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Started as an observation...
Originally my comments were fueled by the apparent ingratitude of some people at the ODSP office today. But I realize, there is a ort of social assistance culture of "never enough:"
So today I picked up my new bus pass. The Community Pass. It allows people with disabilties to ride in a very cost-efficient manner. I can certainly support the initiative, trying to get otherwise potentially housebound people out and into the community. Not to mention for people with fixed and low incomes, this makes life more manageable. I had to pay for the new ID, but frankly, the $35 I paid for the ID and the monthly EXPRESS pass was a steal. It made me giddy. Yes, I have had a little extra cash lately, but my contracted just ended and I'm not going to turn down a little extra assistance. As long as the government assesses me to be below the poverty line, I will keep accepting assistance.
But then the buzzkill hit. I had to go to the ODSP office to drop off my forms (you have to do it in person or they get lost. Ask anyone in the system. It's true!). So a woman beside starts a conversation about the new bus pass. She is upset because the office still won't cover the full cost of the bus pass. WHAT? The city puts forth an initiative which makes your bus pass over $40 cheaper, and you're UPSET because someone else isn't picking up the tab?? I has happy I got to save $40 a month. I highly doubt the purpose of the disability program was to cover *everything*.
When I am not working I have more than enough to pay for food, shelter, internet, TV and basic living. I could make life changes and flip some of that stuff around, or trade cable for a cell phone (you get the idea). I use the STEP program to upgrade that living so that I can go out and stuff. I consider my standard of living to be fully adequate.
So back to the people in the office. "They don't give me enough to eat" "They don't pay for my satellite dish" "They cut off my cellphone" "they reduced my food allowance under the new system""They don't give me enough for rent". Seriously. The government sets up a program so you won't DIE and you are upset because you can't figure out how to manage on $1000/month (give or take).
$12,000/year isn't fun to live on, but it's definitely possible to do it.
So today I picked up my new bus pass. The Community Pass. It allows people with disabilties to ride in a very cost-efficient manner. I can certainly support the initiative, trying to get otherwise potentially housebound people out and into the community. Not to mention for people with fixed and low incomes, this makes life more manageable. I had to pay for the new ID, but frankly, the $35 I paid for the ID and the monthly EXPRESS pass was a steal. It made me giddy. Yes, I have had a little extra cash lately, but my contracted just ended and I'm not going to turn down a little extra assistance. As long as the government assesses me to be below the poverty line, I will keep accepting assistance.
But then the buzzkill hit. I had to go to the ODSP office to drop off my forms (you have to do it in person or they get lost. Ask anyone in the system. It's true!). So a woman beside starts a conversation about the new bus pass. She is upset because the office still won't cover the full cost of the bus pass. WHAT? The city puts forth an initiative which makes your bus pass over $40 cheaper, and you're UPSET because someone else isn't picking up the tab?? I has happy I got to save $40 a month. I highly doubt the purpose of the disability program was to cover *everything*.
When I am not working I have more than enough to pay for food, shelter, internet, TV and basic living. I could make life changes and flip some of that stuff around, or trade cable for a cell phone (you get the idea). I use the STEP program to upgrade that living so that I can go out and stuff. I consider my standard of living to be fully adequate.
So back to the people in the office. "They don't give me enough to eat" "They don't pay for my satellite dish" "They cut off my cellphone" "they reduced my food allowance under the new system""They don't give me enough for rent". Seriously. The government sets up a program so you won't DIE and you are upset because you can't figure out how to manage on $1000/month (give or take).
$12,000/year isn't fun to live on, but it's definitely possible to do it.
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A box of Mr. Noodles and a bag of frozen vegetables works out to about $.70 a meal and will keep you alive.. not well.. but will keep you alive...:P
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I also remember your food paste. Ugh.
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Oh they still manage to screw things up when you drop the paper work off in person.
Heard one woman bitch how her baby cannot get decent formula because smokes cost too much and social assistance won't give her the money to properly feed her baby.
WTF?! My god woman! Are you on anything?
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if you mail them in it's like 95% chance they'll get lost.
if you drop them in the slot at the counter it's a 60% chance they'll get lost
if you take them in, hand them to the lady at the counter, have her stamp them and give you copies, it's a 10% chance they'll get lost (but at least that way you have the proof you "did too" hand them in)
I know it can get tricky when there's kids involved (I'm sure you know way better than I), but I gave up a lot of things, I'm pretty sure you have too. I think people on Disability should have to take a "Life Priorities couse". Okay, some people would think it was dumb, but seriously, the number of people who are like "I missed rent because my cellphone bill was too high" or "I can't buy fresh fruits and vegetables because I can only afford food or cigarettes" is appalling. I think the worst experience I had was being solicited for drugs while waiting for the elevator to leave the Disability office. Hello? Is that really a good use of the "not enough money".
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If more people knew how to budget their money properly, everyone would be better off.
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Conversely I also know students who have their entire complement of bills paid by their parents for the entirity of their University career and they don't have enough money either.
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I've worked out budgets for how to live on strictly OSAP (provided you get the full amount possible), and it is absolutely, perfectly, doable without starving, and with the possibility to eat and live healthily as well, with a few luxuries even. Add in a part-time job and/or minimal parental support, and you're even better off. The key is knowing how to manage it.
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Mom told me once about a early-twenty-something who came into the bank one day to pay her credit card bill: 'cause you know, the credit card companies will approve practically anything if it says "student" on the application, and all she'd ever been told was that you went to the bank and your credit card bill would get paid.
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The downside is that it is likely taught differently in different schools to varying degrees of utility.
I personally believe that everyone should have these skills, but it's a lot easier to get away with poor money management when there is more of it around.
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See, for me, I have allowed society's belief that my 'condition' is a result of moral and behavioral laxity to seep into my own consciousness, and thus I don't ask for things because I don't think I deserve them, because I honestly believe if I was a better, stronger and more resolute person I wouldn't be on ODSP in the first place. It doesn't help I suppose that periodically a particularly bitchy former roomate pops her head up and announces to the world in general that "He's on disability because he's lazy..." or that my favorite talk radio venue still sees obesity as a matter of how many potato chips I scharf down in a day or the late night health shows say "All you have to do is wanna..."
So I don't ask for more, WON'T ask for more. And I can usually do okay more or less....until December rolls around, or I need a new pair of pants. ODSP doesn't see clothing as a neccessity. Maybe one day when I lose both pairs of pants to entropy I'll go down to their offices in my underwear and see how neccessary they think it is....but I digress.
I do know that in the past it hasn't been enough, especially when travel is limited to you and you can't get around to find deals. Bringing groceries home on the bus is usually not a good idea anyways...
Now mind you, if I eliminated gaming from my budget utterly, I could save on average about 200 - 300 bucks a year or so (depending on publishing schedules), but honestly, I'm not gonna. So I deserve to suffer I guess. I am not really complaining...not that much, not that loudly.
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I've always had to bring groceries home on the bus (or walk the ten minutes with them from the store). I'd love not to, but I haven't mastered the telekinetic powers to levitate them home yet.
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