Those of you who have never been unemployed have always been accustomed to a paycheck and all the taxes that come out of it. I was in grad school for two years and have been unemployed for over three months. That's a long time without a paycheck (no matter how small) for a 40 hour work week.
I'm currently in the middle of my second week at the temp job and I got my first paycheck for last week. FINALLY, I earned some money all on my own. And while I didn't forget that taxes exist, I had not predicted that they would cost me 1/4 of my gross income.
You know what's gross? 10% of a paycheck going to federal taxes.
Ironically, I was watching an episode of Friends last night from Season 1. Rachel gets her first paycheck and says "Who is this FICA guy and why is he taking all my money?"
I'll be honest with you all...to this day, I still have trouble with my W-4 forms. I've filled out a lot of them in my life and I still get confused with the exemptions and what to write down. All I know is that I like to have the most taxes taken out because I don't want to owe anything before April 15. So I should have been more prepared to lose my earnings to the government. It still sucks though.
The benefit to all of this: At least the temp job is getting me re-acclimated to the working world again. I wake up at 6:30 instead of 8 in the morning. I pack my lunch. I sit in an office for 40 hours a week. And now, I lose money to that FICA guy.
Song of the Day: "Just Got Paid" by Johnny Kemp or NSYNC
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