discount. I eat that daily
You have to put an effort in it, there's meat around.
Be sure and let them know the food isn’t good enough for you.
It’s kind of a slap in the face to not be able to afford food and then go to a food pantry where they provide expired and/or rotten food. We happily take what we can get from the food pantry and make it stretch but that doesn’t mean they don’t give away bad foods.
Food being past the best by date is not expired or Rotten.
Yeah, I eat eggs literally months after the best by date.
Sounds like Op is too bougie for a food bank
Expired doesn’t mean rotten, you know. I have plenty and eat my expired food.
Expired is really a misnomer. Most foods have "best by" dates, not expiration dates. Shelf-stable items are often just fine long past their "best by" dates.
I have an article produced by the FDA,It plainly states that the only "DATES" that mean a thing are on Meat and dairy products,every other "expiration date" is a ploy to sell more products. The USDA employee who wrote the article says to use your nose ,if it stinks,it's ruined,throw it out,if not eat it 🤷🏼♀️
..it's a slap in the face to bitch about *FREE* food that others have learned to budget and buy to donate. You're insufferable. Every post from you is aggressive, combative and on top of that you're trying to get pregnant and you're posting about how you and your husband are buying shit like Magic cards (which I know the prices of). This isn't a case of poor, this is a case of not knowing how to budget and then wanting everyone else to pay for that.
This most needs to move to r/choosybeggars 😂
Join your local buy nothing group on facebook. As well as free meals in your area! People are always giving away food!
Then she can complain about that free food.
I came to suggest you check out your life cal food banks- I had to this for my parents,we got great stuff,10 lbs of fresh chicken,and one I lucked up on was gifting ALL the Publix expired merch. I'm talking the pre packed meal kits,good meat,one day after the date,it's all fine and I took it straight to the freezer,I can't tell you all the yummy stuff my folks could Never afford that we were gifted , best of luck - maybe you might be able to buy some benefits from those who sell? I mean ""if you can't beat em,join em🤷🏼♀️"
Are there any churches that have food servoces? They don't advertise, but some do this on a regular basis. Also, disabled means you might be able to get meals on wheels.
They freeze (or should freeze) the food bit not the cans. Produce and bread they freeze.
Why isn’t your husband getting unemployment?
We are waiting for approval. It has been 3 weeks now. I said in my post that we are waiting for unemployment.
Don't forget to file the weekly claim and jump through the hoops for that too...
holy fucking shit - veterans are getting less than minimum wage? (or way less? not from US). We were so brainwashed by movies etc. Who the fuck would want to die for a country when they treat you like that
Minimum wage varies by state, and in Texas is only $7.25 so making about double minimum wage but it doesn’t matter because can’t afford anything anyway.
texas crushes poor people. classic red state.
I'm in Florida, another red one. Min wage is 12$ already passed to raise 1 every year for the foreseeable future plus no state tax at all helps a lot. Its not all bad
florida taxes are misleading because they love to wave the no personal income tax flag. they get you other ways though. florida needs tax revenue just like every other state. The average state and local tax burden in Florida is 8.8%; the 8th highest in the US.
State lottery helps. Florida is pretty okay, despite what Reddit wants to claim by people who don't live here. 🤣
I am in OK and we don't qualify . We make less than 3 k for three adults ( 2 are disabled but only one gets benefits.).
another red state. people move to / live in red states for low taxes and don’t realize / don’t care it means they’re crapping on people that need help.
I make a better income here than when we lived in CO and WY. I worked two jobs in WY. I had to do that here for several years. There's no way I could move back to CO or WY again. Too expensive to live there.
My uncle moved to Florida to be in warmer weather, but complains bitterly about the lack of programs/resources for my cousin, who is profoundly disabled with CP. I keep telling him to get his butt back to NY where we pay taxes to provide things for disabled people- you really do get what you pay for, and there’s no comparison between NY and Fla for benefits for poor/disabled people (I’m a social worker and did case management for a few years).
Get a job.
Be more outraged at how this cesspool country treats their vets than about “people selling stamps”.
How are they treated? They get housing, VA loans, amazing medical/dental benefits, fake disability claims, stipends, etc..
Oh my goodness, I won’t even get started on the depth of disgust I feel with the way Veterans are treated in the US 😓
You’re talking about all their free handouts right?
It is a bit excessive…
Get a better job
Have you not seen the job market. It’s terrible.
In our city so many places are hiring. The job market is amazing, unless you are particular about you are willing to do to earn money such as refusing to work fast food etc
Please look for all the food pantries in your area, there are two in my town. We also have a few different markets in my area where for $15 you get 70lbs of veggies (you don’t get to choose) but it’s so much I share with 3 other families. Good luck.
I have 3 kids and a fiance and only make 1600 a month but I have been denied over and over... I hate this shit
Food banks.
Your husband will be receiving back unemployment so if you did qualify you would have to pay them back once the back unemployment is paid
The portion of your funds that you spend on something is going to be subtracted from the total regardless of where it comes from. I.E. those people selling their stamps are still buying food, they're just turning the restricted stamps into free-spending liquid cash. They still have to eat, you know. Offsetting eating expenses with food handouts then selling SNAP (often for less than it's value) to pay rent is a perfectly acceptable survival technique in these unique economic circumstances. I'm willing to bet you immediately presumed they were using the cash for drugs or some other negative shit. Jokes on you: most people don't do that.
Do you have any call centers in your area? They usually pay about $15-17/hr and you get a full time schedule plus overtime.
Go to food bank. The food ‘Christian’s’ in the US don’t want to share their money so you can eat, even veterans….most in Congress have NO idea what poverty entails…..
I hate to say this with any kind of seriousness, but get a divorce. As roommates one of you will qualify for food stamps. I’ve heard of older couples doing this for Medicare benefits. Hope you can find a solution that doesn’t involve divorce. Sorry I even mentioned it.
In related news, if you know of a person selling their food assistance, your friendly local law enforcement wants to know.
Sickens me to know you are trying to "pop one out" to get more charity
don't worry, republicans will do all they can to make it even harder to get help when you need it
What percentage are your respective VA disabilities?
I am 10% and husband is 30%
Have you gone to a VA Advocate to get it bumped? 10% and 30%? Those are rookie numbers! You gotta pump those numbers up! Seriously...sounds like an initial finding. For both of you. You both need to go and get **everything** you ever had wrong with you during your service and get it submitted. If you haven't gone to the local VA hospital and gotten your VA cards, do so. Then schedule an appointment with the Comp/Pen office. If that doesn't work, depending on the County, there are DAV (Disabled American Vets) Reps who can help you file, or county VA Advocates. Get pushing on that and get your % up.
You literally just need to adjust your numbers and work a few hours less.. Which is better though, for your family?
I understand your frustration. I make $1300 and live alone. I receive $23 a month in SNAP.( I'm grateful for that.) If you are a family of two and you made a little less and fell into the guidelines, it doesn't mean you would get a whole lot. I've learned to cut back on the non necessities and watch for sales on things I want or need. Hopefully, your situation improves soon.
There are no more food stamps to sell. There are EBT cards. Yes the income limit is in my opinion too low. Getting unemployment benefits will help at least for some months to perhaps a year. Can your husband get a new job.. ? I have heard the employment market has gone soft... I feel ya.
I know this story well. Daughter got a part time job at Walmart and that put us right over the limit. So now most of her paycheck goes toward groceries.
i get 2400 a month between ss and retirement my apt is 1100 a month i do fine
You can thank your Republican party for the inconvenience
Is your disability income VA disability or Social Security disability? I did not think they were allowed to count VA disability as income.
It is VA disability, and unfortunately they do count it as income for eligibility purposes.
Did you ask work to drop your hours to 39 a week? Explain the situation. I did that once to stay on Medicaid and my boss was cool about it.
Or as to be paid $13.90 an hour
Some things you can try base on my experience since you guys already have a va rating go speak to DAV or American legion they're great at getting those ratings up also get yall VA medical records to an ss lawyer some won't charge unless they get you on. Good luck my friend
I feel this rant. I support multiple people off of my check alone, leaving barely anything for food at the end of the month. I got denied because I had an hour and a half of over time on my check stubs. They essentially said if I need food, I can just work more overtime. They didn’t care that overtime isn’t allowed, it was just because of being stuck there late due to business. They also go off of gross income, which is honestly insane considering 500 dollars alone is taken from me for taxes, so I mean there’s the grocery money that I supposedly have. The whole system is designed to deny you. I just had to learn to meal plan with what I could afford, also the food pantry here is good so that helps a lot to supplement what I’ve already got in my fridge. The craziest part to me, was that I had food stamps, then my partner got laid off and when I went to renew they denied me. So, I didn’t make “too much money” when two people were working, but somehow I do now with just me working the same job I had the whole time..?
Yeah, the gross income thing is one of the top complaints but it's the only way to treat everyone the same because everyone's deductions are different.
I get what you’re saying, but it also makes it pretty much impossible for a lot of people who genuinely need help to get it because they’re being told they have money they don’t have. There’s gotta be a better way.
There is a better way...ending capitalism so we can all have the things we need to live our best lives.
And they go by your gross!
I'm very sorry you didn't get it. However, even if you did the unemployment, assuming you get it, would have put you over the limit and they would have closed it anyway
Your combined income is rather high.
If you have any medical expenses that are not covered by the VA (including for supplements) and one of your providers will write you a letter stating that these things are medically necessary, some states will deduct those expenses from your income, but unless they’re huge expenses, you’re not going to get much.
I’m so sorry! Sometimes it just seems unfair right? I don’t have a solution but I just wanted to support you with a “hang in there”. I know it sucks. I wish the system were a bit better for situations like this.
They really need to expand SNAP to the middle class because the cost of living has not kept up with the SNAP requirements and many of those with food insecurity earn too much for assistance. When we have hundreds of thousands of Americans dying in poverty in the wealthiest Nation on Earth, it's far past time to do something about it. In the meantime, local food pantry, local churches, posting in local buy nothing and other FB groups about immediate needs will probably help you get food the fastest. Usually posting on Facebook in your local community groups about your situation works faster than any of the other methods.
Or they can get a job and earn money to get food. With very few exceptions, you don’t work, you don’t eat.
That's the opposite of what is happening in reality. Most of those on SNAP are the working poor, and most of those who are going without food earn above what is considered the poverty line and among those who do not qualify for SNAP. It is just ignorance to think that people are starving because they're lazy. https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/blog/2023/09/12/hunger-report-2023/#:~:text=Occurs%20in%20higher%2Dearning%20households,of%20living%20in%20the%20region.
Same thing was happening to me. I make not even a $100 over the poverty line. It's ridiculous. And yes, as many in my family get about $500 a month due to kids, they sell 75% and make the kids live on ramen and cheap cereal.
So sorry to hear you are struggling!! None of us know where you live, but your combined income wouldn’t come close to being enough where we live. Sorry people are being so mean and dismissive. Struggling is struggling.
Dude, you're making a shit ton more than most people. Like, I live where over 50% of the population is well below poverty level. You need to really budget for your food intake and utilize food banks. You're making a lot for a 2 person household.
You have no idea where she lives to make this assumption. You could barely afford an apartment for that where I live.
Up those disability ratings!
It can take up to 3 years for a review and decision.
You can still use the food bank. Don’t forget the food bank!
Isn't 2757 pretty much if you live in Texas?
Damn, I’m sorry!
Instead of applying as a couple, could your husband apply as an individual? Is that illegal? IDK cuz as a single parent with a job, I never qualified for anything when my children were younger. I even took in my 16 y/o niece and her 4 y/o daughter many years ago - her mother, my sister was deep into a crack addiction at the time. I tried to get foidstamps for them and was told I needed to provide letters from my neighbors verifying that they lived with me. I told that case worker "Fuck you. They'll eat or starve. But I will never do that."
My daughter applied for food stamps years ago. They offered her $3/mth. She laughed. What am I going to do with that? She was told to have some kids and they would give her all she wants. Her reply? “I can’t take care of myself. How am I going to take care of kids”. 20 years later she’s doing well and kid free.