Welp, my pay statement went online this morning. Thanks to PeopleSoft’s accursed lagging pay system, it only goes to the 15th. So I don’t get paid for this past week of teaching two sections.
The fine grand total? $448.87.
With Social Security confiscating an entire month’s pay for the crime of earning enough to owe $340 in extra taxes, I had to eat way into my catastrophic emergency fund to pay this month’s bills—and this month isn’t over! Next month SS will deduct $222 instead of $111 for Medicare, leaving me with just barely enough to cover basic living expenses…assuming PeopleSoft bestirs itself to pay out what the College will owe me for both November pay periods. I’m $70 in the black right now, if you don’t count the fact that I transferred money from tax & insurance self-escrow savings to get that way, but I’m going to have to come up with about $555 to cover food and gasoline charged on AMEX. So in fact at the moment I’m $485 in the red.
Truth is, I couldn’t have made it anyway. The amount I transferred out of tax & insurance savings was $18 more than the amount of my net Social Security income.
Except for one lunch out and $5.88 for some gardening supplies, I’ve bought nothing other than food, gasoline, and a couple of small pool maintenance items. We had the hottest September on record, the power bill was $174, probably low compared to what others around here pay—while my neighbors’ units thump way 24/7, I sit in my house and swelter all day, turning the air-conditioning down to 79 at night so I can sort of sleep.
In November, by transferring over the second of three monthly prorations of net summer stipend money and pushing the accounting for October AMEX charges forward a month (this month’s bill isn’t due until the 11th), I’ll just have enough to pay bills. It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul again—October’s charge account bills should be paid with October income, not with November income. But if I buy nothing but food and gasoline in November—say goodbye to Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas gifts—by the end of November I should have caught up. In December I will not get two full paychecks, and so I’ll sink below the waves again then.
This is happening because the long summer with no teaching income drew the excess that I collected through the spring semester of penny-pinching down to almost nothing. Income from one course in the first eight weeks of the fall semester, even though paychecks were doubled up because that course extended over eight weeks instead of sixteen, was not enough to cover expenses, and so the amount available to spend dwindled into the negative numbers.
Meanwhile, I’ve got to go to the doctor. Six weeks of self-medicating and waiting have not helped whatever ails me. I have no idea what that’s going to cost, but I’m afraid that anything will be more than I can afford. Whatever expenses come from that also will have to come out of savings. Plus any tests or treatment that require time away from the classroom will result in pay being docked.
Adjunct teaching plus Social Security just simply won’t support me. I’m going to have to start drawing money out of retirement savings, which at this point is still about as contraindicated as contraindicated can get.
Well, I guess I should start looking for some sort of work that will pay a pittance year-round. I can answer phones and do secretarial work. With the arm out, I can’t stock shelves or do any other very physical work. I need about $20,000, but that’s what full-time secretarial work pays around here. If you can get it.
Hm, I shall be sending you an email soon!
It won’t make you $20,000, but can you tutor? At $20/hr for tutoring college algebra, it is an easy fix for me. Of course, this is not connected officially, just a little side thing for me. In your area, and considering what you can charge for your skill, your hourly rate could be more. Preparing students for the GED test is another area of interest. Often, people are embarassed to go to class and pay well for a private person to tutor them. Junior colleges can help you with what to teach. Good luck. I have been fascinated with your openness about your finances and horrified at what the government can do to a person who tries so hard.
@ Practical Parsimony: Yeah, others have suggested that. The problem is, I need a regular income, not $448 this week and $800 next week and $550 the week after that….leaving me unsure how much I’m going to have in any given month. Not knowing how much I’m going to earn is making me nuts, to say nothing of making me broke!
Don’t run in horror–but, have you thought about babysitting for extra? My daughter does it occasionally and gets $10/hr. Mr. FS and I have thought about doing it ourselves.
I would also “spread the word” at your church/choir group–advising on college app essays, tutoring in English–these are all things you could do to supplement your p/t teaching.
@ frugalscholar: There’s an interesting idea.
I’m not very good with children…when you’re an unpopular kid, you develop a flinch reaction to other kids.
But you know, responsible adults who take in kids perform a real service. When M’hijito was young, we were lucky enough to have not one but two grandmotherly women within a block of our house who would watch the kiddies during the day. They both had raised their children into successful adults — no crack smokers or meth heads there — and they had clean, safe homes.
After we moved uptown, we hired various people, and we were fortunate enough to find a registered nurse who happened to be the chair of the Nursing Department at one of the community colleges. The Maricopa County Community College District classes departmental chairs as administrators; MCCD faculty are, along with Dade County’s, among the highest paid in the country, so believe me, as an administrator she was earning a good living. She claimed that she just loved kids and wanted to be around them; I imagine she was actually picking up a sidestream income for some specific reason. She charged a hefty hourly rate, but we cheerfully paid it.
Whatever, all three of these women were swimmingly successful. I could not have finished the Ph.D. or have taken the two interesting jobs I did without them.
My house has a pool with no fence, so I would have to go to the kid’s home. Even then…if they had a pool (most middle-class homeowners here do), I don’t know that I’d want to be responsible for small kids.
I really do understand the need for a regular/predictable income source. However, tutoring could bridge the gap untill the really dependable stuff happens. I am an English teacher who cried and bawled through college Algebra. I became physically ill when I had to teach algebra to my GED students. Finally, through my own made-up mnemonics, I learned algebra and often just worked problems at night for fun. (I know I am sick in the head.) One summer, I tutored a nursing student in algebra and in essay writing. She actually paid all my bills for three months in the summer when I had no income. My bf called her the fruitee tutee because of her airheadedness. She did learn and did pass her courses. If not for her need and my ability and willingness, the summer would have been horrendous as far as my debt is concerned.
Another thought along those lines–can you start your own tutoring business? I running and hiding now.
Didn’t you say your arm never fully healed after you dislocated it? Is it your left or right arm? If it’s your left arm and the pain keeps you from sleeping on your left side, that can aggravate acid reflux. Several studies have shown that acid reflux sufferers experience more reflux activity when they lie on their right side for extended periods than when they’re on their left side.