DH and I lived in OH when we got married. When DD was born, I was a full-time nanny (and then some. I worked for two families and was making good money). We decided to get a new car, on lease, because we had the money and needed something bigger. We got a van. Later that year, I lost both jobs. The families either relocated, or no longer needed me due to school starting for their LOs. It was kinda tough, but manageable. We ended up with some debt because of it, but everything was relatively ok.
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When I was pregnant with DS, we moved to WV to live near/with my family for awhile prior to our planned relocation to NC. They wanted us there, and it would save us money as long as DH found a job as soon as we got there. But he didnt. I couldnt work. I minimized our bills as much as possible. However, no income is no income. Yes we had fewer expenses, but we had zero income. So instead of helping it made things worse. We accrued more debt. Too much.
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We decided to go ahead with the move, since there would be employment here for both of us. We are both working good jobs, and have a decent income. Not great, but certainly more than we need to live the way we want/like to live. Except for the debt. We started snowballing about 2 months ago, and then the whole thing went to hell in a handbasket.
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Dh's car needed fixed, and the repairs cost approx. 2 of my car payments. At the time I said we were totally screwed and would be out a car either way- either his would be broken down, or my would get repossessed because we wouldn't be able to pay it. I was being cynical I didn't think it would happen.
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We have made it through the last several weeks, and I was going to make the payments to bring everything current TODAY with this paycheck. When I woke up this morning, my car was gone. If it hadn't been taken we would be okay, because I was about to pay them and we would be, relatively, back on our budget. But now there are going to be a ton of fees invovled, if we can even just bring it current and get it back. I just don't have enough wiggle room for this.
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So now I am completely overwhelmed. We have too much debt. If we didn't have it, we would be well-off enough to live simply with little to no worry. I like the way we live, I do not want to upsize in any way, even if I had more money (re: less debt) to work with. Bankruptcy is floating around in my head. I feel like my credit is already so messed up, who cares? Dave Ramsey may work for some, but what happens when you start and try to do it and then the world comes crashing down and you have way more expenses than you budgeted for? Now we are in the red, I dont even know what to do.
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I guess I just needed to tell someone.
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