I don’t live off disability, but I’ve saved a crapload of money not buying paper towels and making my own laundry soap, not using fabric softener or using white vinegar instead. Also, use bar soap in the shower and keep it away from the water so it doesn’t melt and shampoo only once a week. If you have long hair, use a boar bristle brush to pull the oils down the hair shaft so you can skip conditioner unless your hair is really dry. Use white vinegar as your cleaning solution. Works on most anything and is way cheaper than the Lysol or Clorox sprays. Eat what’s on sale (and in season) from the produce department. Use dry beans instead of canned. Buy a whole poultry instead of the breasts or wings or whatever, and cut the bird up yourself. Use the bones to make soup stock for later. Learn to mend your clothes. Turn clothes that are too far gone for mending into your rags to replace the paper towels you aren’t buying. Wear layers of clothes rather than buying “winter” clothes-although this may not work for every climate. Download apps like Freebie Alerts and see what others are giving away that you could use. Insulate your doors and windows to save on utilities. This can be as simple as hanging up and additional blanket behind your curtains to reduce drafts. Use a heated blanket on your bed in winter so you can keep the thermostat low. Use just a sheet in the summer and put a fan on so you can keep the thermostat high. Spend time outdoors acclimating yourself to the current weather. Live in the smallest space practical for your needs. You’ll use less in cleaning supplies and utilities. The next one is harder because it requires having a bit of savings, but buy quality items. They last longer and/or can be repaired.

Last I checked the most anyone got off of disability was less than 26,000/year, with the vast majority being less than 18,000/year.

Without serious support from family and/or a church or other devoted non-profit the best you can do is 5 people in a two bedroom.

It’s worse than living as a college student, and most people consider that their “lowest” standard of living period.

Get on the Limited Income housing list ASAP the wait list for income based housing is at least two years probably more. Know where your nearest food banks are. Budget like you life depends on it because it does. Pay rent first then priority based bills after that make sure the necessities are paid off before allowing yourself any entertainment bills or anything extra, try to budget some for fun each month or you’ll start getting really upset just make sure it doesn’t break the bank. Get things free where you can lots of libraries have free apps to rent audiobooks or movies for entertainment, most stores have multiple coupons and mark down items nearing their best by date or apparel that is out of season, if there’s a food assistance program offered by your governing receipt then apply for it because everything helps. Shop around for everything there’s always a cheaper phone plan there’s always a cheaper internet provider there’s always a more affordable option for items and most churches offer some type of assistance with clothing or food. Also if you need to have a credit card check for ones with a 0%APR promotion with a low APR after the promotional period and make sure to use it only for payments that can be worked into your monthly budget.

As for budgeting food dried beans, rice, dry grain products and legumes, potatoes, frozen vegetables and frozen fruit, peanut butter. Freeze leftovers that you don’t want to consume right away or fresh fruit and veggies that are starting to wilt, frozen spinach is good blended into smoothies or soup for example but there’s no way I can keep a whole bag of fresh spinach from wilting. If you can make it yourself then do, ready made products are often more expensive than the ingredients used to make them you’ll get a feel for this the more budgeted shopping you do.

You don't. It's impossible. Honestly I've tried. You can only live with roommates and stay on a strict budget. If you wanna live on your own you have to live in HUD or section 8 housing. Then still you have to have food stamps to buy food. You get a part time job but even then it's still difficult to live on your own. I survived on disability for three years cuz I had a strict budget, used a credit card (I just paid it off), and lived with roommates. Being on SSI is hard and you really can't live off of it without extra help. I'm still on SSI now living with my grandparents until I start this job in another state. I probably won't be on SSi once I start my new job cuz I think I'll be making too much to be allowed on it, but I'm not sure.

Bargain bin shop for everything, buy a freezer if you can so when food is insane, or out of date discount, stock up. Join freecycle pages on FB. Use charity shops to buy books and dvds etc, cancel TV subscriptions. For treats (cos you can't live in frugal misery) use websites like wowcher, pigs back, or equivalent.

It's been a while since I was on social welfare payments tbh, but have had some time since where we've been very broke.

Coming up to Xmas, I've already pretty much sorted all gifts, buy in charity shops, sales during the year and keep aside for birthdays, Xmas.

My family, my parents, siblings and spouses do kris kindle and used to have a 20$ limit, then one sister was very poor one year and wanted to cancel so I changed the limit to 1.50 as a new chain of bargain stores had opened where everything was 1.50! So we still got the fun/joy of gifts but no-one is under pressure

I'm not frugal, but I know my possibilities so when I began losing my sight I moved back to live with my father in my childhood home. In 2017 my father died and my mother moved back in so I live with her now. I pay her a monthly stipend for my food as well as the electricity, water, gas, and communications bills, our share of the condominium, and the city taxes while she pays for her stuff as well as for a maid that comes over on a weekly basis. This allows me to save some money at the end of the month since I'm a minimalist and only need a computer that I can use for coding to entertain myself.

That said I gave myself a year to work on my portfolio of things that I implemented totally blind before looking for a job, not because I need the money but because I need a sense of purpose.

Live in an apartment the size of a shipping crate, and budget very carefully.
But that’s going to really depend on where you live, how much you’re getting and what the cost of living is there.

I live in Canada and know our disability amounts are different from the States. Actually, I’m pretty sure they’re even different between Canadian provinces. And some areas have a higher cost of living than others. So I managed to make it work, just. But I imagine it would be practically impossible in some cities.

I’m so glad I don’t have to do this anymore.

Now this has me curious, do a fair amount of blind people live on disability? My dad has been collecting it since a spinal injury that prevented him from working again and it was barely enough to scrape by. I would hope that for people who legitimately can't work they can at least get by.

I only use dry beans when I cook. Having an instanpot helps a lot. I don't buy any meat all vegetarian foods for me. I save the carrot peels, onion skins etc in a big ziplock bag in my freezer. Then I turn those scraps that I was going to throw away into stocks for soups.

I find it you can live close to a grocery store it is helpful for my lifestyle.

This tip depends on your goals etc. If you are not going to be looking for work live in a part of the country that is less expensive.

Shop thrift stores and yard sales. Let your friends and family know if you are trying to find something to buy. Sometimes someone has the item laying around and they will just give it to you or they may find it at a yard sale themself.

Get with one of the cheaper cell phone companies. I don't live in the US but a friend of mine there uses Mint.

Have you considered moving outside of the US? I did that and my living expenses are 10% of what I used to spend (I was living on the west coast so it was expensive).

I'm not on disability anymore, but I was for a while and grew up poor, as well.

In addition to all the great advice from /u/SoapyRiley, Apply for low-income housing - that makes the biggest difference right there if you can get it. Take advantage of all of the EBT/SNAP programs you qualify for. If you're having a particularly rough month, don't forget that food banks exist if you need them.

I'm on disability for Aniridia so legally blind and i got an okay situation. Tree fell on a friend of family's house. So I get to stay in it rent free just pay light and water but also have to fix it up a bit when I can. EBT helps a lot. But if it wasn't for this situation I probably wouldn't make it. I have talked to a few churchs (I live in the Bible belt so there's plenty) and some will let me clean up the back rooms and such and they give me a voucher slip for food at a certain store.

I don't.