A Spoonie's Debt

If you are like me, you are underwater with all your debts and your phone constantly rings with a new unfamiliar phone number. Today, I answered one and almost cried to the supervisor on the phone. I know they are just trying to do their job, but I am trying to survive!

When the associate finally answered after I gave four aggravating "hellos," I was already in a bad mood. If you're calling me so often, why aren't you immediately on the line to answer when I pick up? He's spouting out numbers and I'm explaining my situation. Obviously he doesn't understand, but he says he does. I explain I'm unemployed at the moment because my debts got so unbearable that I moved halfway across the country to live with my parents. The next question he asks, "well what about your spouse?" Excuse me? Do you really think I'd be in this situation if I was a two income household? I got a bit snappy, which I regret, but come on people! So then he says, "well why can't you borrow from friends and family?" I then explained paying debt with another debt doesn't help the situation. My primary focus is a job (or two) so I can gain income to pay off these debts. That's how the cash cycle works!

So he directs me to his supervisor because he's probably frustrated that I'm unable to pay anything. She then calmly says all I need to pay is $25 to delay the process for 40 days and she'll waive a late fee plus the credit card fee for me. Now there's some progress! I was still unsure about paying anything since I needed fuel to go search for jobs and even if I snagged one today, I wouldn't get paid for 2-3 weeks! However, I didn't want 75 phone calls from these guys a day so I paid it. If I needed to, I'll have to bury my ego even more to ask money from my parents for gas.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? If you're like me with heavy medical debt, overdraft fees, and past due bills, it should. So what have you done to help your situation? I am seeking advice!

My Mind Gets the Best of Me

Oh man sometimes when you look over your own situation, it doesn't look pretty. I did a short entry about the cost of migraines and I'm really feeling it now. I haven't even received my hospital bill or gone to Mayo yet!

Today, I'm doing my budget and things aren't panning out like they should. I'm going to start calling debtors and try to work things out before I look at other options. Sometimes when these situations happen, you just need to cry. So that's what I'm going to do: cry the frustration out.

So many questions are unanswered, yet I don't have to means to have them ALL answered. Anyone else feel that way? I make too much money to get any help, yet I don't make nearly enough to pay everybody. So what do you do? Do I accept defeat and consider moving back with the folks? Do I look at bankruptcy if everything else doesn't work? Do I just hope for the best and try to keep a roof over my head, food on the table (might be eating spaghetti noodles and sauce for a while), and a phone for contact?

So how do you decide which bills are worthy of panic? How do you decide what gets shut off and what dings your credit even more than it already is?

What's next?