After what has seemed like forever, but really has been only four months, we've been discharged!!! 
Thank you SO much to everyone on the forum that took the time to answer my questions and listen to my venting. We have learned a LOT from this site and its wonderful members and, frankly, I think we know more about the process than our attorney. (Note: everyone on here says to interview more than one attorney. Do that. Do not go with the first guy you meet with because he makes you feel ashamed and you want him to like you so you hire him. Do not make our mistake--which made the whole process a lot more stressful. If you live in Northern Ohio, PM me if you want to know his name.)
What I've learned is that anyone can end up here. My husband makes a very good living and I was doing great in my freelance business. We thought that we could afford it all and that the debts we were building up were just because we had two small children in daycare/preschool and that expense would go away once they were in school. Reality was that we were living on a razor's edge and every time an unexpected expense came along, we had no choice but to put it on a card. And when you keep putting things on cards, you're building a house of cards--and they always collapse.
Odd as it might sound to someone who's never gone through this, I'm actually grateful for all of it. It would be better to have had good savings habits throughout the years we were both working full-time and didn't have kids, but at least we've learned the lesson now and not another 20 years down the road. We've learned that the way our parents raised us to think about money isn't correct and now that we've been taught this important lesson, we need to pass it on to our children. We need to talk to them about our finances and give them a realistic sense of what we can and cannot afford. Like others have said here on the forum, it's ridiculous that so many kids graduate from high school and college without having any idea of how to budget, how to save, and how finances work. (True story: when I started college and had my first bank account, I took $40 out of the ATM and it wasn't until hours later that it clicked with me that it was the same as writing a $40 check. Warning bells should have gone off then.)
To wrap all this up, I'm just really thankful--for the support we've gotten here and for the lessons we've learned. And I hope that all of you who are still on the other side of the discharge fence climb over it soon. I'll keep stopping by and if anyone has specific questions about our Cleveland BK experience, please PM me.
Best,
Suzie
Thank you SO much to everyone on the forum that took the time to answer my questions and listen to my venting. We have learned a LOT from this site and its wonderful members and, frankly, I think we know more about the process than our attorney. (Note: everyone on here says to interview more than one attorney. Do that. Do not go with the first guy you meet with because he makes you feel ashamed and you want him to like you so you hire him. Do not make our mistake--which made the whole process a lot more stressful. If you live in Northern Ohio, PM me if you want to know his name.)
What I've learned is that anyone can end up here. My husband makes a very good living and I was doing great in my freelance business. We thought that we could afford it all and that the debts we were building up were just because we had two small children in daycare/preschool and that expense would go away once they were in school. Reality was that we were living on a razor's edge and every time an unexpected expense came along, we had no choice but to put it on a card. And when you keep putting things on cards, you're building a house of cards--and they always collapse.
Odd as it might sound to someone who's never gone through this, I'm actually grateful for all of it. It would be better to have had good savings habits throughout the years we were both working full-time and didn't have kids, but at least we've learned the lesson now and not another 20 years down the road. We've learned that the way our parents raised us to think about money isn't correct and now that we've been taught this important lesson, we need to pass it on to our children. We need to talk to them about our finances and give them a realistic sense of what we can and cannot afford. Like others have said here on the forum, it's ridiculous that so many kids graduate from high school and college without having any idea of how to budget, how to save, and how finances work. (True story: when I started college and had my first bank account, I took $40 out of the ATM and it wasn't until hours later that it clicked with me that it was the same as writing a $40 check. Warning bells should have gone off then.)
To wrap all this up, I'm just really thankful--for the support we've gotten here and for the lessons we've learned. And I hope that all of you who are still on the other side of the discharge fence climb over it soon. I'll keep stopping by and if anyone has specific questions about our Cleveland BK experience, please PM me.
Best,
Suzie
Here you go:
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