Living on Social Security: Video #1

hi guys it's Carol how're you doing this is my beginning video for a series I want to do on living on Social Security now I am NOT an expert on Social Security I am horrible at managing money I am NOT frugal if I had money unfortunately I would spend it I'm just sharing my information to give everybody a realistic picture of what it looks like to live on Social Security if you haven't had your act all together your entire life and had a home paid for and you know do better than I did I hadn't planned to retire when I did I we I went on Social Security disability when I was 56 I had definitely planned on working another 10 to 15 years but life happened and I retired at 56 when I turned 62 I guess it changed to just regular Social Security now I'm not complaining about the amount I get I get a really good Social Security check and I'm grateful for it if I did not have this Social Security check I would be in a world of hurt I really would so never in the series hear me complain about the amount I get it is what it is I wish it were two or three times as much but it is not so we're gonna talk about what reality is for me and hopefully you guys if you haven't retired yet this will give you a wake-up call and you can start planning now you can start trying to live on what you think you're gonna get now or if you're already on Social Security may be you know tricks I don't know maybe you can help me do better if you guys would leave comments or email me maybe together we can help each other okay I read that the average shatters there's Molly the average Social Security check is $1500 well if that's the average somebody's getting an awful good Social Security check because I know too many people that get more like six to seven hundred I get a great check I get 995 now that is after the government takes out the amount they want from Medicare Medicare is not free you pay for it you just never see it and I think Medicare is a hundred and thirty five fifty a month so that leaves me nine ninety five the next amount I'm going to take out is ten percent I think most people either tithe or give to charity organizations or set aside money to help family members or something so I'm going to take ten percent off the top because I assume everybody else does similar I don't own a home I have to rent but I live in a low-income apartment complex hi Toby and the rant is based on your income so I pay Toby five hundred and sixty eight dollars a month which is wonderful because there's a apartments across from me that are private sector and they root for twelve hundred for the same size as my apartment so I'm happy with that that leaves me three hundred and I can't read upside down 327 okay then I have electricity I have to pay I have mine on average billing because I don't want any big surprises when we have hundred degree weather in the summer or really cold spells in the winter Toby go away mm-hmm so I have average billing in that sixty three dollars a month okay that leaves me to 264 okay next I have to have water in my apartment complex it's that covers sewer trash and the water that I use it goes upon what you really used sometimes my bill is more like fifteen sixteen seventeen the worst bill I've ever had was twenty two so I'm going to allow twenty dollars in my budget so I know I've got myself covered that leaves me 244 I don't have a landline to have a cell phone because I'm hearing impaired and I cannot hear 99% of people that call me on a phone my family knows to text or to call and yell really loud so I have a cell phone so I can text and that's $50 a month with straight talk through Walmart I love this service I haven't had any problems with them and that leaves me 194 dollars a month we have to provide your own phone for years I bought the cheaper phones that range from $39 to $99 to purchase they always quit working for me after 6 or 7 months so this time I decided to get a little better phone hoping it would last a lot longer I got an iPhone 6s which is an old iPhone and I pay nine dollars a month for it leaves me 182 then Internet is my only entertainment other than my dogs it's how I connect to YouTube how I manage my bills and things online it's 50 dollars the service is not great but where I live this is my only option it's this or nothing so I have that and that leaves me 132 dollars okay now I have rental insurance it's $14 a month the group apartment complex requires I have rental insurance and I would anyway when I was a kid our house burned and I have a big fear of losing everything I own so I'm happy to pay $14 a month for rental insurance that leaves me one hundred and twenty one dollars wait there's more I don't own a car but my daughter lets me drive her car I helped her with the down payment on it but she made all the payments it was definitely her car and it's an old junker that we just pray starts every time we turn the key but I pay insurance so that I can drive it and I paid 52 dollars a month for that insurance since my daughter virtually takes me everywhere I need to go or else loans me her car I buy one tank of gas a mile for $30 and that we used to be $39 I have to buy my prescriptions that I cannot live without but they're cheap I get them at Walmart and I do have Humana supplemental my prescriptions run about $20 a month that leaves me $19 yeah maybe we can go to McDonald's or get pizza or set it aside for those weird things that pop up but that didn't cover everything if all I had was my social security check I'd have to do some rearranging somehow and luckily I have a small retirement shack it's not nearly as much as my Social Security check Toby so if you're only gonna be getting Social Security this is the reality wake-up call but I do have a retirement check so I'm okay I live a really good life I wish I had twice as much money as I do but it is what it is but on my $995 I didn't have money for doctor bills I have to go to a doctor every other month a family doctor or a psychiatrist Medicare pays but it doesn't pay the whole thing and what's left is a large amount for me so I pay it out every month I'm paying on some doctor bill year-round hoping I get it paid off before the next time I have to see them I didn't have money for groceries toiletries tolet paper you know any kind of paper product you use cleaning products dog food dog groomer shoes clothing I can't read backwards but you can see there's quite a few things that I just thought of that oh I didn't get to purchase out of all of that so those are some of the things that my Social Security did not cover so if all you're gonna have is their Social Security check start living on the amount that you're gonna get now you can go to the Social Security website and get an estimate of what your earnings will be if you haven't started drawing yeah um you know I I would love to have a car of my own I started driving when I was 15 I'm 65 I had to give up my car several years ago I sold it to help my daughter with the down payment on her car because she's on Social Security disability too so she does not she doesn't have near as much as I do so I really miss having a car that is probably my biggest regret is I don't have the freedom of having a car I can go in and go where I want when I want you she lets me use her car when she can but she goes to church and she goes to school and she has a part-time job and you know she does things with friends a lot of the time the car is not available for me other than that I have a really good life I in my entire life this is the easiest time I have had financially so I'm not driving my rent is low I don't have a car payment I wish I could afford additional health insurance this is open enrollment time and I've been looking and looking but honestly I can't afford any additional health insurance so I just can't get sick I mean I use home remedies for the most part I do have to take supplements because of my thyroid problem I think is what causes me not to absorb vitamin D because I'm in the Sun a lot so at one point my doctor had my blood work done three times because they all kept coming back zero on vitamin D so I have to take vitamin D I have been fatigued my entire life I have absolutely no energy some days every ounce of energy I have goes to making it a video so it's not dull so I have to take vitamin B 50 and then I take some other supplements like the multivitamin that I'm my doctor has suggested so anyway I have everything I need except a card I live a really good life but I don't have money to do things like travel I would love to travel I don't have money to go out to eat I don't go to movies I don't go to place which I would love to do my entertainment is my dogs and the internet I have I don't have cable TV I have an antenna that allows me to get the PBS channel NBC and CBS I can't pick up ABC but that's okay uh I don't watch a whole lot of TV anyway because I have to read the closed captioning and I don't know I just don't watch a whole lot of TV I get books from the library I very seldom buy a book when I do it's a used book from Amazon so my library card is a valuable resource for me and actually I have no complaints really other than I wish I had a car so I'm doing good I want to know if you have ideas for helping me if you have ideas to help everybody in general please share email me my email is in my description or leave a comment and let's all help each other on this journey because sooner or later if we're lucky enough we're gonna live long enough to look beyond social security so let's help each other out have the best life we can and my next the other videos in this series I don't probably only do two a month because it is stressful for me to just deal with finances so I probably will only do two a month but the next one I want to do I want to go over what agencies I know of that helps senior citizens where you can turn for help I wanted to other than this one I want everything to be positive as much as possible the reality is that's what it is this is when you know you probably are gonna have you have to come up with your own expenses and see how you're gonna do but other than that I want to go over agencies that help there is a lot of help out there I want to go over positive help if you guys can help me let's let's all work together on this so alright I'm gonna stop here thank you guys for watching if you are a visitor here welcome I hope you'll want to subscribe and hit that notification bill I hope everybody will give me a thumbs up that counts with YouTube somehow so please give me a thumbs up if you can comments I live for the comments guys this is my socialization I love the comments from you I appreciate the comments so just tell me anything you know you may want to say what is that on your shirt I love this shirt a majority of my wardrobe in the summer I live in denim shorts I've got one pair in the winter I live in jeans I have one pair I have I have enough cheese shirts but I also donate blood about every two months and when you donate blood donate blood where I live they give you t-shirt different businesses in the community sponsor I'm and that's where this t-shirt came from from donating blood also they usually give me a gallon of sometimes they have gift cards from a grocery store you spin a wheel and that determines the amount that you're going to get I live on route 66 I 40 we have some major hospitals here they need a lot of blood so if you don't already donate blood please donate the Blood Center where I live serves all the little towns around us and sometimes blood is what saves a person life so donate blood there's a big need for it out there all right I'm gonna stop I appreciate you guys talk to tomorrow bye bye

Channel: Plain Vanilla Grandma

Views: 14,057

Rating: 4.9448624 out of 5

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Id: pTJBxZZrrug

Length: 16min 10sec (970 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 07 2019