Anyone scared about still being able to afford to live after...

[bnkrptinva]

I'm grateful my 341 went smoothly, and am in my second week of the 60 day club. As I look at my living expenses though, with a new baby on the way, unemployed husband in school, and his two other babies we contribute to raising/supporting....in this economy...I'm so terrified I somehow will not be able to provide for everyone. Obviously, going through bankruptcy, there's no savings account, no credit cards. I'm grateful to still have my job without reduced wages (yet), but no raise on the way, benefits getting cut, no bonuses. I'm able to slightly alter my takehome pay now, but still...so scared something will happen and we'll have no money or credit to take care of it.
How many here fear these things post filing? Husband is due to finish up school this year, but with the economy, jobs are hard to come by..and then we'd have to come up with daycare for a newborn (I'd feel better him home for a while to take care of baby). He's only looking at jobs with on site daycare so he'd be able to check in on baby and have less concerns about leaving baby over to strangers to care for. So no time soon, do I see our household income to go up, yet expenses will, one way or another, not to mention inflation.

How does everyone here deal with this angle of going bankrupt?

[zpbk13]

You just expressed my feelings exactly! Our bk attorney actually said she did not want us to file Chapter 7 if it was not going to help our situation in the long run. My sister went to her about her situation and the attorney told her that her situation would not be improved at all by filing so since she was not being sued by her creditors to just hold off. It's a scary thing to think that just a few short months ago, we were struggling to to pay the mortgage on our house, 2 car notes, minimums on the credit cards to the tune of close to $1500 per month, a timeshare mortgage and dues and all other life's expenses where now that we've stopped paying the cards, we are still struggling and won't have the cards to fall back on.

It is a good lesson for us in simplifying our life. We have found so many ways that we have been wasteful with money but even with the belt tightening, it is still rough and we live daily with fears that one or both of us could lose our jobs. Both of our companies have gone through a round of layoffs and we were spared. Next go round (and we both know there will be a next go round) who knows if we will still have employment.

How are we dealing with it? We are prayerful about it and know that in the big scheme of things no matter how much money (or credit) we would have, it would run out sooner or later; our faith is strengthening us for sure. Also, we are doing what is practical for our financial situation including educating ourself regarding options available including bk. We plan to ride through with one car and buy a good used one for hubby a few months after discharge. We are also prepared to walk away from our home and are doing our best to try to start some type of emergency savings plan.

I would love to know what others are doing to face a future without credit to fall back on.

[bnkrptinva]

Starting mid this month, we are going to be able to put a little bit of money aside, and will continue to try and do this each month thereafter, but for instance, we just had one of the cars need repair. Our washing machine is probably on it's last leg. Then even uncommon thing such as routine car maintenance, etc. I've already cut cable off. Cannot cut internet off because I'm on call for work 24/7. We do not have a landline, yet cell phones because the older 2 children are split between us & their mom, so we have to be able to get in touch w/them...and then with me being on call at work...we opted for cell phones instead of just a land line.
We are 4 people living in a 2 bedroom apartment, 5th on the way (so early next year we really have to move into a 3 bedroom apartment or rental house). Plus my healthcare will go up once baby is born. All very scary. I guess the best we can do, is save up what little we can and hope for the best. I have no desire to fall back on cc's but when there's so little you can save, I understand where my mess probably first began (the problem was not having them for emergencies, yet, my previous marriage, spouse had high tastes and I tried to mak him happy, not a good choice on my part).
Good luck to you zpbk13.

[zpbk13]

I'm glad to hear that you will start to be able to put a little something aside. We hope to do the same thing after we finish paying our attorney. Her fee plus the court filing fee is about $1500; we gave her a retainer check for $700 so we have $800 left to pay and we want to file this month so it's crunch time for sure.

Congrats on the immiment arrival of your new bundle of joy! I can relate to what you posted about your ex. I too had a very extravagant person in my life. My son. Nothing was too good for my baby. Anything he wanted, I bought (or I should say charged). I even co-signed for a car for him and made the payments most months for the last three years. I am surrendering my interest in the vehicle and have not made a payment on it since March; neither has he because he feels I should continue to pay the note. As I told Capital One, they come and pick the darn thing up as far as I am concerned.

I wish both of our families health (physical and financial) and happiness for the future.

[Lajazz947]

I'm grateful my 341 went smoothly, and am in my second week of the 60 day club. As I look at my living expenses though, with a new baby on the way, unemployed husband in school, and his two other babies we contribute to raising/supporting....in this economy...I'm so terrified I somehow will not be able to provide for everyone. Obviously, going through bankruptcy, there's no savings account, no credit cards. I'm grateful to still have my job without reduced wages (yet), but no raise on the way, benefits getting cut, no bonuses. I'm able to slightly alter my takehome pay now, but still...so scared something will happen and we'll have no money or credit to take care of it.
How many here fear these things post filing? Husband is due to finish up school this year, but with the economy, jobs are hard to come by..and then we'd have to come up with daycare for a newborn (I'd feel better him home for a while to take care of baby). He's only looking at jobs with on site daycare so he'd be able to check in on baby and have less concerns about leaving baby over to strangers to care for. So no time soon, do I see our household income to go up, yet expenses will, one way or another, not to mention inflation.

How does everyone here deal with this angle of going bankrupt?

It may seem silly to suggest it but have you created a budget?

My wife sat down and created a to the penny budget of all our expenses. If she has to run errands she gets them all done on one drive to cut down on gas.

We adjusted our healthcare coverage, turned in our cars and now drive older ones, we shop at the local discount food store, use coupons printed from the computer, cut our cable to the minimum, go with netflix instead of rentals if you rent movies, cut down our services on our phones, turn off all the lights, reset the water sprinklers, you name it we cut.

I also researched on the web to see what suggestions people and sites have for cutting down on expenses.

I learned to do most of the repair work on the house, I redid the entire mulching of the back myself over a period of 7 months where a few years ago I would have just written a check.

My wife does the laundry two days a week instead of whenever since this saves on utilities.

We have cut down to the bare minimum by researching and being resoursefull and have found out that we CAN do it without credit.

Look around, you will be surprised what you can save.

Good luck.

[bnkrptinva]

zp, thanks, good luck to yours too. Hopefully none of us will fall into the trap of trying to please someone else instead of doing what's financially sound ever again!

Lajazz, yep, we do indeed have a budget. I maintain a spreadsheet of expenses & income that stretch out about 2 years ahead of time. So I can plan for things like insurance premiums, etc.

I don't have a landline, or cable. Have a cell & net because of work (unfortunately with cutbacks, I do not get reimbursed any on those). We have one car we are making payments on. We can't get rid of it else we will not fit the entire family into the used cars we have. Those are tiny, and one is being saved for one of the children, but acts as a backup on the second car when the main used is broken down.

We shop at Target & Walmart. No fancy clothes, eating out, etc. We mainly rent dvd's for entertainment.

Because we are in an apartment, fortunately, no repairs we have to pay for. My life has changed drastically over the last year from what I'd grown accustomed to, to what I can afford now (some of that is by taking on a family of 4 soon to be 5 on one income, after being divorced from a 2 person 2 income family). It's been a huge adjustment, but having a good family is more rewarding than having a bunch of needless stuff and a bad marriage. Unfortunately, getting out of a bad situation has it's costs.

I am def. always looking for tips on how to stretch a buck and cutting down costs of things. Most important thing, food, shelter, transportation, healthcare, etc. Anything beyond that is truly a luxury!

[Lajazz947]

zp, thanks, good luck to yours too. Hopefully none of us will fall into the trap of trying to please someone else instead of doing what's financially sound ever again!

Lajazz, yep, we do indeed have a budget. I maintain a spreadsheet of expenses & income that stretch out about 2 years ahead of time. So I can plan for things like insurance premiums, etc.

I don't have a landline, or cable. Have a cell & net because of work (unfortunately with cutbacks, I do not get reimbursed any on those). We have one car we are making payments on. We can't get rid of it else we will not fit the entire family into the used cars we have. Those are tiny, and one is being saved for one of the children, but acts as a backup on the second car when the main used is broken down.

We shop at Target & Walmart. No fancy clothes, eating out, etc. We mainly rent dvd's for entertainment.

Because we are in an apartment, fortunately, no repairs we have to pay for. My life has changed drastically over the last year from what I'd grown accustomed to, to what I can afford now (some of that is by taking on a family of 4 soon to be 5 on one income, after being divorced from a 2 person 2 income family). It's been a huge adjustment, but having a good family is more rewarding than having a bunch of needless stuff and a bad marriage. Unfortunately, getting out of a bad situation has it's costs.

I am def. always looking for tips on how to stretch a buck and cutting down costs of things. Most important thing, food, shelter, transportation, healthcare, etc. Anything beyond that is truly a luxury!

I love your attitude. I don't know what I would do without my family.

When I was afraid of being thrown into a 13 my wife said that what's the worst that could happen, we have to pay a monthly amount? It would be less than what we were paying now anyway.

When she had to give up her car she gave it up. She shops at Target and if need be we drive to Walmart so yes, a word to the wise.

Wake up every morning and give thanks for the irreplacable things in your life like family.

If any others have budgeting tips then pass them along.

[bnkrptinva]

Lajazz, I agree, family makes the whole thing not as bad...except for my terror over thinking we can't get by, but you are right, even if it were a 13, it's less than you had to pay before. My husband was trying to calm me about that possibility....we were borderline, said to me, so what, when some of the skewed income drops off and baby is out in the world, we'd easily be able to convert to a 7. Fortunately, my trustee saw my circumstance for what it is, and we won't have that hassle.

Good luck to you & yours Lajazz.

Yes, by all means, budget planning and money saving tips are very helpful if anyone wants to post things they've done to cut cost even on day to day living (which is probably what most of us here are basically just doing).

[Humonese]

So no time soon, do I see our household income to go up, yet expenses will, one way or another, not to mention inflation.

How does everyone here deal with this angle of going bankrupt?

I drink alot. j/k

I feel your stress. We haven't even had our 341 yet, but since we've filed, our AC has failed and needs replaced, and our hot water tank just died...obviously we have no credit to handle this with! Things are only going to get tighter, and I'm as stressed as I've ever been. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel at least, provided I find a job and get off unemployment. That stresses me too.

Good luck, prayers to you.

[marinah]

We drink a lot too. :P

We are currently not paying our mortgage, and are no longer paying any of the cc bills (almost discharged at this point), but we STILL can't make ends meet. My husband lost his business when the economy took a nose dive and now he is seriously underemployed and selling colon cleansing products over the phone. And my job is part-time, and sporadic work.

I don't think we realized before bk how much we relied on credit to pay normal monthly expenses. I KNOW we relied too much on credit for eating out, date nights, etc. We don't want to be rich -- we just want to have a comfort level back where we can go out to eat as a family twice a month (or even once a month), or go mini-golfing with the kids on the weekend without worrying about whether we'll be able to pay the bills if we do.

But this WILL get better. It has to. This is America. We can't remain both over-educated and under-employed forever, right? Something has to give, at some point. And when it does, we will all be the ones getting ahead...because we will be the ones who have learned to live without credit, and who are not swimming in debt up to our eyeballs.

Good luck to you -- you are definitely not alone, and I do believe that things will eventually get better, for all of us.

[Flowers]

I think it still takes some time to get back "on balance". I think before you file you are trying to cut out everything to get the money together for the filing and you begin to cut back. Then you can start splurging again, like on extra food items and maybe a movie (ha ha), but seriously after the filing you can begin to catch up on some things.
For me, please do not laugh, I was able to begin to purchase store-bought doggie wee-wee pads, instead of using old towels for him that I would re-wash. I think we all get the idea.

Re: planning a budget to the penny. I have tried to do this and need HELP. I keep forgetting about little 1x per year expenses, etc.

In that breath, when my car lease was up last month, I was freaking out about getting a new car. I have made such awful mistakes in the financial sense since my divorces (reason I am here) that I decided to go without a car (I live near a major city bus line). I will do this for one year. So I can get my balance.

Using all the car money to pay back all the back taxes I owe state and IRS.

[bnkrptinva]

Humonese, my prayers and good vibes are with you...you are describing some of what I fear (sky falling, income nonexistent or falling, etc, and you're just trying to get a fresh start to get back on your feet).

I hope things look up for very very soon. Meanwhile...sending a cyber drink your way.

Marinah, you are describing something closer to what I'm going through....I don't have a mortgage, I guess it's lucky I didn't have a house to pay for as well....signed my lease a couple of months before filing, so at least for now, I'm good w/a place to live. I feel like we shouldn't even stop at Subway for dinner when we are running late doing errands, and it's past dinnertime. So scared of being irresponsible and running out of money. That we should save every penny above the bare minimum for now on. But when you have a 12 year old and an 8 year old...you have to do at least some small things for them. They are not spoiled in the least, but still. Then the terror comes over me that I have not one thing ready for the new baby...and baby's coming in 4 months. I have to figure out how to squeak out enough for the basics of that..and hope my family will help us out till things look up (I think I can take care of this baby, but this has to be the very last one...cause after that...I don't know how we'd do it).

Prayers are with you too...good luck.

Flowers, divorce put me here too..and in order for me to resume a new life, I had to file (the person I belong w/is currently unemployed and has 2 children..so instant family..and I chose to have them in my life). Because of divorce, I too owe taxes, it's a total drag, but at least the other stuff is going to be wiped out. Either current husband will land a job w/daycare on site, or he'll stay at home with baby saving us daycare expense..then when baby gets a tad bit of age ...hopefully the economy will pick up, and husband can then get back to work, and baby won't be so tiny that we are nervous to do daycare.

I agree w/ Marinah, things can't stay this bad forever...educated and under employed. I hope that by the time things do turn around, all of us here will have our balance back, be able to prosper, but in the correct way this time around!

[zpbk13]

I am so encouraged by reading this thread. I know hubby and I are not alone. Did we make some bad decisions with credit that put us here? Yep. Have we learned our lesson? I sincerely hope so. I know the way I feel right now, I don't ever want another credit card again. Will I change from my aversion to credit down the line? Maybe, but I hope not. I want to pay for things with cash! I remember watching old movies where a poor down and out family needed something - operation for sick wife, appliance for the house or a car - something - anyway, when credit was offered, the husband proudly refused. Didn't there used to be a time when credit was looked on as a bad thing? The credit card companies have certainly turned that around, haven't they?

I don't want to owe anybody anything but love. That is me and hubby's #1 financial goal. I work a stressful full-time job and I want to do volunteer work instead. I cannot do that with this stressful full-time job that keeps me mentally and physicall drained. I am grateful for having a good job, don't get me wrong, but I am tired of bills running my life! Okay, glad I got that off my chest.

As far a money saving tips/ideas go: we had cut our cable down (need the expense for right now so upped the package) to reception only. Costs us less than $10 per month; we plan to cut off the landline phone; we are also bking our natural gas bill which is over $700 and it's practically summertime and starting from scratch so no more $200 per month budget plan; took adult son off our cell phone plan so that bill will be cheaper; we also shop primarily at Wally World and no longer at the "fancy" grocery places - I even make my own homemade granola cereal instead of buying boxed brands; I do cut some coupons and plan for eating out by spending a little less of our grocery bill money per week so we can do a little splurge without too much guilt.

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks everyone for sharing your money saving ideas. Anyone have any others?

[frogger]

You're not alone. Many people are in the same boat, just some don't want to admit it. It's so stressful right now because we're living a lie while some time gets in on some things.

Every day we keep telling the same thing, things are going great and we're making plans for the future, all the while keeping that smile plastered on.

But the plans we're making for the future are not what people will be expecting. I'll just be glad to get this behind us.

We've got family. We're all on the same team. We will survive together.

[cwilliams]

We stopped living on credit last July when we couldn't pay the bills and went on a CCCS plan. Since then we are still struggling, my income is sporadic and I recently lost a potential job because my car needs a new engine. I have no transport to get back and forth to a job outside the home and as we live rural there is no bus service.

We've always had a budget, shopped at the dollar store, made menus, etc. but we did go overboard with credit. One reason we started using credit was the $4 a gallon gas prices. We had no cash for gas to do anything, much less get back and forth to work or school. We made mistakes that we do not plan to make again, ever.

I, personally, never want a credit card again. I would be happy if my credit score was 0. I don't plan to ever buy a new car or a house again either. We already drive two used cars, I'm going to replace the engine in mine with an engine from a similar car that was wrecked and keep going. I know all the arguments about why you "need" a credit card - rental cars, hotels, etc. I haven't rented a car in over 10 years and every time I've booked a hotel online they've never denied my PayPal debit card. Yes, I know about the hold that is placed on debit cards and take that into account.

We've already cut off cable and the monthly Tivo service, although I hope to get it back one day. We are planning to get a digital TV converter box this month using the coupon program. We kept Netflix and we watch TV online. We did keep DSL on because I use it for working from home. We changed our telephone plan to make it cheaper. Our 15yo plays WOW and we finally had to say sorry, dear, we can't pay $15 month for your game anymore. So he went out and got a summer job to pay for WOW and other little things he wants. Since we are down a car, he's been bumming rides to work and home and hopes to save up for a moped. Dh has a prepaid cell phone that we try to put about $20 on each month if we can.

We will still have student loans to pay after all this is over, but without a house that needs extensive remodeling and upkeep and moving to a new city with new jobs I'm optimistic about the future.

We got 2 tires on dh's truck yesterday and it got an oil change. It felt good to be able to do that.