Posted by Noa on October 15, 1999, at 2:37:13
In reply to matters of personal finance, posted by Bob on October 14, 1999, at 18:15:07
Bob,
Once again, proof that they took our brains from the same bin at the baby factory. I have always struggled fincancially, and in order to avoid dealing with the reality of being unable to hold my own fincancially, I began using credit cards, which were practicaly thrown at me. The companies LOVED me, because they made a mint off of me. I racked up debts too big to pay off, borrowed from family members a couple of times to pay off, racked up even bigger debts, etc., until I finally went to Consumer Credit Counseling. My parents had offered me a heap of money for a down payment on a condo or townhouse (money they assumed at one time would pay for my wedding--an expectation I did not fill for them). I had to fess up, and they gave it to me to pay off half my debt. The rest is being paid off through CCCS, taken out of my account directly each month. Which helps, because the other problem was, like you, I wasn't even opening my mail because of how overwhelmed I felt. Actually, that is still a problem for me. I still have student loans, a car loan, insurance, etc., and am constantly playing catch up by postponing when I mail my rent, etc. I also still owe my brother $1500; the woman I share an office with $600 for the furniture we bought; $500 to a friend when I ran out of cash while I was out of work; $700 to an attorney who did some work for me; and about $1800 to my therapist. AARGH!!!!It causes lots of anxiety, but not quite the intense self-loathing it used to. If I think about how much I still owe people, I get overwhelmed. But at least I know I have no credit cards anymore and have to limit my spending to the money I have. I need to get more work to catch up, but being depressed makes it hard to feel motivated and confident about getting more work. As I start to feel better, I hope I can start to do more.
poster:Noa
thread:13154
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991016/msgs/13173.html