Financial Stress and Unemployment

     I don't deal good with stress. As I've gotten older, it seems that the stress triggers in my life have only become more numerous. Luckily, they rarely pile on me all at once, but as soon as I get one under control, another rears its ugly head. I rarely have time to catch my breath in between crisis moments.

     Right now, the biggest source of stress in my life is financial. When I was younger, I had thought that at this point in my life things would be somewhat stable. It seems though, that like everyone else I know, a lot of people, myself included, live paycheck to paycheck. The size of the paycheck doesn't appear to make any difference.

     Even though I work for the Park Service and have what most people would consider a good job, my position  call for a furlough period anywhere from 4 to 26 weeks. Furlough means that you don't work for a certain period of time without pay. Most benefits are suspended, with the exception of health insurance.This year, I have twelve weeks off with no income. I'm having to rely on unemployment, something I have only collected once before in my lifetime.

     This past Monday, I applied for benefits at the local office. I had a good case worker, so I was aware that there might be some speed bumps along the way. Today, I received a letter from the state benefits office and my claim has been rejected. Apparently, there is a problem with the way the Federal Government communicates with the state as to my earnings. I've made enough to qualify, it just hasn't appeared in state records yet. I'm pretty sure that eventually I will be able to collect but this is a delay I don't really need.

     Even though I've made more money this year than I ever have before, When I look at my leave and earnings statement, it's surprising how little of it I see. After taxes,health insurance, child support and other little expenses are deducted, I brought home exactly half of what I earned. I still had to pay rent, groceries, gas, phone, Internet, car payment, and the list goes on. So needless to say, I didn't have much to fall back on at the end of the year. I'm going to have to look at how I can reduce my expense next year so I don't wind up in this same situation a year from now. And so the stress continues.

     Does this qualify me for being part of that 99% I keep hearing about?