It feels great to have everything paid up!

So much has changed since my last post. I don’t know where to start. I have been meaning to keep up with it all here but these past few weeks I have been, well um, going through a lot. A mixture of  family stuff(hey-I am a mother of a teenage girl-need I say more?lol) and personal challenges have had me bummed these past few weeks. However, my husband and I have been really sticking to our financial goals and it seems to be paying off.

So what I did, rather than sit around and mope, I took a good look at where we were a year ago and where we are now and I am darn happy with how far we have come! This is the first month in forever that all of our bills are caught up and we have money left over each week. In fact, we are saving money all around! I have really stuck to a budget and have been able to save. No more bounced checks-no more late fees. It feels nice.

What is even sweeter is, a few months ago my husband was visiting my father-in-law and a friend at his shop. He noticed a newer car had been sitting there untouched for at least 1 year so he asked questions about it. Apparently the owner dropped it off to get work done to it and ended up leaving the country and told them to keep the car. So my husband told them a good car is sitting there just going to waste (hint, hint). They should figure out legally what they can do to take ownership of the car.

They had the keys to it but with no paperwork-it is useless. Apparently they found out they can do a “mechanics lien”. Don’t know much about it but once my father-in-law found out we no longer have the CRV, he has been pushing to get this car. He called us to tell us we should have an answer within 2 weeks! He has been working on this for months, I really did not think us getting the car was even possible but if we do-WOW! A 2000 Toyota, paid off all for the cost of about $250 for paperwork… that’s if all goes through! That would be awesome.

As far as our bankruptcy, no discharge paper yet. We should possibly get that next month. I did however start getting calls from 1 particular collection agency. I had their calls blocked so they went right to voicemail. I heard the 20 messages they left me in the past week! So I unblocked their number and will answer when they call. I don’t know what creditor they are calling for but I looked up this collection agency and they do a lot of collections and have a very bad reputation for harassment and breaking the law. I think they may be handling my Chase account. I am definitely going to answer and have my case # on me to give to them so they know I filed BK and stop calling. Apparently these guys play dirty-I sure hope not. If I have problems with them, I will post the name here but I will be fair for now and give them the benefit of the doubt that they may be unaware of my BK filing.

Another thorn in my side is American Honda Finance. After we filed BK last month, I called them to see the exact amount I should pay because I was disputing some late charges. I was told they could not help me at the regualr number but they will give me over to the bankruptcy department. I spoke with a rather short on the phone guy who told me to wait for my reaffirmation paperwork. It still hasn’t come. What I did get though was an email from my attorney with a copy of a fax from American Honda Finance telling him that we need to pay ASAP or make arrangements to surrender the vehicle OR they may elect to file a Motion for Relief from the Automatic Stay. This means they can start collection efforts up again or repo the car.

Wouldn’t you know though, the total they gave him was minus the late fees I was disputing? Couldn’t they just tell me that over the phone? I had the money and I was going to pay them. Either way, they are paid but that just really ticked me off.

As far as the personal challenges I am facing, I am working on them. I can see that debt did play a large roll in many other aspects of our lives. I lost focus on a lot of things because all I thought about was DEBT. Everything else seemed to take a backseat.  Not anymore. No way. Why?

I almost forgot to wish everyone a Happy Easter. We are home and plan on staying in. My husband worked overnight last night and he is out like a light. It is just too darn hot here to do much of anything. We plan on watching a movie later, eat our Easter Dinner and have a nice quiet day indoors where it is nice and cool.