Social Security For Survival...

I'm not on SS yet, it'll be about 10 years. But I depend on alimony from a long-term marriage--I'm practically unemployable due to age and health issues and it's a very insecure-feeling way to live. I save as much as I can but something always comes along to use it up. It's good I can put a little away, though. And the taxes are killing me! Do you have Angel Food Ministries in your state? You can get food enough--good stuff, too--to feed a family of 4 for a week for only 30 dollars. This month they have chicken and rib eye steaks along with other veggies, fruit, a dessert item and other stuff, all for $30! Please look them up and see if you have one near you. My cousin buys from them and it's been a lifesaver for her and her husband. There's no income requirement, anyone can use it.

without my check i most certainly would be homeless

I am not, but I know plenty that are. It is really scary right now. My parents could very easily end up homeless. Hopefully it does not come to that.

I have been retired now for 4 years and Social Security if a very important part of my income and survival. If I had no income I cannot think where I would end up, hopefully not homeless. My faith would not let me believe I would end up on the streets.

i am not american but am not working at the moment due to an injury and prolly wont be able to go back to work. hubby and i are working to start our own business here at home and i am doing a ton of crafts/etc on the side to make some extra cash.

Right now I depend on child support for us. There are three children. Many time the child support is late or the check bounces. Father makes over $60,000 a year yet can't pay his bills. Makes me want to vomit. I do work part time but like you it isn't enough to pay the bills. I am lucky that my rent is really low and I don't have to pay for heat which is super cause I live in Cape Breton Canada and we already have frost. I also go to the local food bank that helps us out and when the checks aren't in they give us more so we can get by. I am in Canada which has social assistance but once you are with them, they own you. I have gone to them before and they really messed things up. (made me take the father to court and got my child support REDUCED) so I ended up more dependent on them. STUPID! My sister receives a disability from an insurance company from car accident. It is very stressful for her dealing with them and she has been cut off many times because she got "forgotten". It is such a hardship when you have to depend on so little and not reliable. I am lucky though to have great support from my community. I do hope that one day I can turn it around and give back to them for everything they have done for our family.

My husband is going to retire soon, and will be on social security, and I collect a disability benefit. Between the two of us, we will be able to live just fine that way. We also have books published between us (I have 1 and he has 3), and we have a number of other small things that we do to earn an income, so there should be no problems trying to support ourselves on what we bring in.

you never know when you will become disable and have to depend on the goverment you been taking care of everybody else why not get it if you need it.ssi is to supplement your income the goverment will not help you if you have other income it,s really a bad situation to be in but if you have no control over it when you are disable what are you to do.most of the time you can,t work if you recieve ssi if you get social security you can work about 6 months out of a year it,s like a hold back so you can,t earn to much and if you do you will have to pay it back.

Both me and my husband are disabled, me by my illinesses and him being hurt on the job. And (oh before I forget let me thank the good attorney that cost us the disability check that he got from the company, trying to find a way to funnel the money to his account.) He gets a small Social Security disability check, and although I worked all my life, and at one point was a General Motors employee, when my hubby got hurt on the job I had to quit to get him to the doctors and take care of him after his surgery. His family acted like we didn't exsist, mainly because we had nothing to give them, sorry but you have to tell it like it is. He got hurt in Feb 1995, and I had to fight with them and the company and the lawyer till the stress caused me to have a massive heart attack in 98, which left me unable to go back to work. For 18 months while we was trying to get his social security through, his file layed missfiled in their drawer at the local office, I begged them to go look they said if it said on their computer that it is not in their office then it wasn't, in this time period we lost our home, our truck, we sold our furniture one piece at a time to keep going, finally one day in 2001, we went to the office and I had to start a fight to get the security guard to come over to the window, I explained and he told her go look then you will both know it is not here, when she opened the drawer I saw her face, right there it was. August of 2005 a judge finally gave him what he should of had 2 years earlier. We got it in Sept of 2001, that was 6 years. And you know what Social security could care less that we was losing all we had. It is really hard to live on a small income and pay the price for gas and food now adays, oh yes we get some help but not enought to amount to anything. One good thing we are on heap for our heating bill in the winter or I couldn't pay the bill. We are in a HUD apartment, we lost our home in 2004 to Hurricane Ivan and again in 2005 to Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, we was relocated to Ohio and this is where I am staying. I wish they would let me do a few hours a week of something so that i could just get out of this house for awhile. If we lost the Social Security I guess we would just be in the street.

Well, I own my own hovel and the taxes are sort of paid up, so it would be a few years before I'd lose the place but then there's heat and hydro, not to mention food, meds, repairs... I'm not getting much as it is, but at least they pay for my meds.

Almost everybody is living paycheck to paycheck ,so this is the situation of almost every american ,so this is why is important to have a plan B. Like for example, a home based business or another job ,so that we can invest in our future. Is important to have at least an emergency fund for at least 8 months.

I was taught a simple saying back on the farm and it has stuck with me ever since: Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. One of my first chores growing up was gathering eggs, and as you may know, it takes a bit of manual dexterity for a toddler to carry even one egg over to the basket without breaking it, especially with feathers flying and hens cackling and roosters pecking. But if you want breakfast you had better do it right. Some people look down on folks who lived by the crops they grew and the animals they raised, but it sure instills in one a sense of priorities. This upbringing made me recognize as a young worker that just because everyone else seemed to think they could afford to buy lunch out (I packed mine from home), buy the latest fashions (I sewed not all but some of my own clothes), take trips, eat out, etc.,-- that didn't mean I had to live that way. We lived frugally and now we have something to show for it. No, I am not counting on Social Security, as that entitlement was meant to subsidize one's retirement savings, not to be one's sole support. We never had a relative's house to move into when the chips were down, but if we had, we would have moved in and fixed it up and then rented it out, using the rental income as leverage to locate another beat up property and done the same, and kept working day and night to get where we needed to be. We would never have poured our own earnings down the rat hole of rent had there been an alternative that would have made it possible to retire sooner :-) To me, that farm house sounds like a wonderful opportunity.

Hi twoey-I depend on Social Security and am on disability benefit it is hard enough to live pay bills etc as it is..if my benefits were taken away I have no-where else to live and wouldn't have anything to fall back on although I try to now but that is very little..littleowl

I am a single mom living on disability.I work when my illness allows me to but it is only part time.I also have a problem with finding employment.when I first got sick I had been at the same job for almost 4 years I liked this job very much.I left on Temporary disability but when that ran out I was unable to return to work my employers didn't have a choice but to hire a replacement.When I was feeling better I was able to go back to that job on a part time as needed basis that was great for awhile.Then I got sick again,this cycle went on for about 5 years until I am now at a point that even when I feel better I am still unable to do that job. Now what happens is I find a job when I am well but I never seem to be able to work long enough for them to value me as an employee before I have to leave sick again.I suffer from multiple sclerosis and when it flares up or I relapse I can't walk,sometimes I lose my eyesight as well.Of course on any given day I still have some symptoms,and they are always worse if I get overheated in any way.I worry constantly about bills,and my daughters needs,or what am I going to do if I lose my sight for a long period of time,or can't walk again at all,who will help my daughter?? I don't worry much about me,I really don't care what happens to me I just want to be able to finish raising my daughter ,that is all I have asked of God is to let me stay well enough to take care of her.So far so good,I have been dealing with this since she was 8 years old and she is now a wonderful 17 year old I couldn't ask for more then that.So as to your question the truth is I would be homeless with no food gas or electric if it were not for Social Security.

My son in law would just have to pay more of the bills!. or I could go live with one of my sons but it wouldnt be like my own home and I share it nowwith daughter and her family.

I don't get it, I don't plan on getting it. That way I won't be disappointed and will be able to survive if there isn't any left for me after paying all these years.

My children would never let me live in the streets....I have convidience in that..I am now living with my daughter until i get a place since Hurricane "IKE" has me evacuated.I am looking for an apartment but my kids want me to live with them,but i choose to live alone..I am not helpless or retired i just like my own space..When i do get old & helpless i know my children will be there for me because they have always been there...

That is the whole problem in a nutshell. Social Security was never designed to take care of people. It was designed to be a supplement to a retirement vehicle that a person set up while working. Problem is it was set up during a time where most companies had retirement funds for all of their workers. Now these things are folding in on themselves, with companies failing left and right. The best thing to do, which it what I plan to do, is to set up an independent retirement plan of your own, regardless of what your company has to offer. This way you won't have to depend on Social Security when you reach retirement age or become disabled. Also, I don't plan on Social Security even being there when I reach age 67, or whatever age it happens to be when I get around there. It won't be unless major reforms are taken, besides raising the age in 2012.

Yes I do and so does my partner. We are Australian though so the rules are different here. I am registered as unemployed but I have been ill for 2 years and am currently going through a rehabilitation program. They are not at all sure they can help me and I suspect I will end up on disability in the next year. Before I got ill I earned quite a good income and so I really do feel the loss. It is a huge drop for me. Our Government gives disability to people who are unable to work at least 15 hours or more a week. My partner is currently on disability as he has a few medical conditions that prevent him working. Next year he will turn 65 and will be put on the old age pension. It is very hard to manage on a limited income but we are lucky in that we own our house and we budget very carefully. I have heard of some people on the pension here who cannot afford to eat properly. If we had to pay rent we would be in big trouble

My mother is facing this situation and she relys on alimony to pay for the mortgage and social security barely covers food cost and its sad, sad also that my parents divorce had to be so bad and that my father left her with as little money as possible in the deal (she got none of the money from the selling of the house we grew up in) so when I see my mother surviving this way It makes me seem helpless because in no way is social security 'SECURITY' and I feel woman are penalized for the time they take to raise children and thats not fair.