Free Financial Planning Contest to Win $5K to pay off your Holiday Bills!

Fortunately (though unfortunately for this contest) I didn’t spend an exorbitant amount over the holidays.

One year after my wife and I got married we bought our first house. I quit my job for a month to cash in my 401K to payoff my credit card debt to get approved for a home loan. Unfortunately, the only good thing that came out of this was I got my job back. The payoff credit cards still reflected as a blemish on my credit report. I didn’t qualify for the home loan. And I got hit with a 20 or 30 percent penalty on the withdrawal and hit again on the following tax year. Fast forward seven years. After losing the job I got back, I was unemployed for over a year. We sold the first house just short of foreclosure. We still have that blemish also. The new job paid half of my old salary. So we moved in with in-laws and a housemate. At this point, manhood is starting to waver. I continue to slowly climb the corporate ladder. In 4 years, I have only moved up $15,000. I’ve still got another $15,00 to get back to where I was. I now have a more expensive house than the first but with a better interest rate. Since my wife stays home with our youngest son, all the bills fall on me. She has two credit cards that I was trying to pay on with the mortgage, two student loans, and ever rising gas prices. My car finally broke down after a year and a half of vibrating my way to work. And I found out recently that my mortgage payments are going to increase about $150 in a few months. As if I needed anything more to justify my financial crisis, one of my student loans is now 2 months past due. I guess since I just found all of this out three weeks ago, that’s my late Christmas present.

It’s like women are the holiday directors at home – if I don’t get the cards, address sign and send them, go shopping for groceries, decorate the house, and cook the meal – then there is no holiday.

I took off this year. I didn’t send anyone gift baskets. We didn’t buy each other gifts. We sat at home in front of the warm glow of the tv not calling anyone while stuffing Papa John’s in our faces.

It was the best Christmas ever.

I am a 32 year old unemployed…female. I was laid off from my job on March 31, 2008… And now i’m on unemployement and disability… I haven’t had a job since than…I’ve been looking for positions but I haven’t gotten one because of the economy….My total income is not enough to live on…I don’t have enough to go out or even for presents because I’m paying my bills, my car and my credit cards…Not only is this going on but I feel hopeless…My mother just got diagnosed with Breast and Brain cancer in September of 2009…This was devistating…I tried do do a fundraiser for her to get money for her for the holidays….This money I thought would help my family pay for more stuff she needs when she goes through her chemotherapy… I had to buy her depends and alot of stuff so I charged it…and paying my 2 credit cards slowly… We did get a donation for $500 dollars for my mom and we spent $150 of it for her healthcare products…Unfortunatetly someone stole the rest of the money from my purse and I was devistated…I feel like my holiday and my mom’s is ruined…I became more and more depressed bcuz of what happened and I think the 5K would give me a breather…so I can believe that it can get better and I can have a second chance. I will make it better on my own, but a kick in the right direction would be appreciated. Oh, and the holiday tie-in is that this Christmas was the first where I actually felt defeated because not only was I not able to buy my family presents but I also have to collect that money back that way my mom does not know that it was stolen… I haven’t felt in the christmas mood because of so many problems going on…and this one was the biggest of them all…Well, I’m still hoping that someone will help me so me, my mother and my family have a nice christmas without worrying…

Love, Christina