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.

That's great news Jkid! I'm so glad to hear some good luck is finally rolling your way. <3

Have you started looking for apartments yet? What price ranges have you seen for small little studio apartments?

Just curious, do your benefits decrease proportionate to any income you earn? Or is it only regarding employment income.

How good are you at setting up a budget, and then sticking to it? Don't forget you can budget for indulgence if you plan ahead for the eventual impulse to splurge on something. As for your underpayment, squirrel that away for real emergencies.

Barney Stinson said:
Have you started looking for apartments yet? What price ranges have you seen for small little studio apartments?

I tried to. As for small little studio apartments, they cost over the $624 check I get. Even studios these days cost over $1000 per month.

Devil Fruit Bubble Tea said:
Just curious, do your benefits decrease proportionate to any income you earn? Or is it only regarding employment income.

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As for your underpayment, squirrel that away for real emergencies.

It's only regarding employment income. Budgeting for stuff? yes but sadly I have a trend of making payments for emergencies related to my mother, but I don't spend as much money these days.

As for the underpayment, I would like to, but it's going to be used mostly to pay off those credit cards I've used over the past year. I want to do that in phases, and then pay them off at the right time when they're all low enough.

If all you are getting as income is the $624 a month then I do not recommend moving out on your own. I just graduated and am now working freelance and since my GI Bill income is gone I have done my own budget for the DC area and $1500 is pretty much my bare minimum of what I need to make each month.

For $600 a month in rent in the DC are you are gonna have to get a roommate. Studios as far out as Germantown aren't even that low. Anything you DO find is gonna be super unsafe and near zero public transportation.

The way it works for my brother who gets SSI and is Autistic is the more money he makes/accumulates the lower the SSI payment he gets. This is why he still lives with my parents and makes small "rent" payments to them because he cannot afford a place of his own and if he saves too much then the money stops coming.

My recommendation is to stay with your family until you raise that income. I'm sure the SSI takes a lot of pressure off of you and your family but it is not enough to live off of in the DC area.

Killian said:

For $600 a month in rent in the DC are you are gonna have to get a roommate. Studios as far out as Germantown aren't even that low. Anything you DO find is gonna be super unsafe and near zero public transportation.

Thanks for the advice: I'm not planning to move out anytime soon, probably after graduation. Sadly I'm not going to get a stable income anytime soon.

And you know the worst thing about the getting even a cheap apartment, some of the "work hard" conservative puppets expect people with paychecks that only worth the monthly equalivlent to minimum wage to live in these same cheap apartments that are in "super unsafe and near zero public transportation" areas, even if there is little chance their situation will change.

Even if I want to move to DC, you're pretty much expected to have a roommates unless you're upper-middle class. It's really sad, that DC from birth residents are practically stuck outside of DC as their living quarters.

As someone with Asperger's on SSI I'm really glad to hear this, congrats j-kid! I'm currently trying to get an apartment myself but it's tough on next to no budget and no roommates I would want to live with, despite that cheapening the price.

Speaking of which, would you consider living with a roommate? I know with autism it can be tough living with certain people and they need some space, at least I do.

Also I do believe your SSI will be increased depending on your living conditions(living alone etc.) but don't quote me on that. Best of luck man!

Kundalini said:
As someone with Asperger's on SSI I'm really glad to hear this, congrats j-kid! I'm currently trying to get an apartment myself but it's tough on next to no budget and no roommates I would want to live with, despite that cheapening the price.

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I would like to live with roommates, but I've already receiving the maximum monthly amount of SSI benefits in the State of Maryland.