Minimum Payment Hell

Ok, so Chuck and I are stuck in "Minimum Payment Hell" and there seems to be no escape. I have several bills left over from my divorce, plus my (already re-financed) vehicle payment, insurance, and a lawyer to repair the child support damage that I am still paying for (if you don't know that story, ask me another time). Because of these bills, and living in the middle of nowhere (with a gas-guzzling-machine that I REFUSE to get rid of), we are barely able to make ends meet. When ends do finally meet at the end of the month, we spend what little we have left to buy a handful of groceries and pray it gets us buy until we can do it all over again. No, this is NOT a sympathy ploy, and no, we do NOT want people to send money! This is just the basis for explaining WHY we've developed The Plan.

I've tried for part-time jobs, but after spending a lot of time applying everywhere online, and then spending valuable Saturdays applying in person to everywhere that I could think of, I finally gave up. I began noticing that I'm older than a lot of the MANAGERS in those places (if one more teeny-bopper-hostess-girl calls me Ma'am and looks down her nose at me, I promise, I'll break her face...). Eventually, I sensed my own hostility and decided to call it a day and go home.

We've looked everywhere that we could think of for an appropriate home (and we have lowered our standards a LOT) in order to save money through rent. But, once we pay a deposit on the house, and more on utilities, gas/trucks/food for moving, etc., then we're not really going to be any better off than before. So, we gave up on that angle.

So, Chuck and I have decided to sell off pretty much everything we own, and live off of the kindness of others for several months. By saving $700/month in rent, plus utilities, we are hoping to pay down/or pay off some of these bills! We do have a tent, and some other things that will make this slightly less of a challenge. He has a sister and his parents in this area that we may stay with. Otherwise, this will be an interesting experience.

Occassionally, we may splurge and get an inexpensive hotel room, but otherwise, we will be nomads.

Hippies.

Homeless.

(Don't freak out, Mom. It will be ok.)

I'm not going to lie. The whole prospect scares the hell out of me. I do look forward to getting rid of bills. Not always knowing where we will be "a week from today" will be a whole other story.
Right now, we are going to be working on selling everything we can, and putting the rest in a very small storage unit. Carley will be spending a couple of weeks with us towards the end of July, and when she goes home on July 31st, we move out.

That being said, we will be looking for friends to let us stay at their home or camp in their back yard for a couple of days (or even weeks) at a time. We are willing to house-sit as well, if anyone is going out of town. We are respectful and respectable. We are honest and hard working. Please pass the word around to anyone that lives within an hour's drive from where we currently live! Thank you!