Timeline
Late 2005
- Sold both houses (profits went right into checking)
- Started working on fixing up new house (used profits from house sales)
- Started planning wedding (used profits from house sales)
- Paid land contract for new house
March 2006
- Moved into new house
- Mortgage #1
June 2006
August 2006
- Wedding
- Started planning honeymoon
- Money from house sales all used up
October 2006
- Honeymoon in Ireland (paid 1/2 with credit)
November 2006
- Lost my job ~ five full months severance/benefit continuation
Winter 2007
- Did some job searching and some freelancing
- Cashed out 403(b) from job ~ put 25% into a one-year CD to cover taxes next year
- Husband's job slowed down; missed paychecks
- Court/custody hearing heated up
Spring 2007
- Severance ran out end of April
- Got catastrophic health insurance for all of us
- Started receiving unemployment checks
- Husband's job picked up
- Custody hearing in court
- Dad diagnosed with cancer
June 2007
- Offered two part-time jobs = 40 hours/week
- One offered AWESOME benefits to start after 30 days
- Custody hearing resolved in our favor
July 2007
August 2007
- Family trip to DisneyWorld (financed by credit cards; thought we'd be okay paying back)
September 2007
Fall 2007
- Husband's business slowed waaaay down; missing paychecks
- My current paychecks were more than unemployment, less than what I'd been making a year previous
December 2007
- Husband/father-in-law's business closed doors
- Husband went on unemployment
- Christmas went on credit
Winter 2008
- Times are tight
- Husband job searching
Feb/March 2008
May 2008
- Financed two new-to-us cars
June 2008
- One of my part time jobs was cut (the one with awesome benefits)
- Started receving partial unemployment checks
August 2008
- Had to start making car payments - ouch
Fall/Winter/Sping 2008/2009
- Reached a status quo ~ situation stable, using too much credit
May 2009
- Husband's job ended when business closed
- He starts receving unemployment
Summer/Fall 2009
- Husband job searching
- House hit by lightning; homeowner's insurance deductible is too high, have to cover $1,500 worth of repair/replacement out of pocket
- Payments start being missed/late
- Creditors start calling
- Mom starts supplementing car payments
October 2009
January 2010
- Husband laid off
- Payments continue being late/missed
- Creditors calling daily
- Meeting w/lawyer about child support; first time bankruptcy brought up
April 2010
- Husband starts new job
- Creditors still calling daily
- Payments on credit cards falling behind
June 2010
- Pull the trigger on the bankruptcy
It took us four and a half years to get to this point; I'm hopeful that in another four and a half years, we'll have it turned around (or at least well on the way).
