Am I doomed for bankruptcy or is there a way ?

[carlismycat]

My net income was last year (March through end of November,because employer made me take unemployment during the "slow" months) 20,000. I did get a 2% raise on my commission rate in the fall though. I only make commission. I do get tiped sometimes, but it's not something to rely on. Tips might add up to a few hundred total by the end of the year, IF I'm lucky.  

My cc debt is approx 15,000. Then I have a 10K loan (from paying off a cc that was 10K balance, and getting a lower apr on loan) and a car loan . 

My problem is when I added up everything I have to pay per month, I break even at the end of the year !! I will have spent almost the same 20K (of my total net earnings) . 

It would be much easier if I could just save a few thousand, or even a few hundred, over a few months, and then pay off one CC in full, ata time . But I have to pay minimum payments on all of them, so I cant just put everything on hold, to pay one creditor after 3 months of saving,and so on,and so on.

By the time I'm finished paying my miminums, and an extra 50-100 on two of my biggest CC's (explained below) I usually have less than $10. left ,until the next payday which is two weeks away. This leaves me NO money for food,medical,clothing,etc... 

My husband pays rent,utilite,and everything else. But he does not have enough left over for food either. He is living above his means. If i didn't have my debt Im paying off, I could contribute and be paying for those things we need,that he can't pay for. But I can't since literally all my earnings are tied into paying my minimums,and car,and loan.

Anyway, I would be happy if I could at least pay off my 5,700. Discover card, and 4,500 Amex costco card. The discover is at 15% and Amex is at 14% apr. My minimum payments for the discover have been approx 70. I pay between 120-200.  a month depending if I have the extra 70 or not, to make it 200. My amex costco minimum is about the same,a little less. And i do the same ,pay 120. each month. 200 if I have the extra $. 

I have a bunch of lower limit cards . Some I keep zero balances on and only spend when I have the cash to re-pay it imediately,and also to keep "activity" on it every three months. Those cards I just happend to pay off over time. Other ones are higher balance cards I couldn't pay off yet,but don't exceed 2K. Thos I have just been maknig the miminimums on. So basically between everything (CC's,loan,car) I'm paying no less than 1600. a month . only two CC'ds I am paying above the minimum,which is the discover&amex as expained above. But it's not enough to make a huge difference. I wish I had the extra $ to put about 400-600 each month for each of those. But i don't have that. 

Right now the only reason we can afford food to feed the kids, and pack our lunches for work, is we got 3K in tax return $ last month. We paid 2K of it toward my& my husbands CC  debt. And ket 1K for food to hold us over for 2 months until I could figure something out. We have 300 left out of that. 

This month is the 2 biggest pay days out of the whole year/busiest time for our place of work. I am anticipating some extra $ to come,that we can put towards or food funds, to buy us a little more time. But if i can't come up with a plan to pay off these cc's ,I am thinking maybe chapter 13 is in order. And that is only because I want to keep my car. I bought my very first car just last year. Every vehicle we have had was given to us as a hand me down&gift by my husband's parents. And we used each one until it couldn't be driven. My minivan I recieved in 2005, was used ,and I drove it for 9years+ (we got it the weekend my 9 year old daughter was born) . This is my very first car loan at 38 yrs of age, and first "new" car (it's a 2012 but feels like a brand new car) . I need this for work. 

I don't know how it's gonig to be possibel to pay the two big ones off, in even 2 years time, if it takes everything i make ,and only break even with just paying the minimums,because of just not earning more income to pay anything more. I have looked for other jobs,but most of them in my area say they only hire part time. So their pay would not be as much. I can't "just go to college" that has to be paid for,and I'd lose time off work (which is loss of income and then I'd lose $ to make my cc payments on time) ,and I have 4 kids to take care of because my husband works late. So no,its not that easy to just say "go to college"  ;/ 

[Imperfectfuture]

Take one of those part time jobs. The problems with BK's (and you can see it when you took out a 10k loan, then racked up more cc debt), is when done for cc debt, the person often ends up in the same scenario again.

If you are still living on cards, then you are living above your means. If you take on extra work, then you can work on the debt. Even dog walking, weekend pizza delivery, cat sitting, etc, will bring in money.

A big issue is if hubby still lives above his means. You need separate bank accounts, and one joint account. Open up a separate bank account for you. If hubby not on same page in reduction of debt, then let him continue handling his expenses.

The kids will be happier when you have a plan. Bare bones food budget, food banks are not just for poor folk. Cut the cable, no cell phones for kids, unless they pay their own.

The jobs I mentioned above will bring in 400+ a month. Think it through. We have a member crying today over the frustrations after having filed BK. I recommend sell some stuff on eBay, get a PayPal account and business debit card (you can use that to get paid for your side business), and apply for cash back card.

That is what your expenses will go on, and the rest goes to pay down your debt. It may take four years, I did 6. But BK lasts for ten, and without discipline, new credit will be tempting again.

[Callandra]

Sounds like you may qualify for government assistance for food (food stamps/EBT or depending on your kids' ages, WIC checks), have you looked into that? That could free up some money for bills. If your kids buy school lunch, you might be able to get waived out of that too (again, just to free up some money for bills for now). I agree with cutting out all things you don't need (landline if you have cell phones, cable, etc). It must be rough with the kids though. :\ 

I agree with looking for another job; that will help (even overnight stocking at Wal-Mart or Target will bring in some extra cash and you could get an employee discount there for lots of necessities).  

[carlismycat]

If i get a part time job, i will have to quite my FT job ! Then i will have less then half the income. The part time job I was talking about are open when i am working ,so i cannot do both jobs without quitting one. UNLESS I get a night job,and then I will not get any sleep. it is not humanely possible to work my FT job from (getting ready at 5am till-) 7am-until 8pm at night, and coming home when the kids are about to go to bed,or just sitting down for dinner.  This is a physically demanding job and I am often times falling asleep when i get home too. It would nto work ,to work some night shift job somewhere,as i would get in a wreck,driving there.Then get sick from lack of slee

I have no control over my husband's bills. They are in his name. If I had it my way, we would get rid of the cable tv,cell phones,netflix,leave everything unplugged in the house whe things are not in use. Only buy food for work lunches,and then while at home, eat only whatever is left in the pantry,until there is literally nothing to eat,before buying more groceries. We do not qualify for state health insurance , and do not qualify for food stamps.  I'm sure if we got rid of the cable,and cell phones, and used the gas only at night to keep my kids from freezing, and power running only for the fridge&deep freezer, and used candle light to see at night,  we'd save about 300-400. a month. More, if he would stick with a food bdget,and meal planning.

Rent for the size home we are renting, right now would cost 300 more a month,if we moved out and got the same size place elsewhere. Prices have gone up. We are very lucky to be in the rental home we have now. If we wanted to save 400. a month by moving,we'd have to rent a 1 bedroom cottage in the country from someone privately. the 2bedroom apt's are going for almost what our 3 bedroom single family house costs right now. It's illegal to stuff our family of 6 in a 1 bedroom apt.  They would never allow it. These are my debts and that is why I don't think its fair to make my husband give up verything so i can afford to pay it all off. But at the same time, if he can't afford his own bills,  that is a good reason for him to downsize his lifestyle ,and not be paying for things he/we don't need like cable tv,and i-phones,with huge data plans. I can't stand it,but that stuff is not in my name and I am not authorized to just get everything turned off/cancelled.  The only reason he downgraded our cell phone plans, and is making his lunches for work is becuase of my suggesting/begging him to do these things. I have to begg /remind/ nag  (however way you look at it) him every day to not use his cc to eat out. If i did not have the debt I am in, I could be paying for the extras he wants,plus all the food we need , . It is hard getting the spouse to stop making the same mistakes i did. And be on the same page ,for a brighter future for us both.

We are at the point where we do not eat out, not even when working. Kids eat school lunches because it does come out cheaper right now.  They do nto qualify for reduced lunches . You have to either be a good liar on paperwork (which we don't do) or be really really poor to qualify for state assistance.

 I told him there is NO reason to use phone data outside our home wifi,unless we are lost and need the gps. All we spend our money on,is rent,basic utility bills, cable tv&phone (as mentioned above) , our cc payments, my loan ,and car payment. sometimes we will have an extra 100. but right now  we are breaking even,because the place of work (a franchise) has been pretty slow since last year after the owner hired so many employees,now there is less work for us,despite us both being there the lnogest. I want to leave there,but am stuck working to pay off my debts . I have been applying for jobs online,and looking around,butI will ot quite until I  have a job already lined up,to replace this one.

I know i put myself into this mess. I'm just looking for other ideas ,otherwise I may have to do the bankrupt route. I try to sell and get rid of things,  in little spare time I have. I am good at photography, but cannot get a piad gig yet. I have been making collectable dolls since 2007 and do good, WHEN/IF one sells. So that is not a sure thing,but defintiely much easier way for making a few hundred bucks,or even a thousand. 

 it is very hard ,and ambarrasing coming on here .  Thanks for not being mean about it. Now you see why I feel  so backed into a corner. my debt may seem so small to others, but when you make a small income, it is HUGE debt. 

[Imperfectfuture]

If you don't change the way you are living, bankruptcy will not change anything. I know. You were so proud to get those accounts. Living on credit is living above your means. You can do this, better to feel powerful than powerless. That leads to poor me, without a solution. Food bank gives you food. I bet you folks are fighting about money. It's your choice, but when you get those sub prime cards to rebuild with after bankruptcy, you will repeat the same thing, only with bloodsucking creditors. Been through that myself, never had prime. You didn't have to build the debt, the grown up thing to do is cut back and pay it off. Think about it.

[disdreamin]

I'm going to be brutally honest here - I hear you justifying and rationalizing in your posts. However, unless you and your husband work to make changes (economizing, PT job, etc) you are likely headed toward a most unhappy place.

Your rationalization about a PT job - do you work seven days a week 7am-8pm ever day? If not, then you DO have time for a second job; you might not *want* to do it, but you *could* do it. It could be weekends, it could be evenings, but it is probably possible, just not desirable. That is a decision only you can make.

If you can't find a workable way to pick up additional income, the choice you are left with is economizing, which by necessity must involve cooperation from your spouse. Otherwise you are left with no viable options.

[Callandra]

I'm going to have to be brutally honest here too: I hear a lot of excuses. One thing, even if you file for BK, NOTHING will be different after you get out of BK (it's discharged) unless you and your husband are willing to change your lifestyle (sorry, cable is not a necessity, it has to go); as said in a previous post, you'll just wind up in the same situation. 

Now, you say you work 7 am - 8 pm (I'm assuming that's 5 days a week) and you only net 20k? I suggest looking for a new job! Find an office job (I live in an expenisve resort area with almost no jobs/opportunities but was still able to get an office job after one year of trying and I had ZERO office experience so it is possible); you might only start at $10/hour but it will be M-F 8-5 (or 9-5 or something in that time frame). Then you can get an evening job in retail for some more extra money plus pick up some extra weekend shifts. Another thing is that if you're getting a tax refund, instead of waiting, change your withholdings on your W-4 to get a little extra in each paycheck. 

I also suggest clipping coupons, watching for sales, and finding other ways to economize/downsize. 

[Gunnar419]

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@carlismycat wrote:

it is not humanely possible to work my FT job from (getting ready at 5am till-) 7am-until 8pm at night, 

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That's 13 hours a day.

Let's say they give you one hour for lunch, so 12 hours a day.

Let's say you work five days a week, so you work 60 hours every week.

Let's say you work 50 weeks out of the year, so 3,000 hours a year.

That's $6.67/hour, which if I'm not mistaken is illegal everywhere in the U.S. Not to mention that you're probably not salaried management so you'd be earning overtime pay for around 20 hours every week.

OP, can you explain how you work such long hours and still make just $20k per year? It doesn't add up. And if you really are working such horrendous hours for such horrendous pay, you should either very quickly get another job as others have suggested, or you should report your employer to your state's attorney general AND sue the heck out of them for back wages!

[JustBPatient]

+1 x 100%

[Anonymous]

From reading your posts I think you need to consider how to change your lifestyle. Slashing you and your husbands budget is something that needs to be done stat. Make an account on Mint with your husband so you can see where your money is going, set goals for yourself. You'll talk about and consider a BK before canceling the luxuries like cable is kind of mind boggleing... Find a substitute, or find something better for cheaper like netflix or hulu subscriptions. What is cable these days like a $100 a month. When your making 20k a year. I Just can't see the rationale. Ask for a raise. See if you can get food stamps or government assistantance. Put your tax refund towards your credit cards. Move in with your mom. You need a second job for the weekends, do something like sell avon. Sell things you don't need on ebay. Extreme couponing, maximize your rewards with store, manufacturer coupons combined with club member discounts.

You need to take action today.