Having too little money can be extremely stressful. This is a very real situation for people who have a mental illness/psychiatric diagnosis. Some lose their jobs and end up on Social Security Disability. Some have never been able to work. Some end up being unemployed or underemployed. When a person is unemployed or underemployed, not having health benefits can be a real problem. Not having adequate health benefits may also be a problem when a person has full-time employment.

If a person has chosen to work or try to work, and the person doesn't have a job with adequate pay or benefits, there is often a struggle to have enough money to buy food, pay rent, have some kind of transportation (often necessary to get to work), pay a co-pay or whatever else it is that the person needs or wants to do.

There seem to be 3 schools of thought about having too little money while trying to live on SSD or SSI:

·         Live with less- Intentional frugality

·         The “Latte Factor” - Give up enough and there will be enough money

·         Earn some extra dough - Learn how to do it without being financially penalized

One thing that is important is to know is how much money is enough. If a person is living on SSI, and needs an additional $50 a month just to break even, she or he needs to know that. She or he might be able to use any of the 3 strategies above to make up the financial gap.

If a person is on SSD or SSI, and is unable to get out and do anything to help their financial situation, their situation may vary from the one above. 

If you are working without benefits or are underemployed, your money situation may look very different to you. If every dollar you earn from a job makes you go further and further into a huge financial hole, your view, and what you need to do, will need to be very different from the above situations. What is the same is that you need to know. You need to understand your specific situation.

If you don't know, life will control you instead of you being able to control what happens in your life. I know. I have been there, and way too often.

Being able to eat is important. Being able to eat healthy foods is important. So how can you make things work? Living in a safe neighborhood so you are comfortable enough to leave your house is important.

Here are 10 things that people can do to save some bucks. You may be doing them already. If not, consider joining in.

1.      Grow some of your own veggies, and make them heirloom veggies. Seeds from heirloom veggies can be dried and saved to be planted the next year. Heirloom veggies haven't been genetically modified. They are often thought to be more juicy and tasty. Here are a couple of websites that have more information on getting started on small gardens.

How to plant a cheap container garden. Create active link to [http://www.ehow.com/how_4785097_plant-cheap-container-garden.html]

My Redneck Upside-down Garden: How to Topsey Turvy your garden on the cheap. April 20, 2009

Video (make the upper holes before you put the plant in)

Need to Grow Potatoes on a porch?

2.      Get together once a week with a friend and cook for the week. This can help save on utility bills, can be a great way to share time with friends, and to deal with a personal lack of energy.

Having healthy food already on hand that is easy to warm up can not only help us save money, but be more healthy.

You are less likely to fall victim to a can of ravioli or the "ramen noodle factor" (not knowing what to fix and needing something easy).

Here is an article on once a month cooking that tells what foods can be frozen and what foods don't freeze well (think rubbery eggs).

Here is a vegetarian page on once a week.

I will say that favorites to use in once a week cooking are things like lasagna, healthy pizza, tuna noodle casserole, Sloppy Joes (freeze in muffin tins), and quiche.

3.      Have a couple of meatless meals a couple of times a week. There are some meals from peers here, and one of the soups is a vegetarian option. Create active link to (Link to Faith's page)

4.      Share rides when possible. This really will work well if you are sharing a once a week cooking session with friends. It's important for people to share the gas costs or this doesn't save anyone anything.

5.      Think creatively about housing.

Is there a way you can house share?

Work where you live?

A smaller apartment?

Section 8?

6.      If you can't move and you pay your own utility bills, plug holes and winterize before winter hits.

7.      Think about getting a bus pass.

How many times do you ride the bus during the month?

Would you get out more and be able to do more things, if you had a bus pass?

Would you be able to get back and forth to a job, if you had a bus pass?

8.      Pay bills on-time. Now it seems as if every company seems to charge a late fee when you don't pay your bills on-time. If the late fee is $5 a month, and you pay late 10 months out of 12 months, that adds up to $50. That is an electric bill for many people.

9.      Get rid of extra stuff. It's easy at times to take stuff home because it's free, and we think we might need it someday. Then once it is at home, it piles up and we have to heat it, cool it and clean it.

Extra stuff may be comforting, but can also cause stress.

There are different ways to get rid of stuff:

·         Sell it on Craigslist or E-bay

·         Have a garage sale

·         Put an ad in the newspaper

·         Donate the stuff; if you do this, get a receipt for your taxes, especially if you are working.

10.  Take good care of yourself.

We are dying 25 years early Create active link to (link to page on mrce website). Some of the reasons we are dying early are what we eat, how much we move, and our personal habits.

Each person's financial path is different. Because of past experiences, different things happen at different times for different people. What is important is that you take steps to take control what you can. This will help reduce financial stress.