3 days ago, my wife and I were sitting in the attorney’s office, for our initial consultation on bankruptcy. I ended the meeting/consultation with the question “Will this information show up on the internet?” Bankruptcy is public record, so there is a chance that you can show up in Google, Yahoo!, Ask, MSN, etc. So then what I am I doing blogging about it? Well, for starters I’ll go by the pen blog name of Average Joe. Hi, I’m Average Joe. I’m a 34 year old married male from New York
, I live in an extremely overpriced suburb about an hour outside of Manhattan (to be exact). I have two children, a dog, 2 cars and a mortgage. Well, two if you want to get technical.

Oh yeah, the blog… I’m writing a blog because there are NO websites detailing the process, learning or discovery process from the eyes of person filing bankruptcy, or thinking about filing I guess I could say. Every website is boring, written from an attorney or is a “cookie cutter” website template with generic FAQ information on it.

So that’s what Follow My Bankruptcy is about. On this blog I will share with you the meetings, bills, questions and anything else that pops up, during the process. Maybe it will help me deal with the stigma of bankruptcy, maybe it will one day help you learn if you can keep your Dell computer that you purchased on your Dell credit card, that you’re about to file bankruptcy on.

As I mentioned, we met with the attorney three days ago. The initial consultation was free. If we do decide to go forward with the suggested Chapter 7, he requires $500 to start the process. An additional $2,000 is needed by the time we complete the bankruptcy. My only reason for scrambling to get him the initial $500 is because he’ll field all of our calls. Just think about it, a night without creditors calling. I’ll actually be able to pick the phone up again, without looking at the caller ID first. My biggest concern is that I don’t want to start the proceedings now, because I want our 2007 tax return. So, after the New Year, we’ll pay the $500 to start the process. He said it will take a few months, which will be enough time to get our tax return check.

Over the next few posts, I will disclose our bills and situation in more detail. I do encourage you to ask questions or post suggestions. I’ve left the post comments feature on, so please use it. They say blogs are a great form of conversation.

- Average Joe