alright, i've been reading posts here and i think i have built up the confidence to file chapter 7 pro se! 
the thought of doing it alone still freaks me out a little, but i think it makes the most sense. i don't have any assets, just a few pieces of cheap furniture and old clothes no one would want. i owe more than my car is worth, i rent an apartment, i have no job right now, i have a dependent. i ordered the Nolo book and got it in the mail already, and have found some great websites online and saved them in my favorites. 
i have a few concerns/questions before i really dig in and get working on this. when i met with a bk lawyer, he asked about how much money is earned in the whole household, not just by me. so i told him about the $150 per week i earn by taking care of a baby and that my boyfriend has a job. he wanted to know how much he earned and used those figures to make sure that i passed the income test or whatever. he also said to be sure and let him know if any "roommates" move in cause he'd need to know about their income as well. i don't get that - why would it matter what your roommate earns, it's not like that person has anything to do with your debts? anyway, i passed even with his income so i'm not worried about that. however when i start filling out paperwork to file, am i going to have to include more detailed info about his job? just seems odd to me.
right now that $150/week is all i'm personally bringing in. a friend has recently advised me to apply for unemployment and i might have a chance of receiving that, and i know that would probably be included in the figures. i only worked a "real" job this year from Jan-Jun so i'm curious about how my taxes will turn out come next spring. i'm wondering if i should wait to file until next summer or something, but i'm afraid i might have a good job by then (ha - that's something to be afraid of, huh?). so in a way i think now is the best time since i'm not working, but i am just of course trying to avoid them getting their hands on too much money.
also, i saw an old post here somewhere about forgetting to list a creditor. my credit report is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo and the debts have been sold and resold so many times that it's hard to figure out who is who. i asked the lawyer what he thought about this in the meeting i had with him, and his basic answer was that i was going to have to figure that out. i really don't want to have to get on the phone with any creditors, especially collection agencies, and try to get info out of them such as account numbers, amounts owed, who the original creditors are, etc. i know *most* of them, but there are a few that i'm scared are iffy and there is a good possibility i may leave one or two out without realizing it. like i said, i saw an old post on here about how if you file ch 7 and forget someone, you can probably just mail them proof that you filed and that should take care of it without having to go back and amend anything. is that true, or is that old law or anything? i'm just really paranoid about going through all of this and then realizing someone got left off. i have been in the habit the past few years of throwing away letters from collection agencies, so i probably should wait a few months and start saving those as they roll in to get info off them. how important are the actual account numbers? some reports/letters have them on there and some don't, and like i said, i really don't want to call them and ask if i can help it. i'm a wuss!
so i guess my only hold-up now is getting all my info together and figuring out the best/smartest time to file. i'm sure it'll take me a while to get everything done up, and i am going out of town in November so i don't want to risk something important being scheduled that week. the pre-filing counseling is good for 6 months, is that right? i feel like i should probably go ahead and do that as soon as possible to help kick myself into gear. do you have to have all your info together before you complete that?
sorry so long. i will probably think of about 20 more questions in a couple of days, but this is what i am wondering about for now! thanks to anyone who has any advice for me! it helps so much to talk/vent to people who know about this stuff and how it feels to be going through it!
the thought of doing it alone still freaks me out a little, but i think it makes the most sense. i don't have any assets, just a few pieces of cheap furniture and old clothes no one would want. i owe more than my car is worth, i rent an apartment, i have no job right now, i have a dependent. i ordered the Nolo book and got it in the mail already, and have found some great websites online and saved them in my favorites. i have a few concerns/questions before i really dig in and get working on this. when i met with a bk lawyer, he asked about how much money is earned in the whole household, not just by me. so i told him about the $150 per week i earn by taking care of a baby and that my boyfriend has a job. he wanted to know how much he earned and used those figures to make sure that i passed the income test or whatever. he also said to be sure and let him know if any "roommates" move in cause he'd need to know about their income as well. i don't get that - why would it matter what your roommate earns, it's not like that person has anything to do with your debts? anyway, i passed even with his income so i'm not worried about that. however when i start filling out paperwork to file, am i going to have to include more detailed info about his job? just seems odd to me.
right now that $150/week is all i'm personally bringing in. a friend has recently advised me to apply for unemployment and i might have a chance of receiving that, and i know that would probably be included in the figures. i only worked a "real" job this year from Jan-Jun so i'm curious about how my taxes will turn out come next spring. i'm wondering if i should wait to file until next summer or something, but i'm afraid i might have a good job by then (ha - that's something to be afraid of, huh?). so in a way i think now is the best time since i'm not working, but i am just of course trying to avoid them getting their hands on too much money.
also, i saw an old post here somewhere about forgetting to list a creditor. my credit report is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo and the debts have been sold and resold so many times that it's hard to figure out who is who. i asked the lawyer what he thought about this in the meeting i had with him, and his basic answer was that i was going to have to figure that out. i really don't want to have to get on the phone with any creditors, especially collection agencies, and try to get info out of them such as account numbers, amounts owed, who the original creditors are, etc. i know *most* of them, but there are a few that i'm scared are iffy and there is a good possibility i may leave one or two out without realizing it. like i said, i saw an old post on here about how if you file ch 7 and forget someone, you can probably just mail them proof that you filed and that should take care of it without having to go back and amend anything. is that true, or is that old law or anything? i'm just really paranoid about going through all of this and then realizing someone got left off. i have been in the habit the past few years of throwing away letters from collection agencies, so i probably should wait a few months and start saving those as they roll in to get info off them. how important are the actual account numbers? some reports/letters have them on there and some don't, and like i said, i really don't want to call them and ask if i can help it. i'm a wuss!
so i guess my only hold-up now is getting all my info together and figuring out the best/smartest time to file. i'm sure it'll take me a while to get everything done up, and i am going out of town in November so i don't want to risk something important being scheduled that week. the pre-filing counseling is good for 6 months, is that right? i feel like i should probably go ahead and do that as soon as possible to help kick myself into gear. do you have to have all your info together before you complete that?
sorry so long. i will probably think of about 20 more questions in a couple of days, but this is what i am wondering about for now! thanks to anyone who has any advice for me! it helps so much to talk/vent to people who know about this stuff and how it feels to be going through it!
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