A few years ago, everything was going good, and I was making a good amount of money working at a law firm. When I changed jobs a couple years ago to work for a couple of friends at a law firm they were starting, everything fell apart. The law firm didn't work out. And my husband was a carpenter and wasn't bringing home the same amount of money.
I was starting to use the credit cards more and more to try to pay the bills, and then my husband died in January of last year. I was left with half an income, and had about $100,000 in debt. So I ended up having to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which finally went through in June of this year.
Before he died, he had given me an iPad, and we had a Corvette and some other nice things. But after everything happened, I had to downsize. Every bit of money I get now goes to pay payments on the bankruptcy [except for a small stipend].
After my husband died, I was lonely and needed something more to do. So I'm going to school to learn how to design web pages. That way I can supplement my income by doing web pages for people and clubs. Because of this, I currently owe around $8,000 in student loans.
Last fall, CNNMoney profiled people who found creative ways to tackle their debt -- from selling belongings to going on spending fasts. Here's how they're doing now.
