We want to avoid bankruptcy, but how?
You've seen me talk about wanting another child and we've been trying for over a year, but along with that expansion of our family, we have also been considering buying a house. We have lived in apartments and are currently living in a rental house, but what we really want is a home of our own.
There are several things we've had to look at in the house-buying challenge and one of the most important is our credit. Neither of us have ever been very responsible with our money. When I headed to college, my parents weren't able to help much financially and I couldn't work too much with my classes during the day so the appeal of the credit card took over very quickly. I ran up some huge bills and then couldn't pay even the minimum balances so I was stuck. I eventually got a little smarter and consolidated all of my debt and almost had it all paid off by the time I met my husband.
Hubby, on the other hand, had some serious health problems before we met. In his early twenties, he had congestive heart failure due to an undiagnosed flu and pnuemonia. He was hospitalized and then couldn't work for a long time and went on disability. Several years after that he drank himself back into congestive heart failure and the same thing happened. When he came off disability, he was overpaid by the government and his debt grew uncontrollable. Following the advice of his accountant father, he filed for bankruptcy which will be on his credit for another few years from now.
When we met, I was almost debt free and he had filed for bankruptcy and we made another poor decision together to use credit cards to pay for our wedding. Hubby still has several medical issues from his early health concerns as well as back and knee problems so he has tons of medical bills (he likes to visit the ER a little too much). I've looked into a lot of different ways to get this all under control and I just have to get us both on the same page.
We are going to try to avoid bankruptcy right now by learning frugal ways of living (couponing!!) and really stretching the dollar as best we can. We are looking into alternate ways of earning money and we are no longer using credit cards. It's going to be difficult, but with our house dreams…we are determined!!
I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for bankruptcy california and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.
good luck with the budgeting
a lot of people use coupons, and I tend to buy the discount meat (I always freeze my meat when I get home and if I buy bulk I make sure I make smaller packages before storing it) I try to use left overs when I can or try to do a spag meal one day and left over sauce for chilli the next (or if left over ham I make a quiche, left over roast I make a stir fry or even soup)
I bought big items with cash only (my fridge and stove, deep freeze and bed) I had to file bankruptcy years ago but haven’t ever had a cc card since (I learned my lesson) I had to for years say “do I WANT IT or do I NEED IT”…changed the way I bought because a lot of things are aimed at our wants, not our needs (I need food/shelter/water/power and heat and can do with my old clothes/boots/shoes) For quite a few years we had no Christmas, hard on the kids but I enter contests and sometimes can win enough to pile away for that time of year. Also we have had NO cable/tv/ for over 10 yrs now (we do have tons of dvds though) not even farmer vision LOL and my children are 18 and 16,so YES you can definitely do without that cost. (and even if its $10 per month, that is bread, eggs and milk and food is way more important that cable)
once again, good luck (and when we moved here, 11 yrs ago, it was to buy this house, family of 4, less then 800 sq ft, and cost was $43,000 at the time) my daughter always told me, Mom, be happy with what you have (I don’t like to clean so a small house is nice lol)
Thank you so much for all of this advice and sharing your experiences!! Good Luck with the giveaways…I love winning too!!