Life’s Lessons

With the pressing economic issues especially in the US, a lot have been affected. Hubby’s HS classmate and his family who’s based in the US for years went home when they were affected by the recession. Sad, but true. Their house was foreclosed, his wife lost her job. It would be hard for them to continue living in the US with their kids so they went home to start a small business for them to survive. Life’s that hard. I can’t imagine myself in that situation. It’s depressing that the house you have worked hard for will be taken back by the bank. What’s good in their case is that they can apply for Chapter 7 bankruptcy wherein unsecured debts will be eliminated. But qualifying for the Chapter 7 bankruptcy depends on the income. So they should check first with the current median income chart if one is qualified to file for bankruptcy or not. There is a set income limit depending on the civil status and number of dependents per state. Hence people can refer to the chart to know if they are qualified or not.

Talking about that Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, I wish this also applies to us here. As of the moment, only the business establishments can file for bankruptcy, but not private individuals. If the country will face recession (God forbid!), should implementation of filing for bankruptcy possible? I just wish it is! So people will not be too burdened with their unsecured debts like those from credit cards.

Have you ever been in a situation where you need money really fast but had no idea where to get it? What about just wishing you could join your friends on that cool vacation but can’t afford it? In some cases it might just be a good idea to take out a Check advance and go for it!! Come on! Admit it, you have been there! We all have, and it’s no use being embarrassed about it, it happens to the best of us. Over the last year I have been in a unusual situation. I have not been working much in the past year because I am staying home to take care of my husbands mother. We are newly weds and recent college graduates, we both got great jobs after graduation but shortly after his mother fell ill and we decided that since I was making the least amount of money that I would cut back on my job to take care of his mom. Well in retrospect that was a great idea, but as you can imagine, I have grown quite weary of the situation and it has cost us a lot of money. On the same note, I absolutely adore his mother, but care like this would better be left in the care of a nurse (something we can’t afford).

A few months ago, a couple of college girlfriends called me to see if I wanted to join in on a fun trip to an all inclusive resort. I of course came up with a bunch of lame excuses and declined, I said that if anything changed I would let them know. Well, as soon as I hung up the phone and heard my mother in law call out my name, something changed alright! MY mind!!! I called her back up, and I said "you know what? Count me in". I had no idea where I would get the money, I didn’t really care what my husband would say, I know that he knows I deserve it. So I took out a cash advance from a Advance Cash company. It was a crazy idea, but you know what??? It was darn worth it!!! I had a blast and let go of all the stresses in my life and just had a blast with the girls. As it should be!

Sometimes you just have to stop being so uptight and do something spontaneous. Now I’m thinking about doing something like this more often. I’ve decided that no matter how little money I make, and how little time I have, that I need to put some me time in there somewhere. Finances will never be perfect, there’s never a good time for anything. you know what I mean? So why not just let go and do something fun and inhibitious. I can certainly tell you that I can back very refreshed and in a better mood. My husband noticed and his mother noticed, and he even said he would like to come along with me next time.

The shiny, little plastic card is so tempting to use especially if there’s a mall wide sale or there’s only the last pair of your favorite shoes. With its instant access to funds, you find it so convenient to just “swipe” totally neglecting the fact that a monthly bill will soon be on the way.

Here’s the thing with credit cards: it gives you the opportunity to acquire something even if you don’t have the money for it. But this is the catch, payments along with an interest rate is something that you’ll need to pay on a monthly basis. Credit card debt is a major financial problem that most people are facing right now. Be it because of unforeseen events or just poor judgment and overspending, the number of delinquent payments is fast rising.

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