Contract work or permanent, which would you take? - any advice?

I got a contract offer for 15 months as a web developer and I am unsure whether to accept. It has been a long 23 weeks. I have 6 months of savings left. How did you handle benefits?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

I took a contract and it converted after four months. The time also kept my skills current.