Can't Focus on Income/Expenses

From your posts, I can't tell whether most of the people on PC are doing okay with their income and expenses or not. I'm talking just about getting a mental grip on what they are. My numbers frighten me so much that I can't even concentrate on them. The anxiety level goes sky-high. At some point, before the end, everything goes kind of squirrely in front of my eyes and I can't force myelf back together to get a grip on it. I have no cigarettes or liquor that usually help but for a day or two there won't be any money at all. I just found out today that I missed out on possible odd jobs by filing a certificate late. That's the kind of stuff I do. We don't have any money to hire a lawyer. And we'd like to stay in the house. That means Chapter 13 and paying out to creditors, when we don't have a dime over expenses available. Just facing this stuff is almost more than I can do. Without social security we'd have long ago lost everything, house included.

Make lists and goals, etc.; get it out of your head so it's like a workbook you can go through. Brainstorm and look into "free" lawyers/law students, etc. Check out: http://www.nfcc.org/ and http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD and http://www.justice.gov/ust/eo/public...eport_Rand.pdf

I am so sorry to hear of your financial problems. I totally understand what you are going through and how very scary this is.

I always think it better to let professionals guide us in areas where we are not specialized. I would recommend that you contact your local legal aid foundation and get legal counseling on whether or not bankruptcy is recommended. Hugs, Laurie

my investor guy ..no, i'm not wealthy..sent me an interesting article...to paraphrase, the banks are not running ppl out of their houses as fast now..why? the government has put something/penalties in place whereby it behooves the banks/lenders to let things ride cause they will lose more by putting ppl out than letting it stand as is. they will suffer major loses otherwise. well that's logical enough without the recent govt. thingy but nevertheless this is good news for some. i have friends who are living in their homes over one and a half years after foreclosure proceedings started and have gone to the final stage.
i know this doesn't turn out as well for some people but did want to share this with you. i will try to find the old email to paste in a post. course an exit plan is good if you can have one just in case for a little piece of mind.
sadly too many ppl are in your situation, gyrec. the thing that upsets me the most is that it seems there is no help from the powers that be to really stimulate our economy. i fear that our elected officials in washington are ignoring the problem, just me. i don't see any real solid proposals to get our workforce jumpstarted. the stimulus checks imho were a joke. right now the only ppl who have job security are our military. won't get into that controversial subject...i have 2 sons...one is struggling to put food on the table in calif. illegals have driven down the hourly wage til it's ridiculous. he's a college graduate but does menial labor to survive. the other son is career military, 21 years in. while his job is secure, he's been sent on 5 combat missions in 5 years. i stay worried for his safety. his medical reads "non-deployable" due to way too much damage to his body and no time to fix them medically but they are insisting he go for a new tour in afghan!!!!! they don't care about his bad health and they've said so in so many words.
as for your feeling paralyzed in a way, i believe your feelings are real. it is scary to not be able to see out of this deep well. idk about you but i pray, jme. there is very little one can do to fix this huge problem alone. however, if you set a priority list for obtaining work (in spite of your dismay)...and discipline yourself to follow thru, it may be fruitful. i am aware of your career background. you are quite accomplished. writing down a list of your assets professionally and reading this list whenever doubt creeps in may help too. like retraining your mind with the assets you do possess. i find it is easy for me to fall into false beliefs about myself. this excercise has helped me.
sorry for the long post. i hope something here may help.