Question about means test results

[daisey]

I did the means test with 2 different income amounts - not sure if they will include hubbys bonus or not - with one income amount the lower one mind you it shows that we have like 800 disposable income to pay in to the plan when I bump our income up with his bonus it puts us over the 5833 per month and bumps up our house hold clothing and food allowance from 1200 something to 1500 something and thus knocked down our disposable income amount to 600.........how on earth do they justify that by making just 100 more a month I should be entitled to paying 200 less. There is no justice in that fact......

Am in inturperting this correct............the more money I make the more I am allowed to spend and thus the less I have to pay. Its only a difference of 170 a month. Will they include my husbands bonus? If not I am going to wait until I have a few more months income to up this as I have only been working for 4 months now. I sub and my income varies but I know with a few more months to up it I can get to the higher exemption allowance.

[Granny]

In my case, the means test was only used to determine how long I am in the plan, and not what my payment will be. The standards are used to determine the maximum you are allowed to take for a particular deduction, it doesn't mean you actually get that amount. If you take the full amount of the standard for a particular area, you must be able to proved that you actually spent that amount.

For instance, for my family of five, we are allowed to spend $886 per month for groceries, but my official plan has me spending a mere 275.

One final note, although our income was substantially below the state's median income, therefore qualifying me for a 36 month plan, I was told initially it would be a 47 month plan to cover all the secureds and when the paperwork hit the trustee's site, it is set for 60 months, with a subtantial chunck of change going to the unsecured and I'm still only allowed 275.00 per month for groceries...go figure.