how to live on $600 per month

[elaineremains]

Hello, this may be an absurd question, but i'm disabled and all i get is $600 per month...<br><br>i had an inheritance and bought the land and RV and stuff, and now the inheritance is gone...<br><br>my husband works in the city, and he thinks that now that i'm 'out of money' he can start treating me badly again and i HAVE TO come back to him...<br><br>and he may be right<br><br>my propane and electricity bills take up pretty much all my money, plus there's yearly taxes of about 2 grand... which i've already gotten the first bill of $600 and i can't pay it, of course...<br><br>do you have any suggestions? or do i just go back into a situation that makes me sicker?<br><br>the big problem is the need for heat i guess, as i'm in canada....<br><br>i know this may seem like a stupid question, but i had to ask....

 

[akrvbob]

In the U.S. you can live in a van on public land for $600 a month pretty easily because you will have no housing costs of any kind. But i have no idea if that is true in Canada and of course you will have to deal with the cold. Here you can drive 300 miles from the mountain to the desert and avoid extremes of temperatures. You can't do that in Canada.<br><br>Wish I could be more helpful but I just know very little about Canada's land laws.<br>Bob

 

[offroad]

posted a discussion a while back about this. living in a van is not about being in poverty and minimal survival. $7200 a year is about the bare minimum you can live on and survive in any situation, then added disability to that equation puts you off the survival list. &nbsp;one of my children does this minimal survival living, and it is hard, but he has a part time job and medical insurance, and is young and strong. &nbsp;minimal cost of living is at $20,000 to $30,000 for a single person in the united states, which is considered poverty. minimum wage is less than this.&nbsp;<br><br>in your country-county-town find the social services people. ask them about support. taxes are forgiven (aka canceled) for elderly and disabled and poor in many towns. money for heating fuel is provided. food banks deliver food. bottom line - being poor is really hard, and am constantly shocked with how USA treats is poorest citizens.&nbsp;<br><br>too many average workers think there is a conspiracy of cheating lieing poor folks. the reality is there are too many disabled ignorant poor folks and they need help learning how to get all the resources they can, because likely they cant get jobs.&nbsp;<br><br>

 

[Seraphim]

offroad makes good points, and so does Bob.<br><br>It's my understanding there is little government land in Canada where one can camp free of cost. I may be wrong, but the topic came up on another forum.&nbsp; One possibilty would be to try to sell the land to regain a cash savings and eliminate one source of debt - the taxes. Fighting the cold is also expensive, and seems to be your major source of expenses.<br><br>Could you travel to the US to take advantage of BLM as Bob and others do?&nbsp;&nbsp;One possibilty I can think of - not easy, but probably doable. Depends on a lot of information about you which we don't have.

 

[owl]

&nbsp;&nbsp; Elaine, It is not a stupid question! You feel like you are in a fix, I understand that. In the US the&nbsp;government defines poverty for one person to be an income of $11490 per year. You are well under that. As you are in Canada I have no doubt you qualify for all sorts of aid. The hangup is your possesions, land, rv, etc. The first step, as I see, it is to seek out advice from the welfare system I'm sure Canada has. They will probably advise you to liqidate your assets before you qualify for aid. Get the realestate off your back as quickly as you can. Do you have family you trust that can assume ownership of the RV, that is get it out of your name? Talk to your family, friends (you trust) and perhaps the minister in the local church. When you reach out you'll find people want to help. I am a man, and if I can, I will tell you that abusive men don't change. Especially if alcohol is involved. Thank god I was never abusive but believe me I've seen enough of it in my extended&nbsp;family. Please reach out to the people who can help you. Do not accept a life of abuse of any kind. You have touched hearts today&nbsp;and I have know doubt the folks here will say a prayer for you, I certainly will. Let us know how it goes, please.

 

[Mouldy]

<p>I agree with owl. Get rid of stuff if you can. That'll put ya in a better financial situation and you won't have to worry about bills. </p><p><br>No idea where you are in Canada, but I was in central to northern MN (which might as well be Canada by my accent I'm told) living out of an RV. I found that you can live without pipes freezing from about April 1-Nov 1 without special insulation. I'm told and believe that for every 100 miles you go north, you add on 2 weeks to winter (one on each end).<br><br>I "watched" over a farmer's equipment on an abandoned farmstead last year. He didn't charge me because he thought he was getting a good deal by having "security". I even got electric and water hook ups! Not sure geographically where your at, but I've dealt with a lot of farmers in MN and ND. All you have to do is ask. If they can't help you, they might know someone who can (or you helping them). They often have shallow wells on properties for livestock that come from the same aquifer as a home would.<br><br>Just my 2 Lincoln's (cents for you canadians <img src="/images/boards/smilies/wink.gif" class="emoticon bbc_img"> )</p>

 

[Willy]

Are you on PWD or federal disability? If so, you can get a rebate on your auto insurance and on gas taxes (up to $500 a year). Also, being on full disability, you'd be able to stay at Forest Service rec sites for free and up to 2 weeks at any provincial campground for free. There are a number of other perks too, but they don't 'advertise' them, so ya gotta do some digging. I'm on 'persons with persistent multiple barriers' (hope to get full PWD soon) and live quite nicely on $600 a month. ..Willy.

 

[elaineremains]

i don't want to reply to this thread coz i don't want the ideas to stop lol... you guys are smart!<br><br>i worked sooooo hard to get myself in a position where i can live THIS cheaply out here in vancouver... which btw is the most expensive place in north america to live...<br><br>so selling is kind of out of the question, as rent would cost me more<br><br>and willy, yes i am on federal disability, perhaps i will give u my email and we can discuss these unknown perks lol i have no idea how to find stuff for disabled people....<br><br>keep talking ok you guys? thank you sooooooooo much!!!

 

[Willy]

&nbsp;$600 a month sounds kinda low for disability. Is that just for the support portion sans the rent? I'll have to ask around a bit re. the difference between PWD and federal but, from what I've gathered, PWD is the way to go (more perks). ..Willy.

 

[elaineremains]

it's the social security or whatever they call it in canada... i'm not on the 'welfare' disability coz i'm actually tooo disabled to fight for it, and they wouldn't give me more than an extra $200 a month if that... but i have never heard of 'PWD'... who do i see about finding out about it? do i have to see an advocate or something? where did you learn all this stuff? lol

 

[McBe]

<span style="font-size: small;">I'm not Canadian but did find a website link to the British Columbia Ministry of Social Development which has information for persons with disabilities.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.hsd.gov.bc.ca/pwd.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.hsd.gov.bc.ca/pwd.htm</a></span>

 

[elaineremains]

yeah, i have that site bookmarked coz i thought there might be help with employment, of course there's not... and i've already tried to apply for BC's 'welfare' disability, and they had me jumping through sooooooo many hoops, that i didn't actually have the ability to do it... i don't know how disabled people are even supposed to be able to do that kind of stuff... thanks tho! <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[offroad]

disabled people do it by finding an advocate organization that helps them with all the paperwork. plus finding a lawyer and sueing to get it done. &nbsp;it literally can only take the courts to put dates and deadlines on work, with penalities if not done. &nbsp;before the bueracracy wheels will turn. &nbsp;sad but true.&nbsp;

 

[Opa]

elaineremains. Do you want to live on $600 or do you have to.If you have to, it <br>will be very stressful.

 

[Willy]

Well, first you've gotta pin down what exact 'disability' you're on. There's plain 'medical' disability, which is administered through Social Services, and is basically welfare and no job hunting requirement. Then there's 'persons with persistent multiple barriers' (what I'm on), which you first have to be on medical welfare for 18 months to get. They kick in an additional $48 (WOW!) and a bit of dental, which boosts ya up to around $650/month. Then there's PWD, which is provincial disability and generally requires a person to be on multiple barriers for 2 years to get. This is administered by the province and tacks an extra $300 to your cheque and doesn't require monthly stubs to be returned like the previous 2. There are also numerous perks regarding provincial/forest service campgrounds and medical supplies/prescriptions. The last is Federal Disability, which is through the federal gov. and which, when one is on PWD, they try to foist ya off on after a while. PWD, AFAIK, is preferred.<br>&nbsp;If you want to get PWD, it's best to do it through a free community legal advocate and, if you're on medical welfare, to bring in all your medical test results 'n such and have it photocopied and added to your case file. Dot your I's and cross your T's; don't give any reason to be denied. The case workers at Social services can be really helpful when they figure you have a legitimate reason to be collecting a cheque and are not just trying to scam the system.<br>&nbsp;What kinda rig are you driving? ..Willy.

 

[elaineremains]

i'm on canada pension disability, which is federal... and i've tried to go on the welfare disability, but they require sooooo much paperwork, that honestly i don't even know how to get it, paper proof of a zillion things...<br><br>ok i will look around for an advocate<br><br>i've got a 5th wheel and i don't drive it, it just sits on the land i own<br><br>oh and i was wrong on the other thread, it's a 30 footer, 29 to be exact<br><br>and i HAVE TO live on $600, and yes it's very stressful<br><br>i'm not sure i will qualify for the medical welfare, because of the inheritance i got earlier this year, yes it's gone, but they may not allow me because of it<br><br>they wanted 6 months worth of bank statements, i don't even have a bank really, except for the last month<br><br>they want proof of everything, and i honestly just don't have it, and it overwhelms me and makes me too tired to even think about it, but yeah, will look into advocacy, even though THEY will just tell me to get all the same paperwork together anyway... don't know what to do...<br><br>thanks you guys, keep it coming <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[RV-Kitty]

i<br id="tinymce" class="mceContentBody ">i worked sooooo hard to get myself in a position where i can live THIS cheaply out here in vancouver... which btw is the most expensive place in north america to live... so selling is kind of out of the question, as rent would cost me more

<br><br>May I ask why you chose the most expensive place to live when your income is so low?&nbsp; Most of those with limited income would choose a cheaper place to live.&nbsp; Why must you stay in that area? Canada is huge.&nbsp; Also, there has to be low-income housing there. Every city has low-income areas.&nbsp; Perhaps you just don't know about them. <br><br><br>

 

[elaineremains]

i moved to vancouver because at the time i was a top of my class computer programmer and could have made a fortune out here<br><br>moving anywhere else where the winters are 40 below is out of the question for health reasons<br><br>this RV is built in Canada and meant for the winters here<br><br>i also can't live in the city for health reasons<br><br>please don't think i'm a complete moron just because my husband is... he's not physically abusive, more the gaslighting type<br><br><br>

 

[Willy]

Well, if a person wants warm winters (in Canada), B.C. is the place to be. Camping on Guvmint land, at least in B.C. is easy and there's wayyyyy more available here than in the USA. Problem is access during the winter. That's where having a smaller rig helps out. I think that, if you're on Federal, yer kinda hooped when it comes to PWD or welfare. Are you a senior? If so, there's the GIS and, maybe, younger people can get it. Just being disabled might very well make you eligible for the GIS, or something equivalent. Thing is, you've gotta get hold of someone who knows the ropes. Have you checked out your local 'community services'? ..Willy.

 

[elaineremains]

i was a mainframe programmer, not the type that programs PCs from home...<br><br>gaslighting is a term from the old ingrid bergman movie 'gaslight'<br><br>Willy, i am not a senior, and i kinda know i'm hooped for welfare disability, but what is this GIS you speak of?<br><br>i will ask at the women's center i go to about 'community services and advocacy'<br><br>and yeah, there's nowhere warmer in canada that's for sure... i also like the place i live right now as i have a super great doctor and therapist and dentist and such... stuff i've never had before...<br><br>i applied for an online 'job' last night, but heard nothing back... there's not much i can do anyway, as alot of my disability is not just physical, but mental, like PTSD and panic and anxiety disorder lots of fun stuff like that...<br><br>i will really try and insulate this place to lower costs, that's for sure....<br><br>summer is coming, that's good, but then there's air conditioning lol