"My Kids Are Going Without" (I'm $100,000 In Debt)

Zander shops all the top term insurance companies to save you money. Get started at zander.com. I started listening to the Ramsey show in 2020 when I was incarcerated. And when I got out, I started doing things the right way. And then I lost my job and fell back into debt and found another job, but it didn't pan out. Fast forward for failed jobs later. And I get hit by a train. This was last this past June. And you got hit by a train. Yes, sir. Bro. Your life is a love of country song, man. So I'm used to doing mostly manual labor in my life. I recently got married. So that's a plus. My wife and I combined finances and I'm going through all of our debts the other day. And I'm realizing that we're one hundred thousand dollars in debt and I can't work yet. And so I started looking for a part time job recently. She only makes twelve fifty an hour, so she doesn't really make a whole lot as far as income. She's had a really hard time keeping a steady job. And so the last four years and I just don't I don't know what to do. I don't know where to turn. I'm I'm at a loss. I'm I've I've crawled my way out of debt three times in my life and I I'm beside myself right now. On top of that, I have a seven hundred fifty dollar a month child support obligation that I am unable to pay. So my kids are going without and I'm I'm just beside myself. Hey, brother, I want to applaud you for calling, man. This is a hard phone call, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. I'm grateful that you called. So some of the debts are she's got five thousand dollars, almost six thousand dollars in student loans. They have been deferred until this year. And so now she's having to start paying on those. And because I've been in and out of work for about two years now, I'm already got back child support debts. So how much? I've got about ten thousand dollars on one kid and about five thousand on the other. Let me ask you, dude, the way you're asked, you're telling us your story. You fell into debt. You got like the jobs went away. If you're to look in the mirror and take full ownership here, why do you keep getting laid off of work? Are you not showing up on time? There's construction going. I was just in Lubbock a couple of weeks ago. There's construction projects all over the place. So I recently moved to Texas. I got hit by the train. My wife is from a little small town outside of Lubbock. And so when I got hit by the train, she was already here. I just moved in with her. What's your medical status? When are you going to be able to get back after it? There's so much opportunity for those who will pick up a shovel and get after it in Lubbock, Texas. Well, like I said, I'm already looking for a part time position. Well, abilities. I have a fused elbow. And so shoveling is not exactly. Yeah, it's really challenging. When that happened, I mean, I don't know any other way to say it, so I don't want it to sound rude. But were you at fault or was there fault? Is there any thing that's going to come up? I was definitely at fault for the train accident. I found myself making $50 a week at the sales position. It was a traveling door to door sales position where they promised the world and never deliver. So I was making $50 a week and barely able to have food. She was working the same job with me and she couldn't make it either. So she decided to go home. And I had seen what happens when people leave the company when they don't have anything. So I wasn't about to get dropped off at a bus station with nothing. And so I tried to jump a train home and it didn't work. It was going faster than I thought and it caught me. So let me ask you this. Are you ready to change everything? Absolutely. If you only knew, my friend. Okay. All right. So here's my call out. Number one, when you get off this call, I want you to call over to Family Counseling Services. I think they're off Avenue Q over there in Lovett. Okay. And they have sliding scale and they support folks who are struggling financially, but you got to get in and sit with somebody. You got a lot of demons in your back. Right? Yeah. Okay. Number two, you can't kind of look for a part-time job. You've got to make it your life's mission to get two jobs by the end of this week. And I'm putting that pressure on you because I think you can, and they're not going to be fun and you're going to be exhausted and you're going to be sore. But I want you to commit to it because what you need right now more than anything is a bunch of little wins. And these debt collectors can ask all day long, but bro, you got kids and I want to get those guys squared up. And you do too. I can hear your voice, right? Yeah. All right. So let the bill collectors keep calling you for a minute. You don't have anything anyway. And your wife has got to either get the help she needs, or she's got to make a commitment. I'm going to go get a second job. I can't just putter by on $12.50 an hour. She's actually about to get a $9 an hour, well $8.50 an hour raise. Awesome. Yep. As soon as she gets this test done. Okay. Listen to me, Jade and I are going to give you and her the premium every dollar app because you know as well as I do. We already have the premium every dollar app because we're in financial peace university currently through our church. Sweet. All right. The worst thing that can happen is y'all get an $8 an hour raise or a $9 raise and you don't budget it because it will disappear faster than you get it. Right? Right. So we're going to be, we're going to be militant in our discipline when it comes to our spending and our budgeting. And we're going to have to go for walks. We're going to have to go over there to Sevier Park and go for, I mean, go for walks together. We're going to have to get a, I don't know, a soccer ball and kick it. We're going to have to do stuff that didn't cost any money because that's where we are right now. Right? Right. And if you'll go get a job, you'll go get two jobs and you commit to a year of being uncomfortable. You're already uncomfortable. Commit to being uncomfortable in a direction that's going to change your life. Right. You get what I'm saying? Yeah. Go sit down with a counselor over there who will work with you and say, I'm ready to change some of the stuff I've been put, sit down some of that crap I've been carrying for all these years. You get what I'm saying? Absolutely. We both think you can do it, man. Also, you know what? Hang on the line. We're going to send you a copy of Ken Coleman's Find the Work You're Wired to Do. I want you to take the career assessment inside of it. It's incredibly insightful and begin to ask yourself, not just after a year of survival jobs, what do I actually want to do? What can I do in this local community here in this great city of Lubbock, Texas? What can I do that's going to contribute to the city, to the people who've been where, like who are where I used to be? And now you're talking about changing everything in your life, but you need some little wins, brother. Hang on Zander is the best place to find term life insurance to protect your family. Visit zander.com for quotes today.