Wolfy's Personal Finance Blog

We got our water bill today. Our screwy city bills on a quarterly cycle. (they just happen to be a month late right now) Our bill was $335.00 for three months. The kick in the nads is that the actual water usage part is only $90.00. $200 of it is sewer usage. And the rest is fire, etc.. I am glad that I set aside money each week for the bill. I knew it was going to be higher because of the holidays but dang.
On the good news, Flo is no longer doing it for us for car insurance. I got tired of being told how much they appreciate our loyalty and accident free, blah, blah, but we are going to raise your rates anyway. So we switched from Flo to the Gecco. It is going to save us about $200 every six months. That will help put a little money in the savings. It’s funny that when I called Flo to cancel they didn’t care, they just said okay goodbye.
The family has been getting sick on and off for the last month. If my wife doesn’t have something than my son does. So far I’ve been fortunate to avoid getting anything. I hoping to stay that way. I am ready for winter to be over. We had a big blizzard and then everything melted. Now we are getting a winter storm warning each week. I’m running of places to put the snow. We average about 7 inches a storm. Getting old fast.
I am hoping with this next round of snow so close to the weekend, I will be able to go out and get back into my photography, since there will still be some pristine areas of snow. That is about the only thing that is nice about all this snow, is the beauty. I also notice how quiet things are when there is a snowfall. Very peaceful. My wife hasn’t heard about that job she applied for. I finally convinced her to contact them and let her know she is still interested. We haven’t heard from Social Security about my stepson’s appeal for the money they want back. Should have only taken 60 days, we are coming up on 120 days. Hopefully soon. So that is about all for right now. Write more later.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. I’m glad it’s finally over. It was a lot of fun, but between my wife’s family and mine, I wanted to drink so that I would black out until today. But I didn’t. I love when we set a time for something and then an hour before someone, calls and says nope need to have it 4 hours later. Never mind we started making all the food already. Oh well, crap happens. My sister in law is Vegan so she made a big chunk of the brunch yesterday. Interesting to say the least. I think I am very happy with my meat and potatoes. We did have fun and got some great presents and had some good laughs. I got a state park pass so I am stoked. I love going to the state parks for photography stuff. My brother decided that yesterday we needed to talk about Thanksgiving and Christmas for 2013. I thought to myself you have got to be smoking something, we aren’t even done with 2012 yet. But I just bit my tongue.
Today was my first day back to work since last Friday. It was so quiet it was actually nice, and I got a lot of work done. I love those kind of days. My wife told me today that her boss just cut her hours almost in half per week. So needless to say she is going to start looking for something else. I told her to file unemployment for the loss of hours. She doesn’t know if she wants to. I love her, but sometimes her feelings about money drive me up the wall. But I love her. Thank God I’m on my happy pills or this might actually stress me out, but we will take this one day at a time like everything else that crops up.
I also decided in the last couple of days that I think I will post my goals on here on my sidebar like other people do. Maybe it will help motivate me. One goal I’ve done well is have not been on Facebook in over a month. I don’t miss it at all. I hope to continue to stay off of it for many more months to come.
Ok I’ve rattled enough. Hope everyone has a good night.

I know that I wanted a white Christmas and everything but this is getting unreal. I have never shoveled a driveway as much as I have today. So this morning we got up at the butt crack of dawn and shoveled. Luckily a neighbor (who I just met today) came over with a snow blower and helped out with our driveway. I have got to get one of those. I had to go to work today. Since the company I work for didn’t declare a weather emergency (even though the Governor declared a state of emergency) if I had called in it would have been an occurrence against me. I made it all though way to work and turning into our parking lot did a 180. That was fun. After 4 hours my wife called and said it was getting worse, so I told my boss I was leaving. I don’t think she liked it a lot but what are we supposed to do, risk life or injury for a job. I love my job but not that much.

I was able to take a short nap and wrap the rest of the presents in between shoveling the driveway. So I feel like I have accomplished something. I think the plows have GPS in them that tell when someone just finished shoveling the driveway. Three times today, I finish my driveway and the plow comes by and buries the end of our driveway. I think that we are at about 10 or 11 inches so far with more on the way and a nasty wind tonight. We’ve already lost a couple of privacy bushes that snapped because of the weight of the snow. And now it is like plaster on the trees. You have to hit it with a shovel to get it to come off the trees and bushes instead of shaking it. My son made a square snowman. He armed it with a couple of snowballs. Kind of funny looking actually.

I’m sorry this is kind of random and all over the place. I guess I’m having a hard time concentrating. I must have seen something shiny. Have a good night everyone.

Nothing too much going on these days. I thought I would write a quick update anyway. Tomorrow night we start the winter storm they are expecting, well if it stays the course it is on. They actually say it will be a blizzard by the end of Thursday. They are expecting us to get 14 inches, with winds upwards of 45 mph. We'll find out how the new roof holds up. But that requires we actually get the snow.
I’ve decided I’m not going to open the account at Ally. Like I said I am more than happy to jump thru a few hoops, but the hoops they want me to jump thru isn’t worth my time for the extra couple of pennies I would get each month. Maybe, if Capital One messes up ING I will look online again, but for now I will stick with ING.
We haven’t heard from the Social Security Agency about the $12,000 they want back from my son. The say he was paid in error. We say no, so we appealed it. We should have heard from now. They only have 30 days to respond and it has been over 30 days since we sent in the paperwork. But what am I talking about, it’s the Government. They move at their own glacial pace.
I had to make fudge tonight for a Christmas party tomorrow. Also we didn’t get our annual bonus this year and talk is that we aren’t going to get them. Apparently, when the company makes bucks they want to give it to the CEO’s instead of the employees who made the bucks. Oh well, I’m just happy to have a job. That’s about all for now.

I went to open an account on Tuesday morning with Ally bank. I have a couple at ING but don’t want to keep all my eggs in one basket. I am the type of person who has a separate account for everything, especially those pesky bills that creep up every 3 or 6 months. Anyway, back to my story, it said that they couldn’t complete my request online and that I had to call them. So I called them and spoke to customer service. She was not able to help me. All she could do was take my account out of pended status and send it to the review department. They will call me in 3-5 business days. When I asked what the problem was, she said she doesn’t know and that there may not be any problem. I’m all for account verification but to have to call them, just to get my account moved to review status so that they can call me back is a little annoying.
On another topic, I tried to apply for a new credit card just to see what would happen. I’m a firm believer of having at least two credit cards, in case one is stolen or lost, etc… but I got the whole we have pended your application. Which in the past means you were not approved. That’s okay though, I figured it was worth a shot.
I’m done with Christmas shopping. I came in under budget so I’m really happy. That will goto the car repair we just got hit with. The bearings on my wife’s car went out and need to be replaced. That is $700 I wasn’t expecting, but that’s why you have emergency fund. But that is about all I got. I will write more later.

Not much to write about. Once again I was up at 3 am today. Third day in a row. After laying there forever I got up and putzed. If I wake up again tomorrow at 3 I may just have to get my butt out of bed and goto the stores, or bake. I'll see my mood. It's hard to want to goto the store when I can buy almost everything online these days.

Speaking of online shopping, I did some today. Saved $90.00 at one store and free shipping. Gotta love the gift certificates I can build up throughout the year. So now my son is almost done with his list. Just have to get a few things such as clothes.
I will say the nice thing about being up this early is that it is really peaceful and I get a lot of stuff done.

Pretty soon it will be busy with the wife starting to cook Thanksgiving dinner. It still cracks me up, she is doing a lot of the cooking and then we are taking it over to her sister's house. But she wants to be able to leave when she wants from there and not have them stay here until midnight. (they would do that to) So I'm okay with that.


Anyway, I've rambled enough so now I'm going to go putz around some more.

This last weekend we started our Thanksgiving shopping. We decided to hit any store with sales on it. One grocery store we spent $70.00 and actually managed to save $69.00 between the savings and coupons. Our 17 pound turkey was only 7.50. Gotta love the sales. Another store we thought we would do well in, really hurt our food budget. I'm still not sure why we went there but the DW thought there would be good deals. I'm glad that she finally accepted coupon use (she used to make fun of me) and now considers it a challenge to see how much she can get each week while staying within her budget. I think in the new year I will start keeping a spreadsheet for weekly savings just so we can see how much we save each month with the sales, etc...
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I started my Christmas shopping already, and got some good deals. buy one movie get one free, and the movie was on sale. I'm going to shop online on Thursday and Friday, but am not leaving the house. I have a very strict budget for gifts. The only thing that stinks is my son's birthday and my wife's birthday are in December. I have no idea what to get the wife.
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I decided i am going to start a Christmas checking account at ING or Ally for next year. This way I don't have to transfer the money, and wait for it to hit my account. I can just bill pay my credit card right from the account. I use my card for everything, because I get cash back. I've done the research on the two banks, just can't decide which one would be better.
Otherwise it is pretty quiet. I have a short week, (grateful for that) of course my kid and wife are off Wednesday until Monday. I only get Thur to Mon off. Oh well. I will write more later.

Hi everyone. I thought I would get back to writing since it’s been basically a year. Things here have been fun and challenging. I will just give a quick preview and go into details a little later. The family and I moved into our own place in June (finally). I got a job promotion (sort of) at work. The trustee for our bankruptcy still hasn’t decided what to do with the property in Arizona. I had to have my tonsils out and a deviated septum fixed. My stepson’s Social Security was cut off, and now they want $11000.00 back. So that is a fight. Anyway there’s more but I will write later.

Since it's been awhile I thought I would give a quick update.

The job is doing well, and I still really like it. I finally have the insurance. I already have to go thru open enrollment. We are going to get an HDHP. This way I can put my whole family on it for $100 a month. Right now my wife alone is paying $250 a month and I'm $160 with my son on my plan. It is a $3000 deductible, but that is all. We are going to save about $6000 a year between deductible, coinsurance and premiums. So we will put some of that money into the HSA.

I am going to roll over my 401k from a previous employer to my current employer. Gotta love it. The jokers from my previous 401k want $95 just for sending my money to someone else. I remember when companies actually did stuff for free. For the record I'm not saying they shouldn't be paid for their services. But isn't that why I pay a monthly fee out of my 401k. Oh well what can I do. Not like I can say no.

Our bankruptcy finally got discharged two weeks ago on 10/28. Means we start with a clean slate. It's not closed yet and won't be because we have a land contract that we collect money on each money and also because I have a pending lawsuit against someone. But our debts are wiped out, so I'm happy. Out of all my creditors only two filed claims against our assets. So we are really happy about that. They weren't even the largest creditors either.

It amazes me how fast the credit card companies start sending you new credit card offers. My wife had 3 the other day to help her rebuild credit. They know you can't file again for seven years. I had a card survive the bankruptcy intact so that was good.

Now that we don't have any debt we are saving up for medical expenses so that we don't start in the hole right away if we have to goto the doctor on the new insurance and so we can find out own place to live. While living with my parents has been a blessing, I'm tired of it and want out.

Other than that it has been relatively quiet on the homefront. I'll update later.

I thought I would post an update since I have a second. Things here are extremely hectic. My job has been going great, and we just stopped unlimited overtime, so that was a nice start to a job. Put some money aside for future things. (After I splurged and bought a blu-ray player that I've wanted for the last two years.) So now I should get home at a decent hour and go in at a decent hour. My insurance starts in two weeks and I can't wait. Also we get to put my son on it for a quarter of what we pay now with his own policy, so that will be some nice cushion each month.
My wife didn't get the job at the hospital but she is still looking. Her job isn't getting any better. They are clearly getting ready to do a round of layoffs. they keep taking hours and duties from people. My DW keeps getting her hours messed with. One week it is 40 hours the next it is 25 hours. Hard to budget with that kind of schedule. But at least I have a job to help her out.
My son is doing well in football, his team isn't but he is. At least he doesn't want to play anymore sports after football until next year, so we get a break to breathe and save some money instead of spending it all on sports. Otherwise he likes being a freshman. It's a new experience and he's doing well.
My DW wanted a fire in the fireplace last night it got so cold, and I wasn't ready to turn the heat on yet.
Haven't heard anything about our bankruptcy, but I don't really expect to until around the end of October, that is when our 60 day period for creditors to dispute is up.
But that is about all for now. I hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

My wife and I had our 341 hearing for our bankruptcy today. It went better than we expected, and much better than the first guy. He and his lawyer got ripped because only he was filing bankruptcy, but all the money went into the wife's name recently. The trustee didn't like that. Anyway, when it was our turn, he just asked some questions, asked if we wanted to make an offer for the land lease and then take the payments back. (he wants nothing to do with it). He congratulated me on my job. When I told him what I do he said well, you won't get rich doing that. You can go have a good day. So now we start the 60 day clock. It was amazingly easy.

My job is going very well. I finally finished orientation. I've been there a week now, and have actually only worked my position for about 12 hours of it. We get unlimited overtime, so I am going to start working as much as I can. We need the money. It drives my wife nuts, because my workaholic nature kicked in.

Speaking of my wife, she had her second interview at the same hospital yesterday. They said she did well and the director likes her, so we will see what happens. They will let her know by the end of the week. But we will see if that happens.

My kid starts school next week, and we can't wait. Maybe our food bill and the electricity we pay will go down, since no one will be home during the day anymore. That would be a huge help.

Anyway, that is just a quick update.

I don't know if I mentioned but the hospital called last week and want me to start this Wednesday. I start and then go thru orientation when everyone else does next week. I am very excited. Anyway, I went for my physical and after being poked and prodded the lady says you pass, but, (there's always a but) we need a release from your surgeon that you can sit for 8-10 hours a day. Really?! It takes this guy three weeks just to return a message and I am supposed to get a faxed release by Wednesday 8 am? Needless to say discouraged as heck. But I called, and I must have made a heck of an impression, his nurse remembered me from 5 mths ago, and rushed thru the release for me. So they had it within 3 hours. I am so stoked. So I actually get to start on Wednesday.

My wife and I went to open an EF at the bank on Friday. They probably think I am nuts because I realized I will have a paycheck next week instead of 3 weeks away. I did my happy dance in the bank. I'm sure they will have a good laugh at the weekly meetings while they watch the security footage.

My wife had an interview tonight at the same hospital. Different company/department but same place. That would be nice if she got it and we could car pool. If she would get it would save about 70 miles a day in driving. So gas would go down. The real kick in the shorts is she would make $1.30 less an hour than she does now, but would bring home $25 more a paycheck than she does now. (and that doesn't include the gas savings) At the hospital she would work 40 hours a week, at her current place she is lucky to get 35 hours a week, but usually 32. So we are hoping.

My son is disappointed, he didn't get the job he wanted. I have to remind him he is only 14 and not many people will hire him, plus his sports schedule is not real work friendly. Someday, someone will have to explain to me why high school fb coaches don't give a rip about anything but their practices. (they change practice days, times, don't communicate things).

Our Bankruptcy hearing is next week, so I am excited to see that coming to an end. Now if I can just get a hold of the attorney. I tell you, a person wins one election and all of a sudden you aren't good enough for them.

But that's all for now.

Well, wouldn't you know it, there was a hiccup with my drug test for my job. I failed it. (actually it was inconclusive) I apparently I tested positive for Meth and Opiates which to me is really funny. So they had to send the drug test out for more detail. I finally heard back today and I passed the test. The moral of the story here is don't go and have any kind of procedure where you get injected with something right before a drug test, you will false positive. Of course because of that they wouldn't even do the physical, so that has been rescheduled for this Monday, which means I won't start until August 22nd. Of course that is 2 days before our bankruptcy hearing. I will be interested to see how the courts handle that. I know what I will make and the hours I will work, but nothing about take home (insurance, 401k etc). I just know some of my expenses like gas and food will go up. Driving every day changes your usage, and I'm sure as heck not going to the cafeteria everyday for lunch. they have this thing where you can swipe your name badge and get your food deducted from your paycheck. No thanks. That would be trouble for me.

My wife's hours keep changing. It is getting very frustrating. She drives about 90 miles a day roundtrip so sometimes the hours she gets in the week doesn't even cover her gas bill. She is going to start looking closer to home. There is a job at the hospital that I got hired at. The nice thing she would be under a different company and a different department so we wouldn't get see each other. It would be about 20 miles roundtrip from home. I think she is going to apply, I hope so.

My wife and I decided talked to the bank the other day and they have a savings account that doesn't require a huge amount of money in it each month. Since we don't have credit cards, this way if either one of us gets into a jam, we can just transfer the money and hopefully pay for the jam. Eventually, I am going to open an ING account for a Christmas fund. That way I don't spend more than I have available.

I finally feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel, so I am not as stressed and sad. And with that, I am going to make some stir-fry for dinner.

Today has been eventful. We went to register my son for high school. He is going to be a freshman this year. We had to pay 161.00 to register him. Of course some of that is because he had to pick classes that required him to pay extra to take the class. I guess public school isn't that cheap anymore.

We had some extra cash come in the other day. That was a nice surprise. We were actually able to pay off my car repair as well as put a few hundred dollars away for the future.

And the big news. I finally got a job. After all the health crap and financial stuff, I finally got a job. And it is something I want to be doing. I get to work in a hospital doing billing. I start Monday. I just have to pass the physical tomorrow. I'm sure I will get popped for my weight, otherwise I hope everything else goes well. Of course this could throw a wrench in my bankruptcy, but I am not going to miss an opportunity to make money just to make bankruptcy go smoothly. But it shouldn't do to much damage, the creditors are already going to get almost 100% of their money, between my health lawsuit and our land lease contract that we get paid each month. I am so excited. I can't wait.

So yesterday we got our bankruptcy paperwork in the mail. We have our hearing date in late August. The thing that makes me laugh and go duh is the rules. I screwed up so I'm willing to pay the piper. My point is we had to take a credit counseling class before (and pay for it) and then to discharge our bankruptcy we have to take a debtor education class which will cost anywhere from $20 to $100. (I'm waiting for the attorney to tell me if there is a specific one). The reason we are filing bankruptcy is because we have no money, but hey let's go and make people spend more money to get out of debt. Genius.

Speaking of spending money. My car went kaput today. I was able to get to the place to fix it. Of course while fixing it they found something else wrong almost doubling the bill. The people were really nice though. They found me a $150 coupon online and are going to give me my next oil change free so that is cool. So instead of $1125 it was only $980. Luckily we have a credit card just for such emergencies or I would have been really S.O.L. I have a couple hundred bucks we saved and can put towards the card, but have to figure out where the rest comes from. If the plasma place would pay cash instead of debit card here, I would donate but they feel plastic is better. Go figure.

Otherwise, anytime that Karma or whatever it calls itself wants to stop making me the butt of some cosmic joke, that would be great. It can take its friend murphy with it. I have enough laws to deal with right now.

Okay, done whining. I don't have it as bad as some people and it will get better eventually.

To the members of Congress:
I am respectfully asking you to get it together and raise the debt ceiling. It doesn't matter what side of the isle you are on, it needs to be done.
To the Democrats, cut the entitlements. Cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. I know that is your pride and joy, but it is time to make some hard choices. Just so you are aware my son is on Social Security and I am on Medicaid, so I will be affected just like everyone else, but I am still willing to make the sacrifice. Are you?
To the Republicans. Why are you willing to let the middle and lower class shoulder the burden of tax cuts? Why aren't the people who can afford it the most having to pay their fair share? It's time to close some loopholes and raise revenue to help the budget.
I have no doubt that you all feel you are doing what's best for this Country. But in reality, you are not. If you cause the Government to default, you are putting the economy at risk, as well as the people who hired you. Why are you not willing to make the tough decisions? Are you afraid you will upset the voter base and not get re-elected? Oh well, you were sent there to do a job, it may be tough and it may eventually cost you the job, but nonetheless it is a job, so do it. Thank you for your time.

Just got back from my brother's wedding in Chicago. I was in the party which was a blast except for the insane heat and humidity but I would do it in again in a heartbeat. It was of course one of those weddings that is a four day event. Which when you aren't filing bankruptcy and have a job is okay, but when you are broke off your arse, it gets a little tougher. Luckily we knew it was coming so we were able to save some money up for the event. Of course, having my parents step up and pay for the hotel and train tickets saved us about 600 dollars. So that was nice. I will say watching the people driving in Chicago remind me a lot of Vegas. Crazy arse people.

It would be nice if the freaking state would send us our refund. (our tax guy messed up and we had to amend our returns) So now instead of getting a refund, we have been getting letters that we owe almost $800 dollars. I have been calling and sending letters but they don't seem to care. If it is dealt with soon, I am going to throw it on the tax guys desk, and tell him you frakked it up, you spend the time fixing it, I'm done. That would be more money to put into an EF (If I ever get to start it).

My wife got told right before we left that she will be unable to work for 10 days because the doctor she works for is going on vacation. She will probably file for partial unemployment (he suggested it). She has vacation to use, but that PTO also includes her holiday pay, so if she uses it now she has nothing left for the holidays. I told her once I get some money it might be time to find a new job. Her hours are to erratic. 40 hours one week 30 the next making it hard to budget stuff. So when she goes back to work I will probably try to start an emergency fund with money we have left from the wedding and living.
And of course her cell phone died sunday night, but we had an extra one laying around that the verizon people were nice enough to switch phone number and let her use so that saved us from having to come up with a crapload of money.

On another note, we got $6.00 worth of coupons from Hershey's on any of their products. I complained when I found a piece of hair in some Twizzlers I ate. So that is good at least.

I had a doctor appointment today that somehow managed to get canceled and they didn't tell me. Luckily they were really good about it and got me in anyway. This was partly a follow up and partly something to do about my snoring. (It will wake sleeping zombie two rooms over.) I actually had people knock on a hotel wall before. Anyway, back to my story. He looks in my throat and shoves that tube thing down my nose. Things are supposed to come out the nose not in it. But he says if I take my tonsils out and get my deviated septum fixed that will big difference. He wants to get it done as soon as possible since it is giving me so many problems. My wife is going to love that another surgery. By the time I am done I am going to be the freakin bionic man.

In other news I haven't heard from the doctor about some moles they removed. I'm not worried about them and neither is the doctor but the family is. I tell you, you get one bout of melanoma and all of a sudden the world is going to end when moles show up.

We are three days until my brother's wedding in Chicago. They are making it a 4 day event, with all the free food and wine you can eat and drink. Because of our financial straits my parents are paying for our hotel and train ticket. So the only thing I pay for is the tux rental. So I am happy about that. Depressed I have to keep taking help, but that is another time.

It is to damn hot here right now. And we have no air conditioner. If we are lucky we get a breeze at night to cool things down a little. My wife can't sleep in this heat and humidity. So naturally I am not allowed to sleep either. Good thing we are going to a hotel in a couple of days.

The last couple of days has been okay. Lets see. We got my son's high school enrollment stuff. He got the classes he wanted which was great but now we have to come up with $165 just to start for the classes. We get to pay for the privilege of taking the class as well as any of the supplies needed. They must be preparing for getting hosed at colleges on expenses. oh well. We also found out his health insurance premium is going up $50 a month. He is on his own plan because it is a hell of a lot cheaper. To put him on my wife's policy we would actually have to PAY her company each month for the privilege of health insurance. Luckily the insurance we figured was going to go up so we budgeted for it.

The bank found out we filed bankruptcy (we knew they would) and so they closed her zero balance credit card (we knew they would do that to) but it sucks they took all the points she had earned including bonus points. Oh well. We only wanted it so if we had to rent a car or something then we could without getting screwed on a bank hold. The attorney said they may or may not close it. Up to the bank.

I am going to try and start saving for an emergency fund. I don't know whether to open an account at someplace like ING or do the local credit union. I'm thinking it would be just a savings account. However, eventually I would like to open a medical savings plan, (maybe put a checking account with it) since we keep getting surprised by medical crap. So I'm leaning towards the credit union. Maybe I'll post the idea in the forum and see what they say. Before you ask our current banks is one of those that require a minimum each month in savings or they charge you a fee. Well a fee to hold my own money when they get the privilege of using it at little to no interest is against my standards. Actually, it just really pisses me off.

Okay I'm done for now. I'm sure there will be something later.

Back in May, my wife was house sitting when a huge storm rolled thru the area. It was at that point that a tree decided it didn't want to stay there anymore and decided to run over my wife's car as it tried to get away. (It didn't get very far the car roof stopped it). It took our insurance about two weeks to decided to total it and pay the amount they were willing to pay the bank. Then the real fun started.

We had GAP insurance. So I had to get in touch with them and let them know what was going on. I also notified the bank about what happened and that GAP was going to pay it. Well after the bank sent the same 17 pages over and over for 3 days, they finally sent the right papers to GAP. I also found out they weren't making notes that I was calling and telling them why I wasn't going to pay. Which would explain why they didn't know what I was talking about when I called.

Anyway, its been two months since the car was totaled and the bank finally posted the GAP check they got. And they were nice enough to backdate the payment to the day of the loss, so all fees and interest was waived back to then. So we are officially rid of all our car payments. It feels good not to have to budget for that each month.

Last night we signed the papers to get our bankruptcy rolling. Talk about a bittersweet pill to swallow. One part of me is relieved because this lets us get a fresh start (eventually). The other part of me is really mad at myself. Regardless of how we got into this debt, it still shows I couldn't pay the debt I owed. Actually, I only accept about half our debt. The other half is about is due to the medical condition that the one company is supposed to pay. (I'll get more into that later). Anyway, we now have to wait about 6 weeks before we have to go meet with the trustee to finalize things. And then after that we wait another couple of months and then it is done. It would be nice if we could start 2012 with this monkey off our backs. The good thing is that now we can focus on saving money and building up an EF. This way we can pay cash for everything later. So that will be a good thing. Now if I could only get some sort of income then we will be on our way to saving.

Okay, so I decided to start blogging. I will write when I can or the mood strikes me.

I think the best place to start is that my family and I got into some financial trouble over the last several years. While we had managed to stay on top of things when we moved we found out I had to have another surgery which is going to keep me out of work for at least a year. Luckily my wife was able to get a job right away. Even though we had 6 months of living when we moved and moved in with mother our money was spent on keeping us above water. Unfortunetaly the people who were supposed to be paying for my surgery still haven't paid yet after a 8 months. So between that and our credit card debt we are broke. Tomorrow we are signing the papers to file bankruptcy. Talk about a pride hit. I have done everything I can but not enough. It's hard with one income and some social security for my son. We are filing tomorrow.

My point is that we need to start trying to save money with what we have, and I figure if I make it public, hopefully we can do it. I also thought, I would document my experiences with bankruptcy and anything else. I hope this stuff is interesting to you.