I know it sounds like a silly question, but consider this: I have a low-paying crummy part-time commission only job that is utterly inadequate to meeting my monthly financial needs. I’m 59 years old and have been unable to find a decent job in the last eight years. I’ve sold nearly everything I could (including both of my guitars) and run up charge card debt to the max. I am nearly out of cash. By the end of January, I will be dead broke.
What I’m asking is: Do I have to declare bankruptcy (which apparently costs more money or credit than I have) or do I just stop making payments – to the landlord, credit cards, utilities, etc.?
More over the Orange Thing with a thousand appellations.
For twenty years (1983-2003) I had good work and good income but all that is long gone now. No going back. Unless by some miracle I find a job in the very near future, it seems inevitable that I will go bankrupt. How do I avoid going to debtors’ prison? Is that even a possibility?
Maybe a better question would be: What should I do before I go bankrupt?
What should my priorities be, in terms of making the few payments I can still make? Rent is by far my biggest monthly bill. Should I not pay it - so I have at least some cash? What happens if I default on my charge card debt? Can I negotiate with them?
I don’t even know what questions to ask – this is a realm with which I am totally unfamiliar. Any advice about any of these issues and others that I haven’t even considered would be greatly appreciated.
I know it takes about three months to get evicted because my next door neighbor got booted earlier this year. I’ve lived here for 17 years, so the landlady may not start the process immediately after I miss the rent in January or February. I have a whole apartment full of stuff – tables, chairs, lamps, TV, computer, a full kitchen, 1000 books (mostly paperbacks), a bed, dresser, two bags of hand tools, jackets, coats, etc., but most of it has little or no re-sale value.
I have a few items for sale if anyone in the Seattle area is interested:
Mirror – 6’ x 2’ with a 2” oak border
18 George Simenon hardbound first American edition books with dust jackets
Safe – Sentry 6250, rated 350 degrees, 1 hour – approximately 15” x 15” x 15” ext.
Rubik Cube – “Le Cube” from 1983, sealed in container, no sunlight since ‘83
10 speed bike – regular bike, 30 years old, good condition
More details on these sale items if anyone is interested.
I know this may be too much to ask, but a lifetime subscription to Daily Kos would also be greatly appreciated.
I got an e-mail late last week about a job asking me for my availability for a 30 minute phone interview. I wrote back saying “Monday or Tuesday” and it is now 4:45 pm on Tuesday and no word yet.
Maybe I'll just drop out and try to hook up with MoT @ OWS.
Happy New Year to One and All!
5:44 PM PT: UPDATE -- Many thanks to whoever it was who bestowed upon me a lifetime subscription!! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it...