Wahoo! (and then not...)
Did you ever have a task to do that you knew you really had to do, but really just didn’t want to because it kept getting pushed to the bottom of your priorities pile? Well, that task, for me, was my project progress reports. When push comes to shove, it’s just easier to give high priority to doing your work instead of writing about how you’re going to do it, since only one of those things is really important in the short-term. So, I’m embarrassed to say it, but I got a little (lot) behind. FORTUNATELY, I have spent the last week or two working on this off-and-on, and I am 100% caught up!!! This means that I have written close to 20, that’s right twenty, of these things by reviewing old notes from phone calls, old archived e-mails, and notes in my calendar to make sure I’m getting it right. Is this more time-consuming than just doing them as they come? Oh, heck yeah. But since they’re DONE, I’ve now added a reminder in my Outlook calendar to do them every month so that I can remain caught up. Which I’ll likely ignore, but at least I’ll be aware of it!
So I’m doing a little happy dance in my head. I’m not going to lie – there’s booty-shaking involved.
And now for something completely different.
Marriage is, on the whole, great. The only thing that isn’t, the fly in the proverbial ointment, is this: taxes. Since we’re married but don’t have kids and don’t own a house, and won’t have either of those things for several years, we’re subject to what some people refer to as “the marriage penalty”. Which means that even with zero exemptions, we need to have additional money taken out of each paycheck unless we want to have to pony up a few thousand dollars around tax time. Again. So that means, after I’ve done my research and calculations, that I will be taking home less per month than before I got my raise. Is it because now that we’ve pooled two incomes, we’re out living the high life, with me buying Manolo Blahniks and Kate Spade purses while K tools around in a brand-spanking-new BMW?
Nope.
It’s because we’ve pooled two incomes and we’re not instantly pursuing the “American Dream” of having kids and buying a house we can’t really afford. It must be because we hate freedom. (Or because we're trying to be realistic about our finances.)
It’s good that I’m not bitter.
posted by Mandy @ 2:34 PM
6 Comments:
I'm sure you've looked into this already, but have you compared filing jointly as opposed to separately? Maybe there's no diff... don't know. Hang in there!
I thought there was an almost instant tax benefit to being married. Maybe it's the filing jointly? I dunno, though, maybe it's just an urban myth they tell us singletons to make us feel lonely and drive us to marriage, cuz that's what perpetuates freedom. Who knows?
Filing separately and jointly does about the same cumulative damage, and Stef, there's actually a significant penalty when you get married *unless* you own property or have kids. Then you get tax breaks up the wazoo. But since we're not financially ready for either, we're getting screwed. Which means that it will now take *longer* for us to afford to have kids and/or buy a place.
Which totally makes sense, no?
Just remember, those laws are in place to make sure you love America enough to go into crippling debt to support it. You don't like it? Go back to France you pinko, commie frog! As for me, I'll be here eating Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast while I work out how to make payments to 8 of my 11 credit cards.
Madcity (from the looniest lefty city in WI)
Trust me, the tax breaks for either buying a home or having kids aren't nearly worth it. You'll spend significantly more on raising the kid than the taxes offset (for that matter, we spend more in month or two on the kids than the yearly deduction), and given the home price spikes over the last decade, you'll spend significantly more on mortgages than you will in the different between rent plus the tax deduction. Growing up sucks, and tends to cost money.
On the plus side, paying taxes means you have an income on which to pay taxes, which certainly beats the alternative.
I remember the first time we got hit with the marriage penalty... didn't see it coming at all. Had to cancel a trip to Italy. Bleh. But you'll get a nice surprise when you finally adjust you paychecks, then buy a house, forget to readjust your paychecks, and then end up with a five-figure refund. Sweeeet.
sigh...
Yup yup yup
And believe me, the taxes are no fun even WITH a mortgage and spouse and kids and puking cats (oh wait. that was yesterday.)
But at least you found out about it early... unlike us, who had a mongo sticker shock of a tax bill our first April of married life...
d
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