Reflections on the CERB
Aug. 15th, 2020 11:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brin_bellway[cw: poverty, (mild) illness]
It's strange.
When it comes to recurring payments, the usual trick is to make them sound smaller by expressing them over a shorter timespan. "For just eighty-seven cents a day, you can protect [your family]/[this starving African child]/[etc]..."
CAD$24,000/year doesn't sound like a very large income. It's a good start, sure, but still pretty small as incomes go. $32,400/year is also fairly small, and $56,400 is..getting more firmly into "decent", but certainly not *spectacular*, especially not across an entire household.
And yet, $2,000/month feels huge. $2,700/month feels mind-boggling. $4,700/month (across the three of us who share finances) feels downright awe-inspiring.
How does *that* work?
---
It's a little uncomfortable to know that COVID-19 paid for our roof repairs, but at least the roof no longer leaks when it rains.
At this point we probably still don't have *quite* enough savings to afford a car with decent fuel efficiency (at least not while maintaining a comfortable emergency buffer), but we might be able to get one with a functioning air conditioner, and maybe even with less than $3,800/year in repair costs.
---
In the eyes of the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, I am no longer poor. This month I lost my poverty exemption from their paperwork: next year I'll have to fill out the annual forms declaring my various ""foreign"" bank accounts.
I hear the forms aren't actually that hard, just a minor annoyance. I suppose it beats having a net worth of less than USD$10k.
It's strange.
When it comes to recurring payments, the usual trick is to make them sound smaller by expressing them over a shorter timespan. "For just eighty-seven cents a day, you can protect [your family]/[this starving African child]/[etc]..."
CAD$24,000/year doesn't sound like a very large income. It's a good start, sure, but still pretty small as incomes go. $32,400/year is also fairly small, and $56,400 is..getting more firmly into "decent", but certainly not *spectacular*, especially not across an entire household.
And yet, $2,000/month feels huge. $2,700/month feels mind-boggling. $4,700/month (across the three of us who share finances) feels downright awe-inspiring.
How does *that* work?
---
It's a little uncomfortable to know that COVID-19 paid for our roof repairs, but at least the roof no longer leaks when it rains.
At this point we probably still don't have *quite* enough savings to afford a car with decent fuel efficiency (at least not while maintaining a comfortable emergency buffer), but we might be able to get one with a functioning air conditioner, and maybe even with less than $3,800/year in repair costs.
---
In the eyes of the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, I am no longer poor. This month I lost my poverty exemption from their paperwork: next year I'll have to fill out the annual forms declaring my various ""foreign"" bank accounts.
I hear the forms aren't actually that hard, just a minor annoyance. I suppose it beats having a net worth of less than USD$10k.
