Replies to 'Debt'

There are quite a few not-for-profit organizations that can help you work with your creditors.  Ask your bank for suggestions or call the local Credit Bureau or check the yellow pages or even do a search on a search engine.

 

I know what it's like to have back-to-back life events happening one right after the other until you feel like a nice deep dark cave would be best.  But taking the tiny little steps you need to get yourself back on track must be done.  Otherwise, you'll feel even worse than you are feeling now.

I totally understand where you are coming from . We have been married for 15 years and have been financial trouble since day one. We were both previously married so we both had debt luggage to carry in with us. We decided that filing for bankruptcy was the answer to our prayers.....wrong. We still managed to get ourselves back in debt. Between school loans and doctor bills there just seems to be no way out at times. Then a year ago my husband who is a truck driver was in an major accident and broke his foot. We are lucky that is all that he recieved. He was team driving when his partner fell asleep at the wheel and the semi went off the road. Needless to say there was nothing left of the truck or their load. The truck had managed to catch fire before they were stopped by running into an underpass. He was buying the truck on a lease agreement and paying the insurance out of his pocket. Too bad the fine print didn't include the fact that if he were to get into an accident that any insurance money would go to the trucking company and not him. He was out of work for almost a month and the only employment I had was part-time substitute teaching at our local schools....$65 a day don't get the bills paid.We managed to get behind on our mortgage payments and they have tried to forclose on us three times....no to mention that we have been in this house going on 5 years and can't afford to get the gas turned on because we owe the gas company $700 still....we went 6 months with no water turned on here....we were hauling water in here from my parents house so I could cook meals and wash up dishes...we were going to the neighbors or my parents house to get showers. I did manage to find full-time employment with a well known doctors office and my husband did go back to work. This happened last year (accident) and we are still trying to get caught up. We are living one day at a time with our mortgage company. We do have water turned back on but no cable TV or telephone. We do have our cell phones as long as we don't get behind a month....if we do they get shut off temporarily and we do without. Those things are not a necessity they are a luxury. Just as my children 18 and 12 they have heard it often enough that they now tell others that. Some weeks we struggle for groceries....like this week where there is only enough money to pay the mortgage company and hope we have enough in the cupboard to get us through until one of us gets paid again. We decided to rent a room out to a friend and he was paying us $150 a month to live here and he also pays for the telephone use and internet. That won't last long because he has been out of work for almost a month now....I told him he has until the end of the month to find a job or he is going to have to move out becaue we can't afford to support him when I have my children to think about first. They rely on me and I am sorry if he doesn't understand. Sometimes you just have to get tough. I know I should make my 18 year old son look for work also, he did try working and going to high school but then his grades started to drop because they didn't give him anytime to get his homework done and get some sleep. He would get off work at 11:30 or midnight and then have to come home get his homework done and still sleep some. (He was going straight from school to work) They were not allowed to do homework at the work place either....I know because I asked the manager myself. So, we decided that he need to be concerned with high school and not making money. I just wanted to let you know that you are not the only one out there struggling and I am sure you already knew that, but sometimes it is nice to hear that you aren't alone. I hope things start getting better for you and I also know what you mean about there being no government help out there for middle class families.