Don't know where to begin. I was always a "saver of money". I would save $1000 - $7000, then take it to the bank. Last December, I had saved approx. $7000 and was about to put it into the bank when I discovered my lockbox at home was missing. It seems my husband and I were robbed - monies I saved, collectible coins, birth certificates, two credit cards, etc. Anyway, someone had a nice Christmas that year. It sure wasn't us.
My husband and I worked for his father for a few years prior to our theft. It was basically all "under the table". Really dumb idea. Anyway, we had driven tractor trailer coast-to-coast for several years. We really enjoy our time together. We decided to come "off the road". We were only home 8-12 hours weekly and missed our home. When we did so, his father came to us with an "offer". Come to work with him at his home heating business in order to learn that business so that my husband could one day take over. For us, it was the ultimate dream of a lifetime; however, one thing stopped all that from happening ---- "daddy's girlfriend". Dad met an "Amish" girl and hooked up with her. You need to understand that in our community there are alot of Amish and this is one thing totally looked down upon but it made no difference to my father in law. My husband and I continued to work HARD (sometimes putting in as many as 70-80 hours a week) toward our promised goal. Without going a lot more into detail, my father in law decided his "girlfriend" was more important to him than his son. Things in the business got so unbearable that my husband and I both quit. We could take no more of his father blaming everything on the "Amish girl" and not taking responsibility himself for decisions he made (a major decision being leaving 50% of the business to the "girlfriend" and my husband splitting the other 50% with his estranged brother in Florida). That was our turning point and why we decided to quit. How can you work toward a promised goal when that goal was just taken away by no doing of your own
Since that time, my husband obtained gainful employment working for a company making pretty good money. Me, on the other hand, not being lucking in finding work. Until recenty, I have been cleaning homes (inside and out), painting, wallpapering, trimming hedges ... anything I could do to "make a buck" in order to continue paying our bills and keeping ahead. I say until recently because I injured my left arm (torn ligament in my shoulder) which does not allow me to do the work I was doing. Upon going to the doctor to get my arm checked, there was a complete blood work up done on me. I then find out I have Hep-C and am not sure where that is going to lead. I just had a liver biopsy last week. I go back to see that doctor in a couple weeks.
Anyway, that's a little background. The theft of our monies last December really set us back as that was our real estate tax money, money for a vacation we had planned (which we had to cancel), and just a little cushion to have in the bank. To date, seems everything has gone to pot. Now, I don't know where my next mortgage is coming from let alone groceries in the house, dr's bills, credit card bills, utilities, etc. Since 12/07 things have definitely been different. We lived off credit cards (stupidly) and have struggled to make any ends meet. We have a couple charge offs, bills that can't be paid with our current situation. My husband makes good money (probably about $75000/year) but we see no light at the end of the tunnel. We know we could afford to pay $1400 monthly to pay off everything we owe (including charge offs) if we had about 15 years to do so. I will be 49 years old this month. My husband is 37. We have plenty of time. HA! Bottom line, I'm at my wit's end and honestly don't know what to do. Credit card companies won't work with you .... thank God ... the banks for our car loan and mortgage have worked with us so far ... but we can see that coming to an end as well.
Just wanted to share a line with someone out there who can offer advise or help or whatever. Thanks for "listening".
