This describe you? - You have unopened mail at home you should probably get to - You don’t know how to get your paystubs - You’ve forgotten to pay a utility bill - You’ve missed a doctor’s appointment ‘cause... life You’d have a hard time being poor.A lot of us trip up on these kinds of life tasks. When you’re poor and you rely on Medicaid, food stamps, disability, cash welfare, housing assistance, there is zero margin for error to screw up small stuff like opening your mail on time.In Texas, some families get 10 days *from the date the letter is generated* to open a mailed notice that they might lose their Medicaid, then obtain and send in income verification, before the benefit is cut off.At The Upshot, we are terrible at this kind of stuff! The mail in the story’s animation? That’s from @KevinQ’s “dread drawer” at work. @sangerkatz fails all of the questions in our quiz. I recently realized I had *no clue* where all the birth certificates in my family live.We wanted to gauge the prevalence of these behaviors among the wider population. Turns out, many of us — regardless of income — might fail at the kind of life tasks routinely required of the poor enrolled in government programs.We hope this project touches some dark place in your soul where you store all your dread about forms you must fill out, notices that need reply, voice mails you should get back to, lines you have to wait in, OMG the DMV.Also @sangerkatz and I want to hear about where you stash the mail that is too important to throw away but too daunting to deal with right now. In your kitchen chaos drawer? In your laptop bag? Under your mattress?

This describe you? - You have unopened mail at home you should probably get to - You don’t know how to get your paystubs - You’ve forgotten to pay a utility bill - You’ve missed a doctor’s appointment ‘cause... life You’d have a hard time being poor. ... A lot of us trip up on these kinds of life tasks. When you’re poor and you rely on Medicaid, food stamps, disability, cash welfare, housing assistance, there is zero margin for error to screw up small stuff like opening your mail on time. ... In Texas, some families get 10 days *from the date the letter is generated* to open a mailed notice that they might lose their Medicaid, then obtain and send in income verification, before the benefit is cut off. ... At The Upshot, we are terrible at this kind of stuff! The mail in the story’s animation? That’s from @KevinQ’s “dread drawer” at work. @sangerkatz fails all of the questions in our quiz. I recently realized I had *no clue* where all the birth certificates in my family live. ... We wanted to gauge the prevalence of these behaviors among the wider population. Turns out, many of us — regardless of income — might fail at the kind of life tasks routinely required of the poor enrolled in government programs. ... We hope this project touches some dark place in your soul where you store all your dread about forms you must fill out, notices that need reply, voice mails you should get back to, lines you have to wait in, OMG the DMV. ... Also @sangerkatz and I want to hear about where you stash the mail that is too important to throw away but too daunting to deal with right now. In your kitchen chaos drawer? In your laptop bag? Under your mattress?