An Update

So, we went to see a credit counselor. While she didn't say to us, "Wow, you guys are really doing much better than you think, I can't even believe you walked in here today!" She did tell us that there is hope to our situation. I asked her if she thought bankruptcy was an option and she said, "NO. NO. No, no no no no no, please don't do that. Bankruptcy is for people for massive amounts of debt with little to no income who can't even afford to pay for food and have no hope of that changing any time soon. You guys could COMFORTABLY afford to pay off your stuff with a small payment each money towards each and be done in under two years."

When I heard that, I was relieved.

Our first order of business, before tackling the large mountain of collections, is to get rid of our pay day loans, pay our tolls, and get our checking account positive. I have decided that since all of these people are working with us, NONE of them are asking us to pay everything, right now, all at once, that this is something we need to just be patient and not overpromise. It's hard, because I want this all to be over. But we didn't get into this situation in one day and we won't get out in one day, either.

So, here are the totals for what we need to take care of sooner rather than later...

Two payday loans, which they have frozen and are not collecting any more interest: $1800

Tolls: $2300

Overdrawn Checking: $900

Total: $5000.

We are paying about $500 a month on the payday loans, so those will go away in a few months.

We hope to be paying $200 in tolls a month, so this will take a while.

I am hoping to deposit all of our tax return in the checking account, making it more than current, and putting the excess into a savings. Hopefully, a substantial emergency fund will help lower the risk of any of our stuff getting this way EVER again!!

After we pay off the loans, we will be putting that money towards our collections accounts.

Our student loans will just have to wait. I just got them consolidated, so I have a while before needing to pay those off. As long as I pay on time, this will help our credit substantially.

I am going to also pay $100 for each car extra each month so we can try and get those paid off faster.

Hopefully, my husband's commission for May will be quite large and we can figure out where that needs to go.

Bottom line, it's getting there. We still kick ourselves from time to time because bad habits creep up on us. Those bad habits, they will get you every time. But, at least it's manageable for right now!