In Which Jim Whines

[jimhines]

Two weeks ago, I took time off of the day job so I could be with my wife during a surgical procedure and the first part of her recovery. Everything went smoothly, and I brought her home on day two.

For the next week and a half, I played stay-at-home Dad. I got up with the kids, fed them breakfast, and got them off to school. I took care of dishes,

Comments

[jimhines]

I figure I'm allowed one day every once in a while :-)

[nathreee]

I know how you feel. I would so much like to write and be a mom and nothing else. It would mean that our house was clean, that I would get writing done and I would always have time to do the groceries before the weekend or holiday rush. But we just can't afford to live like that...

[jimhines]

Yep. And I think the most frustrating part, for me, is knowing that under slightly different circumstances I could probably make it work. That life is taunting me, and I'm about ready to punch it in the nose to make it stop.

[nathreee]

Since the benefits are my husband's anyway, and his job is not going anywhere. We're thinking about making it work, but we haven't completed all the calculations yet. Any advice?

[jimhines]

I'd suggest talking to folks who've done it. I've been told you should try to build up a good cushion of savings before making the jump, but I've also seen people who got fired and did the sink or swim thing, and made it work.

Mostly though, talk to people who are already freelancing. They'll have much better advice than I do :-)

[firynze]

I've been thinking the same thing, more or less, more and more often lately. I have the publishing company to run, and I have a sideline that could be a true, supporting, honest-to-goodness-making-money-rather-than-losing it business. If I had the time to do it full-time.

I can't possibly take the chance, because damnit, I like having health insurance. :-/

*hugs and tea and sympathy*

[jimhines]

"I can't possibly take the chance, because damnit, I like having health insurance."

Sometimes it amazes me that we haven't had a mass emigration of writers and other artists from the U.S. to Canada...

[firynze]

I've been seriously considering it, if I could figure out how to make a living there.

Fortunately, I live in Vermont, and we're moving to a single-payer health care system. Or hoping to. It'll take 18 months or more, though, if it ever even gets off the ground...and in the meantime, I stay at the day job and get ground down and frustrated while wishing I could take the risk to ONLY operate my own businesses, instead of also working for someone else.

[tiamat1972]

Even in Canada you need health insurance. The public health system doesn't cover everything. Dentists, optometrists, prescriptions, glasses, none of those are covered and without health insurance, it comes out of your pocket.

Not to mention, a third of your income is taxed right off the top.

[cathshaffer]

I think one day of wallowing is totally reasonable. I would encourage you to keep working on the health care problem. There may be more than two choices. (Jim works full time to get health benefits or Jim quits and everyone dies.) There usually are. I can tell you from experience that leaps of faith are scary as hell, and that life rarely offers tidy, painless solutions. *sigh*

[jimhines]

There may be other options, and depending on what happens with health care reform, it's conceivable we might be able to find a plan we could afford. But given the diabetes, asthma, autism, and Amy's annual surgery habit... well, the last time I did any research, it wasn't a pretty picture.

[cathshaffer]

Aw, shit. The internet ate my long and thoughtful reply, and now I have to give you a short and crappy one. I agree your family would have a hard time on the individual market as it stands. A lot of the stuff might be workable, but I think Amy's history probably makes her uninsurable. I do hope, however, that you, as a family, will fight for this dream, because it's worth it and you deserve it. Perhaps there's a chance Amy can get a job with benefits. I think the high risk exchanges may also phase in sooner than 2014. Good luck!

[mindyklasky]

I wish I had a solution to offer or a fix to suggest. Instead, all I can say is that I'm happy to listen to such "whining" any time...

[jimhines]

Thanks. I know there's no magic fix, and I'll keep looking at options. Most of the time it's fine. It's just having that life for a few weeks and then losing it, which twisted the knife a bit, ya know?