Aaaaahh!!! A bonus!!

[bobbyquefour]

Does the bonus in anyway mess up your six month look back for income. Since you haven't filed yet, won't it have to be counted?

Go stock up on as much food as you can, get the cars serviced, etc.

I was thinking the same thing: Since you haven't filed yet and he already got the money, how will this NOT be added into your 6 month look back? Am I missing something?

[sadbutinneed]

It won't be in the 6 month look back if she files before the end of March since the look back ends with the last complete month, so that would be Feb 28th. If she files in April, then, yes, this 2k would be included.

[BCA2009]

New tires for the car.

Oil Changes.

Any home repairs needed (if you are keeping the house)

Dental Work.

Eye Glasses.

Shoes, clothes, household linens, cleaning supplies,

2K will be gone before you know it.

I can't believe I'm hearing a woman say she can't spend 2K in one week.

[JackBondLove]

You cannot prepay insurance or stock up on food for more than a month. I suggest that you consider dental work, new optometrical Rx & glasses, any maintenance on the cars that would need to be done sometime in the near future. How about any repair work that needs to be done on the house? Everyone could use some fill in the yard, etc.

[bobbyquefour]

It won't be in the 6 month look back if she files before the end of March since the look back ends with the last complete month, so that would be Feb 28th. If she files in April, then, yes, this 2k would be included.

I didn't know that......well, I guess I did, I just didn't think of it. Duh.

[momofthree]

That's nothing. I had to spend down a $4900 tax refund in 4 days! The key is to take out cash or cashier's checks and pre-pay your next month's expenses. Go down to your electric company, cable company, gas company, phone company, etc and pay next month's bill in cash/money order. Pay your mortgage, car payment, buy a gas card. Does your car need new tires, brakes, or a regular tune-up? Get it done.

You've already spent $600 of it, so you only have $1400 left to go. I'm sure you have regular monthly expenses of at least that much that you can pay for April....

[Depressed]

It won't be in the 6 month look back if she files before the end of March since the look back ends with the last complete month, so that would be Feb 28th. If she files in April, then, yes, this 2k would be included.

Does it actually say somewhere that it's based on the calendar month and not a six month period?


---- UPDATE ----

I went and looked and it does say calendar month on the means test at legal consumer.com

[Depressed]

You cannot prepay insurance or stock up on food for more than a month. I suggest that you consider dental work, new optometrical Rx & glasses, any maintenance on the cars that would need to be done sometime in the near future. How about any repair work that needs to be done on the house? Everyone could use some fill in the yard, etc.

Not necessarily true. It can vary by state. In Utah you can have up to a year of food. Insurance can also be paid up for a year. My homeowners and life insurance are annual policies paid upfront. Car insurance is paid all at once in advance for a six month period.

[helpmeout]

I was thinking the same thing: Since you haven't filed yet and he already got the money, how will this NOT be added into your 6 month look back? Am I missing something?

I filed 2/2010. The 6 month look back ended 1/31/10. Had I filed this month, the 6 month look back would have ended 2/28/10. The month you file is not included in the look back. Fortunately as I got a bonus the day after I filed (and the reason I filed early instead of on 2/26) that would have thrown off the 6 month look back even though I would have still been under the median if the whole year was taken into consideration.

[olivies]

Charity- another good option if you've taken care of what you need to.

[jdcat]

Thank you all so much! I haven't heard back from our attorney but his office is open on Saturdays and I'll be on the phone first thing in the morning. I am worried about the auto insurance thing. I need to know if I can pre-pay what's left on this period of our policy. We don't renew until November and I'd really like to pay off what's left but after reading some responses here I'm thinking I better get the go ahead from our attorney first. I'm really glad it was mentioned because I didn't know we may be able to only prepay one months worth.

We don't have time to make appointments with the vet or dentist unfortunately, I wish we did cause our dogs are due for their shots and until now we didn't have the money. Go figure! I need a filling and didn't have the cash for it but now that I do I can't have the work done! This just blows unbelievably.

Hubby cashed the check this afternoon, he didn't deposit it, so we'll be using cash or money orders for everything, that way we won't have the added stress of hoping checks clear the bank on time.

I've calmed down a bit but am still worried. I won't feel comfortable spending this down until I hear from our attorney. I don't want to do anything that could come back and bite us.

We just had all of our auto repair done with our tax refund too so that's a no go for us.

I just want this to be over with.

lalap123 wrote

Otherwise look at it this way...be grateful that you got money to get caught up and/or ahead on bills and other necessities (and that you can spend it without it counting towards your 6-month look back!!). If the trustee wants what's left, so be it. You'll be getting rid of your debt for a very small fraction of what's actually owed. And you never know - depending on what's left he may not even move to take it.

You are so totally right. If we end up not being able to spend this down for some reason, so be it. No regrets. Loosing a little is worth the trade for our financial well being. Wise words lalap.

[thereshope]

This is a big problem for us because according to the assistant we could be ready to go by Monday. And in order to keep this cash off of the six month look back we need to file by the end of the month. There is no way we can spend all of this by Thursday at the latest! I cannot believe this!.

Have you already paid all of your attorney fees?

[jdcat]

It turns out that my panic over this unexpected bonus was much ado over nothing. We did get it spent down with about $300 left over we can exempt.

Haven't heard a peep from our attorneys office to get us in this week so it looks like we won't be filed this month. Which I thought was the plan but obviously isn't. I'm a little disappointed at this point, but am giving our attorney the benefit of the doubt. I really wanted to file this month, but he doesn't seem worried in the least so I guess I shouldn't be either.

Now the wait continues....

[JEM]

Umm, you can't spend $2000 by Thursday? Are you kidding? Sure you can!!

LOL, I could spend it by tomorrow if I had too!

Jdcat, you'd be surprised at how fast it will go after a trip to Costco or Sam's (whatever is near you).

Fill up the cars with gas. Oil changes. Have the A/C flushed (or whatever they do. LOL)

Pay next months utilities, phone, water etc...

Pay 6 months of your auto insurance.

Get everyone in the family new socks and undies. New clothes or shoes.

Put a month or two in your kids' lunch accounts (if they buy school lunches)

Vet visits? Buy a few extra months of heartworm meds etc...

I bet once you write down the cost of all those things, you'll find you can spend all or most of it.

[jdcat]

Hi Jem-

We were able to spend the cash down. I didn't want to pay Aprils utilities in advance because I was worried that if we didn't get filed by today (which we didn't) then we'd have to do this all over again when we had no bills to pay in April and had all that cash on hand. We stocked up on cat/dog food/supplies, paid off 7 months of auto insurance, funded two months worth of lunch money for the kids, took the kids out to dinner twice, kids got shoes, bought a pre-paid gas card and splurged on a National Geographic subscription for $30.

We had been planning on using that bonus, which we usually get in July, to fix our above ground pool. Now we can't. Total bummer for the kids.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be trying to spend that cash down quickly. It was just so unexpected that I went into panic/flight mode.

I saw your thread about not being able to file yet and I wish for you and your husband better luck soon, that's got to be frustrating.