Hey folks, so here's my situation in brief: I got off heroin and all the other drugs a little more than 6 months ago. Moved into an SLE and started working at a ubiquitous chain of convenience stores for barely more than minimum wage. Want to go to trade school or otherwise work towards being an electrician, eventually earn enough to go back to Berkeley and finish my BA (had to drop out with a medical withdrawal due to my relapse ~5 years ago, but apparently because of the circumstances I can return at any time in the future, sort of like a perpetual enrollment). My financial problems are as follows:
1) I am in default for my student loans. I owe around $40,000 and while living in a converted shuttle bus and shooting dope, just ignored any mail related to debts. Now they have began garnishing my wages at 15%; am wondering, as I look for a new, slightly better paying job, if I can renegotiate this situation with the Dept of Education.
2) I owe a number of fines for various crimes I committed while in my addiction. Mostly shoplifting and one vehicle registration charge. In my county, I owe about $1500 (just payed off one of them for $220 yesterday, and made the first payment on a $570 fine). $1000 of that is in collections, and of that, there is a $500 fine that appears to be the only thing holding up my license (which I lost due to a failure to appear). Getting my license back will help greatly with finding a better paying job, but I just don't have the means to pay the charge fully at this point, and according to the collection agency it needs to be paid in full (the full $1000, can't be separated even though it's only the one of two fines that's affecting my license). Is there a way to separate the two, or have them sent back to a judge and get them reduced or set new terms, or is it too late now that they're in collections?
3) What is a good way for me to begin saving a little bit of money from each paycheck, or is it more important to tackle my debts before trying to save anything? It is important for me to repay these things, since they are either crimes I committed and thus am responsible for, or debts I knowingly undertook (loans), and being accountable for them is important for my continued sobriety (part of making my "amends" from that time). But I also want to begin putting some money away for the future, because at this point I'm essentially living hand to mouth.
Not sure if this is even the right sub for all these questions, but any advice or direction would be much appreciated. Living in California if that helps.
Submitted October 20, 2017 at 04:07PM by BigMetalHoobajoob http://ift.tt/2zp5MBy
