Date: 2008-07-19 17:34 Subject: Working the numbers Security: Public

From what I can tell from my Medicare experience, I can acquire government help in case of pregnancy with an income of up to $1844/month (The website says $1706 gross, and I'm adding in the "employer-paid"--which is paid by me--Social Security tax.) 

I've been looking at apartments in Atlanta this week, and the one that I found least objectionable so far, I have to make $1725 a month to qualify for.  I got $1850 last month and $1640 this month.  That means that this month I averaged around 1150 lines a day and last month, it was almost 1300 lines a day.  That's about an hour's worth of work a day.  That seems a little bit swingy to me, if I can have more or less an extra half week of work or not at any given time.

But if I'm looking at the difference between $1725 and $1844, it's a fine line, really. 1200 lines a day versus 1290 lines a day.  About two reports a day.  I definitely do not have that kind of control over my work flow.

My average so far this month is 1360 lines per work day, although I doubt I'll actually end up grossing over $1900 this month, that's where that average lines me up.  Good for apartments, bad for government assistance.  I don't think that extra $60 over the $1844 is going to get me even one doctor's visit, so I wonder how they draw this arbitrary line.

When you start looking at taxes, things get uglier.  My tax bracket would be 15%.  Fortunately, that's not going to change anytime soon. That applies all the way up to like $30,000.  UNfortunately, if I get an apartment that is (according to their policies) 33% of my income and the government takes 30%, then I've got 37% of my gross to buy water, gas, electric, food, clothing, telephone, internet, and gasoline.  That also has to pay for car insurance, doctor visits, and the accountant I need to keep up with this stuff.  And the controversial luxury of my fake nails, which are about $18 a visit, and I stretch it out to three weeks between visits.  Then there always seems to be something extra, like owing the IRS an extra $125 this month, or paying my ad valorum tax on my car, which, since it's an old car, is only about $80.  And then I have to pay my credit card bill, which I ran up while having no job, nowhere to live, etc.  I've been doing pretty well with that since I've been staying at my mom's rent-free the past couple of months.  Having an apartment would put me back in the paying-the-minimum and no-emergency-funding status.

But my mom and Charlie think this is the best thing for me to do.  Because it's cheaper than going back and forth and more settled and safe and all that.  I'm not saying those are the only reasons to get an apartment, because goddess knows, I'm tired of feeling out of sorts and gypsy-ish and all that.  That's exactly the reason it came up in the first place.  A place to put my stuff, beholden to no one as to how I behave or where I go, proving that I can "make it" on my own.  I thought I did that already, at least, I think I managed.  I thought I made the rational decision that roommates were necessary... but I can't seem to be comfortable with roommates, or at least, find a situation that is better at this moment.

I started thinking about all this because I'm missing an SCA event this weekend that I paid in advance for; this happened because I ended up working overtime.  The original question was whether getting the extra work in would pay me back for the money I lost.  The answer, by the way, is "yes."  So not every decision I've made recently was a loser.