emilygu's Journal, 02 June 2017

Been there. Lost my job in 2000 when the dot com bubble burst. four months after my son was born. Spent 24 months unemployed. Cashed in all my stocks and other investments, ate up all my savings, and ran up huge amounts of credit card debt. Was in the progress of paying everything off and getting back on my feet when lost job again due to corporate merger in 2005 just months before my second son was born. Ended up having to declare bankruptcy in 2006. It was stressful and I hated it. It felt like everyone who looked at me was thinking, "What a loser." In the end, though it was the best decision. Was able to get back on my feet again. Took about 8 years to rebuild my credit - just in time for another round of unemployment. Lesson is: being a graphic artist is fun, but not a stable career choice. Hope all works out for you. 

Thank you. I feel the exact same way. My husband brought up that it would be the best thing for us to do just get a clean slate. After thinking a few days I decided we should do it. Not exactly happy bout it and I do feel like people are thinking "omg can't even handle money." Not a good feeling in the least but learned a lesson and will not repeat. :)  

No worries, Emily. More people than you know are in your predicament. I think at the "Great Recession" back in 2006-2008, most people don't hold judgement over what used to be thought of as "financial failures". In fact, your hubby has the right idea. My bro had to file wayeee before any recession took place and his really were because of bad financial choices and living in excess. But, because of that experience he really went onto approaching his finances constructively afterward and used that genius brain for math of his to ensure both he and his wife (with a little help from my mom) were able to make it through some hard times. Now, they have little to no CC debt and a surplus in their savings. I was in over 5,000 dollars in CC debt myself before I moved out west. And, I ended up using most of my 401K to pay it off. I have no regrets about that either. It provided me the clean slate I needed and gave me the chance to make sound choices about finances I had always wanted to make, but was to in debt to make them. I am completely CC debt free. I don't charge anything I can pay off in the next check (in short that money is already put aside), and as a result my Credit is something it never was..."Excellent". Don't see this decision as failure, but as an opportunity to finally approach your finances in a way that will bring you a lot less stress in the long run. 

really sorry, keep hanging in there! look at these link to cheer you up: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/ca/c0/7c/cac07c822ebed41e6384dc5ac2fdecda.jpg http://www.unlimitedcapitalcorp.com/uploads/5/9/5/9/59596859/2990827.jpg?860 

Thank you egull1 that really makes me feel better about our decision.  

This has been a horrible, horrible year for you. I'm so sorry you and your husband have had to go through so many difficulties. Thank goodness you have each other. I admire your perseverance and trying to look on the bright side of things and to the future! I can't even imagine where you find such strength. Your husband is a lucky man to have such a strong woman as his life partner. What did you name your beautiful boy? 

Sorry you are going through such a tough time. I will keep a good thought for you. 

Kpwcalories we named him Jase. 

That's beautiful. 💕