What do I do now? Is it over? ...still in *S*H*O*C*K*

[NyALeXNj]

What do I do now? Is it reeeally over? I have lived so humble for so long, I don't even know what my next step is... This process has been 2+ yrs for me, saving up simply to file. It has been so hard. I am so lost.

I have just received the Discharge letter in the mail... and via this amazing forum's insight I have signed up for Pacer, its about 530AM EST and well I see a Final Decree letter available as of the 8th of September on Pacer... I may be rambling here, but I have such anxiety regarding this whole BK. I am not sure what to do next? Where do I begin. My life has been in shambles... Help me.

[justbroke]

Live life. Don't splurge. Celebrate, reasonably.

[Minnymouth]

That "discharge letter" is your "new freedom and fresh start".............
Your bankruptcy is basically over and your case should say closed soon.
Now is the time to check your credit reports and make sure everything on it is posted correctly. All things in your bankruptcy should say "included in bankruptcy (IIB).... if not check out our rebuilding credit section and send out letters to get all of this corrected.
Put yourself on a budget, use cash as much as possible and try getting your credit reestablished for the future.
The future should be looking much brighter your way now.........

Smile................ its good thing!!

[atlan]

NyALeXNj: Take a deep breath. Know that it really is over. Celebrate! Then, think about how you want to live your life now.

Our BK was discharged in 2003, and boy did I feel like I'd been spanked. So I know how you feel. We'd had a business (how we ran up so much debt in the first place), a house (which we sold a year before declaring BK), and good incomes. We ate out at restaurants every day, and never bought anything used. Now it was all gone, but we were free. We also had a small child, and needed to figure out how to make our new life work in that context as well.

We've had to learn to live with less. Instead of a new car, we bought a used one and learned how to work on it. (I'm never going to buy a new car again, and if I want a newer one, I will still buy last year's model. One lifetime of making $400 a month car payments was enough.) Instead of buying new clothes, we shop at consignment shops, both for ourselves and our son. We eat at home most of the time, and rent an apartment for about 2/3 of what our old mortgage payment was. We have fun, though, and we do have a few small indulgences, like NetFlix.

Anyway there is life after BK. It's a great time to think about what you want out of life!

*atlan*

[NyALeXNj]

Thank you all for the warm words & advice... I am truly appreciative.

-Alex