Uncle Sam......ppttttthhh!

Thomas got his first paycheck this morning. He earns less than during fellowship when he was moonlighting and our loans are coming out of deferment. I may have to start working...



What a rather unpleasant surprise for us! There went our second car, furniture and well...any extras for a very long time.



boohoohoo



Kris

How is that possible?

Can you say 38% taxes - health insurance and dental insurance premium payments....taking into account that our mortgage costs more than when we were renting and many of our loans are coming out of deferrment..all I can say is....OUCH! I hear that it takes a couple of years out to get things under control. The only concern that I have is that because of our debt load the house was purchased on a two-year baloon...at the end of two years we can refinance if there is significant debt reduction...if not...we have to sell the house! I am just sweating bullets trying to figure our how on earth we can reduce our debt.....A few of my friends that were still in residency when Thomas started fellowship graduated from their residencies when Thomas started fellowship...and several of them are as surprised as we are to find ourselves in the same boats!



Kris

Well i am afraid that we are going to be in the same boat although I haven't the heart to tell him right now



When we got together I decided that I did not want a traditional medical relationship and he assured me that the NHS had regular hours which it does--I am just waiting for the discussion when it comes up "I will just go moonlight--no you won't--yes I will--no you won't--yes I will"



That is going to be pretty



And although the NHS pays for his medical student loans--the payments they make are taxed--he has to claim money that he is never going to see--not going to be pretty here when i have to break the news--needless to say I have upped my 401K contributions

Right now I am just trying to avoid telling Lisa the one thing I never wanted to tell her... that she pretty much HAS to moonlight if she wants to have any money left after we pay all our bills and loans. I always told her that if she did any moonlighting, that money was hers to do with as she wished, but now I think we need at least one moonlighting shift a month to pay for food....



Where is her reward for so many years of diligent study, hard work and educational loans? ARRGH.



Chris

sigh....we just spent our very last $100 at the grocery store tonight and we have nothing to get us through for the next 2.5 WEEKS! I have $5 to use for gas in the am...that's all! Egads...it is like being in residency right now!!!



Kris

OK I am putting my blinders on--I don't want to hear this I don't want to hear this

If it makes you all feel any better - our family is currently living off of my unemployment checks! A whole whopping $417 a week!!!! That about covers our mortgage for the month. Now how about the rest of it!!!

You should have forwarned us readers before we read all this depressing news Hang in there Kris. There has got to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Sorry...it is triage after all I know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel...there really is...so don't give up hope here. We just have a lot of debt from our moves from Germany to the UK, UK to the US, PA to Fl.....and general debt from me being a SAHM most of the time instead of working.....those debts are just biting us in the behind!!! It is disappointing to have to pay this much in taxes and social security though! I used to be a democrat...I think I stopped when we got our first check !



Why should people who work hard to obtain a certain educational standard and put in long work weeks helping others be taxed more? We went into great debt to finance my husband's education...debt that we will be paying off for many, many, many years to come!! Why should we now be taxed at almost 40%? I don't agree with that anymore. (Funny, when the shoes on the other foot you see it differently!) Right now my husband is saying "Why, why, why did I work this hard for this long...to continue to struggle"...but I think that it will get better once some of our debt gets chopped away. We have to be patient...



Don't automatically compare yourselves with our situation...we have a lot of debt coming out of this!



I'm sorry to depress everyone... I feel terrible to have made you feel bad....I just really needed to vent!



Kris

Jason just called me and calculated out how much we can take off on our taxes for the purchase of a home, move, etc...and that will give us back a large chunk that we can use to pay down our credit card debt which will help us lower our debt-load and increase our available money...Go Uncle Sam!



Thanks for the boost, Jason...



Kris