If your income falls short of your expenses at the end of each month, your budget needs to change—either by adding more income or reducing your expenses. Either way, you’re increasing your disposable income, which should come as a welcome event.
It’s generally easier to find more sources of income if you take advantage of all the programs given to you. These programs change from time to time, so be sure to research them more in depth before relying on their assistance.
If you have recently lost your job or have had your hours significantly reduced, you should apply for unemployment compensation as early as possible. You have the greatest chance of getting unemployment pay if you’ve been laid off, but it’s also commonly given to those who have been fired or who have quit. The National Employment Law Project (NELP) has a lot of useful information. You can call them at 212-285-3025, or you can look at their website www.nelp.org.
If you are still employed, you can apply for the earned income tax credit (EITC). This is based on your income and the size of your family. If you qualify and file the necessary tax returns, you can get this tax credit even if you don’t have to pay taxes. To see if you qualify, contact a tax specialist or go online and use the IRS EITC Assistant at www.irs.gov.
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program exists in every state and assists those with a minor child or a pregnant woman in their family. You can find the application form and instructions at www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/.
Food programs are varied. Food stamps supplement your monthly food budget. If your income falls below a certain point for your family size, you pay less for food and may get emergency food stamps. You can meet with food stamp officers (located within public assistance offices) face-to-face or by telephone or have an application mailed to you. If you are not initially accepted, make an appeal before the deadline expires. For more information, visit the U.S. department of Agriculture website www.usda.org, or contact the Food Research and Action Center at 202-986-2200 or www.frac.org.
If you are a pregnant or have a child less than five years of age, you should consider applying for assistance from the Women, Infants and Children program. It provides food important to mothers and children in the early stages of their development. America’s Second Harvest does a lot of food drives. Contact them at 800-771-2303 or visit their website www.secondharvest.org.
The minimum age requirement for Social Security is 62, and the full requirement age is 65. If you retire between 65 and 62, you will get some benefits but not all the benefits of Social Security. However, this may not be for you—to get the benefits from Social Security you have to have been employed for a long enough time, and sometimes retiring early reduces your over-all benefit. Call 800-772-1213 or visit www.ssa.gov to get more information.
These are only some of the ways you can supplement your income to provide more buying power during your time of need.
