Counting Those Chickens
by Diane
Conlinn
March 3, 2001
Well, I was going through all my bills,
all my payments, and among them is a $200 a month payment to a retirement
plan which I've included like a regular bill. I am proud to say that I can
make that savings payment, without any scrimping.
I am making payments on all my bills and debts. I have brought down balances
signficantly and I have a payoff date now that is less than 10 years away!!
When I first started on this journey, if I said 20 years in the future I might
be debt free. But, now for the first time, I can realistically say that I'll
be out of debt by January 2005.
Wow!! and by next year I expect my income to take another leap. So, I believe
that I can now honestly say I am going to make that and be able to reach my
goal of being out of debt quite a bit before.
It's nice to have a bright spot in the future. I really hope these eggs hatch.
I do believe I see the chickens.
It's a long story but I started with about $45K in unsecured debt, I had been
unemployed for early 18 months, without medical insurance. I had already been
bankrupt once, and seriously considered it again. I was told that the government
was going to garnish my paycheck for student loan defaults. the whole situation
was pretty terrible, of my debts $36,000 were student loan debts.
I was late on all my utilities, a month behind on my rent, and was eating
hotdogs because they were cheap and onsale. I hadn't opened my mail in months.
I had already gone to a lawyer about declaring bankruptcy and they were only
going to charge me $100 a month in a Chapter 13 for three years. I was going
to do that, but something told me about Debtors Anonymous and I went to my
first meeting.
I went to a meeting in a little Quaker Meeting House. There were just a few
people there, and they got to hear me cry and wail my way through my story,
three weeks running. Those wonderful people opened my bills for me that I
was too afraid to open, and made some kind of order out of the mess, then
suggested to me what to do. They told me which phone calls to make, bills
to pay, how much, and then helped me set aside enough money to pay for my
food!! They told me not to deprive myself for my creditors, I was shocked.
Then I joined an online email group. I told them about my decision to declare
bankruptcy and I got a bunch of "don't do that". Finally, one person
said something that made sense to me. He said, that all I had to do was try
the DA way for a year and if it made no difference, then declare bankruptcy.
So, I said, okay, I'll try this new way of living. My old way certainly failed,
what have I got to lose? Though I can honestly say I saw no way to get out
of debt.
Next, I had a group meeting by telephone, and was instructed to add up my
spending and separate it into different areas, and what was left went to my
creditors. I had 45 creditors at that time. And I literally paid $1 a piece
to 25 of them and $5 to 20 of them. Even on the student default. I didn't
see how this was going to work, but in the end I was able to work out my problems
with the government and actually get my student loan out of
default a year later and erase the fact that I had ever had a default off
of my credit record!!
Yes, folks by the end of the year miracles happened. I got my student loans
out of default. I paid off 5 of my bills, and now three years later, I've
paid off 20 of my bills, and I owe $23,000 not $36,000 in student loans, my
pay has gone from 0 to $50K, because I decided to pursue a new career. And
my next salary jump should be within another year. I have remarried to a wonderful
man. We own a house, and I drive a new car. I have decent clothes, shoes that
fit me, and I was able to pay for a few of my relatives to come out for the
wedding.
All this while getting further out of debt. Frankly, if you had told me a
few years ago that this was possible I would have thought you were one of
those positive thinking nuts. But, now having witnessed the miracles of DA
in my own life, I believe differently.
For further information about Debtors Anonymous, go to http://www.debtorsanonymous.org or http://www.solvency.org. There you
will find information about local meetings, email groups, and online chat
meetings.