Last update: 1997-10-19 by dennette@wiz-worx.com
<Who is this "Dennette" person?>
I will be filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Federal court as soon as I can scrape together the $175 for court costs, plus $200 to have someone generate the paperwork for me to walk through the courts with my own flat feet.
At the moment, I have about $25,000 in unsecured debt which has accumulated since I was down-sized from a $54,000 a year job in 1972. That's only $5,000 per year, or $100 per week … $2.50 per hour beyond my means.
And what has been my means?
Well, for the first year, I got unemployment, which was $320 a week, down from over $1,000 per week when I had a job.
When my Job evaporated, I started consulting and selling software on the Internet. When I could get it, I made $33 to $50 an hour. I even got $15,000 from the US Navy in year end, "use it or lose it" money for a 22 page memorandum to correct a 97 page Performance Specification to conform to the latest version of a 600 page American National Standard. <whew!>
Then I had a stroke, and my parents started providing about $2,000 a month to my support, so call that $24,000 a year plus $5,000 to $15,000 per year at random.
I have been Doing Business As WiZ WORX since 1983, and since 1993, it's the only source of income I've had to report to the IRS. It's downward returns finally flatlined last year when I reported a negative income.
But it's my business that has been my downfall. To conduct business on the Internet from my home costs me about $250 per month in charges to The Phone Company (I have three phone lines; two are deducted in full), a couple of Internet Service Providers (I'm actually doing two businesses on the Internet), and the InterNIC (for my three domain names, one of which is a non-profit, of which I am the sole "employee").
Yeah, I've cut back on my living expenses, except for my rent, and that's a real ball-buster. I mean, it's more than I could earn at minimum wage, which would be $200 per week. But like I said, I was making $1,000 a week when I moved here, and it's the best place I could have been after I had my stroke and was living alone with my cat … a single floor dwelling with a garage for the car I couldn't drive. And a bathroom adjoining the bedroom.
But I have to give it up, because I can no longer be a drain on
my parents, who are aged and infirm. As generous as they have
been to me in keeping me alive by paying my rent and other bills
when I could not find a Job that paid even $24,000 … my gratitude
is choked by the knowledge that each dollar which they gave to
me should have been a dollar that I gave to them to provide for
their care.
Last update: 1997-10-19 by dennette@wiz-worx.com
<Who is this "Dennette"
person?>