So I've stripped my budget about as much as I can get (unless I go into true emergency mode -- we'll deal with that if God forbid that were to happen).

Anyway, now the tricky part is taking that and figuring out how much I need to gross in order to meet that budget.

One problem is not knowing in advance what benefits another company will provide and how much these benefits will cost. Another problem is figuring out the tax rate: You can't just plug in a number like 20% effective tax rate because it varies based on your earnings.

This is important because if I don't get laid off in this restructuring, I'm going to look at quitting anyway and finding a job closer to home. I need to know what the minimum is our family can earn and still be above water.