bankruptcy

Financial Hardships

Po’ Girl is officially arse-out Po’!

I have just received my discharge in the chapter 7 bankruptcy I was forced to file due to the unexpected loss of my job, which is a very long story, the expiration of my unemployment, the loss of three more part-time jobs and the depletion of my entire life savings.  I now find myself having to live on social security, a lower amount for early application, and the very small pension I managed to accrue with one of the companies I was employed with years ago.  The only reason I even needed to file was to prevent my mortgage companies from trying to collect monies from me that I simply don’t have.  I never had any credit card problems like most.  I only purchased what I could afford.

There was no way I could have kept my home as victim to predatory lending in 2005.  My home is only worth about half of what I paid for it originally, even after improvements so since I don’t have an extra $75,000 or so to give these game playing banks, I chose to stay as long as possible and keep paying on it.  The loan payments were also due to go up an additional $400-$500 per month this year as well.  My only regret is that I didn’t file sooner because they allow you to have more money in your savings than I thought in a bankruptcy and I should never have let my cash reserve get this low.  I have already stopped making my mortgage payments and expect to receive notice of foreclosure any day now.

Be sure to contact a bankruptcy expert if you ever find yourself in financial hardship before you waste all your savings in a vain attempt trying to hang on to your home.  They should be able to suggest some options for you.  What ever you do, don’t use any service that claims will help you to keep your home.  Most of these are scams as well as most so-called experts are anything but.  There are some legitimate programs available for those that wish to keep their homes.

Pension wise, I need to decide between a small monthly annuity to help with my living expenses and renting somewhere really cheap or just withdraw the lump sum if I happen to find a cheap fixer-upper that is of move-in condition and I will only need to pay for the tax, insurance and utilities which should still be cheaper than most rents though possibly turn into a money pit.  Unfortunately, the prices of homes are on the rise again, though I’m not sure how or why.  The economy, I’m finding out, it truly in the eyes of the beholder.  If you are financially solvent, it’s great.  For folks like me, not so good.

There are apartments for the elderly and disabled that I am now in the income bracket for, but it seems like a place to go when you are on your way out of this world.  I still feel young and vibrant and really am not looking forward to the almost nursing home atmosphere, even if it will be kinder to my purse.  I may take the easy way out and do this, but I still want to try new things.  I forgot that not having money is a real deal-breaker a plan-changer, it’s a female dog!

I am going to attempt an etsy shop very soon but fear their website is so over saturated with home-made items right now.  Years ago you could make a buck because there was less competition, but now I understand from some that sales are hard to come by.  I’ll try it for a few months and if no sales, I will be doing strictly craft shows.  I’ve never made much money hanging in art galleries and doing shows, but when I used to do craft shows with my baskets, I made a few bucks and I really loved the camaraderie with the other crafters.  Might have just been the economy at the time.  I really believe that we have never economically recovered since 9/11.

I am trusting in God to be led by the spirit for the rest of my days.  I will trust in the Lord and I will be led down the right paths from now on.

TrustintheLord

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Another “New” Year

Instead of filing bankruptcy in the beginning of 2014 as I should have, after losing my part time job at the end of 2013, I tried to hang onto my house just so I did not have to go through all the stuff I am now having to go through which is bankruptcy and foreclosure, having to downsize and pack up what remains and start living a completely different way of life.  So that kind of explains why I chose to try to find another job that never materialized and drain what little savings I once had to almost nothing in the vain attempt to stave off the inevitable as long as I could.  I can’t see any reason to stay here any longer since my balloon payments are due to begin this year and I would be paying an additional $450 or more a month.  I will be able to just make most of my bills, since I stopped making my mortgage payments now, with the small social security income I had to start drawing on earlier than I planned to.

I didn’t bother to rent my home out due to the amount of rent I would have had to charge this year and I was advised against just signing the house over or wasting my time seeing if a short sale would fly considering that I have two mortgages.  I will have to see how my foreclosure plays out to see where I’m actually going to be living when I leave here.  I have managed to get some applications in cities where I wanted to live, so depending on how soon I have to leave, and who has an opening at that same time, determines where I actually move to.  There is a place a few blocks away from my house that has a month to month lease option that sounds promising, though eventually I want to get out of this dirty city and all the memories.  Some of my family is still trying to talk me into moving to the upper most part of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan where they are now currently 20 below in wind chill and have already had over 2 feet of snow.  Snowfalls are beautiful, within reason, but I am no fan of winter.

Still no lotto wins, but I never give up hope and keep buying one for each major drawing in my area.  The Lottery is the carrot that dangles before the working rich and poor alike and the fact that I once knew someone who shared in one of the bigger jackpots, keeps me playing cause I know people can actually win it.

I can choose to move into a cheap apartment for people over a certain age that are income based because they have them all over.  I could also take out the remaining pension I have and purchase some little fixer-upper like one of my brothers did many years ago.  He made some low offer in cash that was accepted and it was his.  He did have to put a lot of money into it once he moved it though.  Money that I don’t have.  One of my other brothers could have done the same thing when he moved up by him this year, but decided to just rent a cheap but nice apartment with all utilities included in these, his declining years.

Tough call for me.

I am very handy myself and would have help from the rest of my family to make most repairs.  By draining my small pension I will only be short $150. per month as a monthly annuity that I would be applying to apartment living should I rent.  The taxes in some areas of the Upper Peninsula are super cheap, like $300 to $600 a year.  So I figure my monthly payment for my tax, insurance and utilities would be approximately $300 per month, which is cheaper than any apartment.  If I happen to get a money pit, then it will cost me a lot more than that and after a bankruptcy, if I needed credit for any major repair, my interest would be through the roof.

Or I could move to an apartment, like my one brother, in an area that is very popular with tourists and it will feel like I’m on vacation all the time.  I could really be free to do any free or cheap thing I feel like with no maintenance or responsibility and absolutely no snow-blowing all winter long!  Sometimes that sounds great to me, but I am so independent and used to love living creatively.  I guess if I go apartment, I might actually think of stopping Po’ Girl Shines since I have not been using it to make the kinds of posts I planned on initially and it does not look like many people see my posts.  I guess I really do have to blog or get off the spot this year.

I don’t want to just post an occasional pretty picture or a recipe.  I really wanted to be providing information that people could use.

I will see what happens.

Few examples of various art projects from years ago to current.  I love experimenting with various computer software on my photographs.  A couple were just fooling around on blank part of 35mm negatives and then scanning/printing them to see what they look like.

Blue Angel created from a pin photograph.
Make four of same pictures in various hues, highlighted edges and placed together.
Drew tree with fine tip marker on exposed negative.
Drew face on negative with fine tip marker.
Nature sketch.