When do Ontario Disability (ODSP) payment actually get paid?

There's another more recent article about this, on this website. But it's pretty much the same shit.

Short version:

Apparently, for December 2015, as with December 2014, it's coming out on the 22nd. But every other month it's the last banking/business/non-holiday/weekday of the month.

Long version:

Since no government website will answer this question, here's the magic formula for divining ODSP payment dates: it's on the last day of the month, unless that falls on a weekend or holiday, in which case it's on the friday before that. Or if that friday's a holiday, then the day before that. Whichever non-holiday, non-weekend day, as in, whichever bank day is the last bank day of the month.

It's not on the last friday of every month. Just the months where the last day is not a "workday."

So that means that this page is wrong.

Welfare, they don't mind saying when the dates are. ODSP, for some reason, it's a secret. And the reason for the secrecy is also a secret!

Note: It's also hard to find out how much money people on ODSP receive. Well, a single person on ODSP, without special accommodations for care or mobility equipment etc, can expect to receive about a thousand bucks. Whoop dee doo dah day.

So, Welfare (OW) = ~ $650/mo, ODSP = ~ $1000/mo, either way, you = poor. So poor.

How poor? Well, the poverty line is about $1800/mo. So, if you're on welfare, you're like, superpoor. You're poor times two. If you're on ODSP, and your disability magically costs you nothing, then you're poor times 1.5. But since your disability does cost you extra money, you're somewhere between superpoor (x2) and uberpoor (x3, as in, two-thirds of the way between the poverty line and zero) ...and of course, if you're on zero benefits, then you are officially destitute, as in, you have zero income, and you also can't prove you're poor, so you have nothing. Those people are really the only people who should need a meal program, and then only for a couple of days, once in a blue moon.

Dundas West: the street that escaped The Stop's Food Bank's catchment zone

If you're on Dundas West, between Runnemede and Dovercourt, even if you're south of Bloor, you're in the catchment zone for The Stop's Food Bank. Even though their site says:

It's just because of the way they verify people's addresses. So, it's not like they're going to throw you out for being south of Bloor. Not if you're on Dundas. If you were on Lansdowne next to Dundas instead of the other way around, well, you'd be fucked. But you're on Dundas, and Dundas dips south of Bloor, and they just kind of didn't notice. And some of them know about that, at this point, and they'll probably change it, probably soon, so I guess what is being said here is, register before they change it.

And also, you should go. Because apart from TVFB (the Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank), this is the only place with the fresh veggies. With, like, lots of them. With Kale. With lentils, chicpeas, beans... dry ones, not just canned ones. Some of the veggies are organic. No real nut or fruit situation apart from some apples and maybe some peanut butter, but the fresh veggies are there.

$10 days

So many times I've promised myself OK I'm not gonna binge and purge again with money. I'm not gonna spend all my money and then be broke at the end of the month. Not this time.

It could be $20/day, if I didn't have to buy anything that costs more than $20. That'd be nice. But since there's bike locks to get (none of which are worth buying if they're under $40), unpaid utilities, and at some point I need a real mattress, it's going to have to be a mix. A bunch of spending at the beginning of the month, but not as much as usual, and then I have a daily budget.

On day 5, the idea that, on the day before payday, I'll have $10 to spend just like I did today, is really amazing. It's comforting.

The idea is, if I go a day without having to spend anything, I'll be ahead by $10. I'll wake up the next day with $10 actually saved. Banked. So that means I get to have a $20 day, or two $15 days, or someday, maybe, move that $10 over to my savings account. That would be pretty amazing.

The theory is that if I can deal with budgeting on a small scale like this, maybe I'll be able to actually increase my funds over time. Maybe if I know I can deal with a small amount of money, other people will get the sense that I should be paid for working. Sometimes it seems like employers can tell that I'm bad with my money, no matter how much or how little I have, and so they know not to give me any.