My name is Michael and I’m hoping that enough people out there want to help make a miracle happen. 

I’m a 41 year old single father of an amazing 4yo son who I share 50/50 custody of with my ex-wife. I have a Masters Degree in Educational Policy from ASU and have spent the last 18 months working insanely hard to prove I could learn and be successful in a completely new career field…. 

And as much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m drowning and desperately need some help.

Background:

In July/August of 2021, about a month after my son had been born, my (now ex)wife had taken my 2011 BMW 550i to work. At the end of the day, she was on her way to pick up our son and she was rear-ended on the freeway at 75mph. Although my car was totaled, it protected her enough to ensure that she walked away with no serious injuries.

We were both grateful that our one month old son was not in the car, but also that she was driving my BMW because it probably saved her life. Knowing that, and being a married couple with a decently high combined income, we decided to trade in our other vehicle, and buy a 2015 535i and a 2014 i3.

They say hindsight is 20/20.

The Separation and Divorce:

About a year after we financed the cars (in our own names), my marriage abruptly ended. I refuse to point fingers or get into the weeds of why, but no good marriage ends in divorce and even though I didn’t know it at the time, her calling it quits was actually the best possible outcome because I didn’t realize how burnt out and depressed I was by the end of it, and had she not done what she did, I would’ve spent the rest of my life miserable….

But financially, without any warning, I was suddenly left with $2,500/month deficit. If it wasn’t for moving into a house with other people, and the help of my best friends, I don’t know if I would’ve survived.

To make matters worse, two and a half weeks after our divorce was finalized, I lost my job at the company I had been with for six years. I was already barely getting by and in a blink of an eye, I had pretty much lost everything.

My car itself became a drain almost immediately. We bought at the height of COVID supply chain issues when used car prices spiked… meaning I ended up financing $33,000 after it was all said and done and about a year later, it was worth less than half of that.

The Survival:

For almost an entire year, I struggled to find a full-time job. It became competitive market and even with all my Operations and Management experience, my Masters in Educational Policy was trying to compete with applicants with MBAs.

I started doing gig work… delivering for Uber Eats and Door Dash. I took a seasonal job as part of the Special Elections Board with the county and drove around helping elderly voters fill out their ballots.

But the truth is, the inability to find a job took a huge toll on my mental health and put me in such a deep hole financially that I was hiding the car so it didn’t get repoed and was days away from filing for bankruptcy.

I didn’t give up. When I wasn’t looking for a job, I went on a mission to better myself. I lost 150 pounds, and put my diabetes into remission, by focusing on bettering myself physically and mentally…

and earned a professional certificate in Data Analytics from Google… 

The Current Situation:

Accruing all the debt from my divorce while abruptly going from a dual income household (and bills) to trying to survive on unemployment, I was left in a deep hole.

Many of my credit accounts defaulted as my credit score tanked. But for almost two years, I’ve been working with National Debt Relief and have already paid off a significant portion of those defaulted loans.

I was kind of surviving, until June of this year when my ex-wife had some significant changes professionally which resulted in me being required to give more than 10% of my paychecks to child support.

Now? Less than two weeks before Christmas, I’ve abruptly lost the job I’ve had for the last 18 months. I’ve tried really hard to stay afloat but the water was already over my head and now I’m unsure if I can pull myself out of this. 

The Ask:

I just need some help. I was living paycheck to paycheck but not because I wasn’t working hard. I often was working 12-16 hour days, weekends, and holidays while on salary so never earning overtime. 

I may be able to qualify for unemployment ($265/week in Arizona I believe?) which will cover my rent but literally none of my other bills. Literally anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated and Mae an immense and immediate difference.