Oh, I almost hadn't noticed through all this hullaballoo with these SNAP benefits that as of last month my monthly benefits must have had an automatic cost-of-living increase since it used to be $291 a month now it's $298. This is plenty by the way.
For instance, last shopping trip (Oct. 25) I kept things pretty basic and stayed away from a lot of expensive things so I still have $181.54 from October. I get my monthly benefits on the 25th of each month. I think it varies per person which makes sense otherwise it'd be a mad rush on "food stamp day" if everyone got it all on the same day. But it does make me think that the next few days will probably be a little like that if those people that have their monthly dates from the 1st through the 13th just retroactively got their November benefits today. Yikes. I will make a note to NOT be going out to Walmart for quite a few days!
Would I have been able to manage if the shutdown had continued and I wouldn't have gotten anything for November? I was thinking it might go that long so I was thinking it could go that way. Yeah, I'd survive. I do have money for food but I can't go too long without these benefits since I only live on less than $1,200 a month. My IRA distributions are done for this calendar year unless I want to possibly pay tax on them so I have to make the roughly $1,600 I got in my checking account last until January.
