This time, I'm for real.

I realize I began this blog with every intention of being taken seriously in August of last year. A lot has happened since then - I left Los Angeles for Austin, Tx in order to pursue school, a relationship, and a less costly city to live in. In the six months since I moved here, it has come to my attention that it is necessary and right for me to file for bankruptcy. I simply cannot bear to make another credit card payment to my cards with 29.9% APRs and see the balance never go down. I'm paying almost $500/month in interest alone, and with the measly $1200/month or so I earn waiting tables at a family tex-mex joint, I can't afford that at all. I never could, but I've been draining my savings for six months and have realized enough is enough.

That said, I've also met with a couple of very nice bankruptcy attorneys this past week, and have been told that my case will cost me about $1800. That includes filing fees and credit counseling, but still. If I had $1800 in the bank still, I wouldn't consider myself broke. So as of today, I have decided that I'm going to file pro se. I'm also going to switch banks so as to protect my cash assets since I have a credit card with the same bank I do my checking.

I have been warned that due to the new bankruptcy regulations of 2006, filing pro se may not be the smartest option if I can scrounge up the money for an attorney, but I'm a smart girl. I'm sure I can figure it out. My book on filing chapter 7 should be arriving on Saturday, at which point I can begin the mountains of paperwork I'm sure this will entail.

Other preparations include buying a used printer/scanner off of Craigslist for $25 so as not to pay $1/page at Kinko's for my printouts of bank statements, filing forms, etc.

I'm also going to start tracking all of my spending in a little notebook. As wonderful as Mint.com and online banking can be for tracking where you spend your money, I am a waitress. My income is 99% cash. So 99% of my spending is untraceable via the internet. And rather than stop keeping cash on hand, because I like to use cash, I'm just going to track everything more closely. It's the first of the month, so I figure today is a good day to start.

A Rude Awakening

At 7:32 this morning, my alarm went off. As I went to hit snooze, I noticed that I had a text message. There's little I enjoy in the morning, but waking to a note from a friend tends to make it slightly more bearable, so I eagerly touched "view". I deleted the unpleasant message immediately, but it was something along the lines of "Message from Bank of America: This notice is to alert you that you have reached your low balance threshold. The balance of your account is $35." Mind you, it's only the 18th of the month.

Maybe that doesn't sound that bad, but considering I was sure I had about $1200 with which to pay this month's bills and to pay most of the rent/deposit on the apartment I am moving into in 2 weeks time, I was stunned. Normally I would have cried at something so devastating, but I was sure the bank had made a mistake. My direct deposit from 4 days ago had a problem or something so my paycheck was being held.

Immediately upon logging in to my online banking page, I saw that there was no error on the bank's part. Only on mine. I had foolishly assumed that my landlord had cashed my rent check by the 17th, but she had not. So I went ahead spending like that money was mine, when really it had already been signed away. So here I am, one paycheck coming before moving day, and nowhere near enough cash coming my way to pay for my life, bills, loans, rent, and deposit.

I've read about personal finance for years. Blogs, books, Suze Orman, etc. And I have always learned from it, but only have applied whatever is convenient at the moment. That has to change. This blog will document the journey I intend to make out of debt and into comfortable, stress-free saving with room in the budget to travel.