Just after 9/11 I realized life wasn’t going to be so good, my husbands job was in jeopardy and we had accumulated around $20,000 in debt. My husband’s employer made window gaskets for high-rise buildings; it was their specialty and the main product that they produced. They began working two or three days a week, it was barely enough to put food on our table and a roof over our head let alone pay utilities and credit card bills. We weren’t sure what to do, should he find a new job or should he stick by the company who has been so supportive of us. We decided to wait it out, see what happens. In the meantime I fought off the greedy creditors, telling them I will pay my debt I have always held my accounts in good standing only to end the conversations with me crying and begging them for understanding.
I cried myself to sleep at night’s wondering why us, just when I thought our lives were going good how could we end up poorer then poor again. I thought how am I going to pay our bills, how will I keep our utilities on. I didn’t know where to turn for help, I didn’t know help existed. All I wanted was money to get by. I began to be jealous of anybody whoever had something that I didn’t. I hated people, I hated life.
Eventually my husband’s job picked up he had more overtime then he could handle. It was barely enough to pay up on our utilities; we still couldn’t catch up on our credit cards. It seemed after all of this bad luck hit us one month after another. A hospital bill from when my husband was 19 caught up to us, $5000, past taxes he never paid $200, a debt to a bank $500 and a truck that he didn’t own anymore $700. Then I had gotten sick and hospitalized $2000 and my husband was stung in the throat by a bee and hospitalized $2000. Going through all of this I still had to fend off the credit card companies.
Life wasn’t worth it anymore; I had life insurance I was worth more dead then alive. I tried committing suicide before but this time I wouldn’t try, I wanted my family to live a good life with or without me. I had even talked to my husband about being cremated and how I wanted my death to be handled if I ever died. I could never follow through I wanted to be with my kids I didn’t want to be away from them.
I cried every night I didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t afford bankruptcy if I had $700 to pay a lawyer then I wouldn’t need to file bankruptcy I could pay my bills. I was stuck at a dead end I couldn’t move forward and couldn’t move backward. That’s when I decided I had to change our lives; no one would change it for me.
I sat and looked at all of our bills one day, I wrote everything down how much came in and how much went out, only to find myself more depressed then when I started. I knew we had to change we had to start paying out less then we brought in. That’s when we started “Poorly Living”. I did everything I could to save money, right down to taking light bulbs out. I then decided any extra money had to go to our debts. I started babysitting, doing paid to read emails and paid surveys. It wasn’t much, it was pennies but every extra penny went towards our debts. I was no longer going to feel sorry for myself I was going to help myself.
I am proud to say I did help myself, it has been six years and $20,000 worth of debt has been paid down to around $5,000. I have 2 years left to pay on our trailer and our last credit card, by that time I should be free and clear of all debts. I did it by myself, no one helped me. It didn’t happen over night if I learned anything from my experiences it’s that all things are possible if you want them bad enough, and you will never learn anything if you don’t help yourself.
God Bless all of you,
Lady Christie
