Another Day

The Christmas Holiday is beyond us and now we are looking toward the New Year.

Christmas can be a very stressful holiday with the financial commitments and the family get togethers.

This year was much more stressful than most for me. My neighbor who has been fighting her battle with cancer died on the day before Christmas. Then my oldest brother was hospitalized with heart problems and was told there was nothing else they could do for him here and they were going to send him to Boston Medical Center. He is still waiting to be transferred and is scared for his life. Even though he is very ill, I'm feeling that he is going to be in the hands of experts in Boston and will do well.

On a lighter note my son is home for the holidays and I'm very happy to see him. He is enjoying the snow and skiing as much as he can before he goes back to his home in Texas. He tells me he really misses the seasons and the snow and can't wait until he is able to move back to an area that has snow. Kids are great and I really miss him when he leaves, it's hard when they grow up and move away, but that is why we educate them and put them through college, so they can be self sufficient.
Regarding my debt settlement, the holidays have been expensive and I've been unable to save much this month. I'm definately getting more aggressive and will be trying to save every dime I can until it's time to negotiate. I'm assuming that April will be the month I start negotiating as my Bank of America will be 120 days past due by then.
I purchased a "Privacy Corp" caller identification machine that I can program in annoying callers so my phone will not ring when they call and will go immediately to the answering machine. I will have to figure out who is calling first and then I can program the number into the machine. With the debt forums that I have read and the information there, some credit card companies call several times a day and I know that would be too stressful for me.

So here is to 2008, I'm hoping to successfully settle my credit cards by the end of next year. This process does take some patience and I must start planning my strategy for settlement soon. I'm trying to decide if I should write the creditors first and explain my situation and then wait a few months before I talk to them? Something to think about, I'm only 11 days late on my BOA, so it's too early to do anything yet, they haven't even emailed me, which surprises me.