I went to the post office today and bought a money order for the rent that’s 9 days overdue. And it’s a good thing, too, because looking at my checking account online, it says I have 5 dollars left. Five dollars. I’m sure if I’d actually balance it, it’d be negative. I have no food, no cash. Hanging on the wall is a Comcast bill for $41 that I’m not paying regardless, the $10 AES bill that was due a week ago, a $27 propane bill due the 18th, and my first Sallie Mae bill due July 1st for $245. I could’ve sworn I have an electric bill around here, too. My credit union loan payment due 5/31 for $165 has still not been paid, neither has Capital One. The balance is $7,376, otherwise known as over the limit, it’s late, and as such my minimum payment due 6/30 is $436. My mom threatened to take the scooter from me, since I haven’t paid her for two payments on it now. Like that’ll help. That’s another $240 or so. And I’ll have another $500 in rent to pay then, too.
That’s $1123, not counting next month’s rent nor Comcast, that I currently owe people. $1623 with the rent, and another $30 or so for that electric bill I can’t find. The rats are living off of old hamburger buns. I’m living off of this one pack of cigarettes I have. My next paycheck will probably be only $700 or so, if I’m lucky, and that’s only on the 16th.
I just completely cleaned out the $41 in my emergency fund. It asked me if I wanted to close my account and get the unpaid interest for the month, or just transfer the balance. I chose transfer, but it closed it anyway. It even magically guessed the reason: “I need to pay off debt.” Fuck you, ING. I don’t need to pay off debt, I need to eat. Not that I’m going to, anyway. Need to be able to get to work. Can’t even wash my clothes. My work shirt is grubby as hell.
Whatever. What happens, happens. Like my manager said a while ago, this is all my fault anyway.
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What happened? Did I miss something? You were working and making dough, so how did you get to the end of the proverbial rope?
My suggestion (take it for what it is worth)
1. Call Sallie Mae – ask for a hardship deferral.
2. Call Comcast and cancel. Do NOT make any payment arrangements over the phone or promises – tell them you have hit a rough patch and will pay them ASAP.
3. When your check for $700 comes in – Pay rent, electric & propane – $557, use the rest for food and fuel your vehicle. If paid every 2 weeks take $143 by 14 = $10.21 is your budget by day. Don’t go over, unless the prior day you spent less. Even put that $10 a day in seperate envelopes to force yourself to live by it. NO CIGARETTES, IT IS TIME TO BE FREE FROM THE MONKEY – You CAN DO IT!
4. Next Check of $700 on 27th??? Pay Rent $500, Scooter $120 – divide rest to live on over days.
5. Next Check of $700 on 7/11?? Pay Propane, Electric (est $57), CU $165, Scooter $240 & Comcast $41 =$503. Divide rest to live on over days.
While working on plan – that you have copied on your own piece of paper and hung in your place to follow –
Call Capital 1 – Work out payment plan – be honest, agree to nothing – they will try and force you to pay the higher payments. They are the last to be paid, and you must pay, just take it out of the balance, after leaving $10 a day to live on.
Meet with mom, show her your plan and make her see you intend on covering your obligations. And then follow through!!! Be a man of your word, worth more then money any day of the week.
If you have to call credit union, do it. and tell them when a payment will arrive.
Stop talking gloom and doom, you have the power to get out of this. Even a part-time job working an extra 12 hours a week, would cover the Credit Union payments & Scooter, placing you in a position to move to debt free.
Do NOT acquire anymore debt. That will only hurt you.
I have been reading your blog for a few months. I don’t know what happened, but “Dedicated” seems to have laid out a good plan. Please try to follow it. Good Luck.
Dedicated: Thanks for the helpful advice. I found out today that my paycheck is going to be $861. Don’t know if it’s going in tomorrow, or Monday, though. Unfortunately, I don’t think the plan you have so helpfully laid out will go far, as my pay is very variable. This check is from working my ass off 12-14 hours a day almost every day for two weeks. Those days are over, and I can now expect somewhere on the order of $500-600 paychecks… I think.
JudyC: Thanks for popping in! I know there are a bunch of readers hanging around that don’t comment, so always nice to see a new face that wants to talk
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