Help Me Turn My Bad Luck Around

A bit of bad timing and a bit of bad luck has left me with a large amount of debt that I am struggling to pay off.

Bad Timing  It all started in Mid 2008 when I learned that my job of 10+ years in biology research was ending August 31st, but my bosses were starting up a new project with private funding slated to begin with the new year. To cover bills during this period I planned to use my savings and do freelance work, work that I have been doing on the side since graduating from college. I had a number of freelance jobs scheduled through the fall, but as the economy got worse they started to be cancelled and by November I was barely working.

Bad Luck   The bad luck started in mid-December when the new project was postponed until spring time. I didn't think this would be too much of a problem. I filed for unemployment and thought that with a bit of care I could stretch my savings until the new start date. Then at the end of March the project was cancelled completely due to lack of funding, and I found myself with little money and no job prospects   I started sending out resumes looking for both permanent and temp positions , but got few interviews and no job offers. Aggravating matters was the fact that I lost contact with my old bosses after they moved away and couldn’t use them as references. It was't long before my savings ran out so I had to use credit cards to pay for the basics. Eventually the balances got too high and my income too low to make more than minimum payments.

Things are looking up. As the economy has improved I have managed to turn the freelance work in to a fairly steady job and I have high hopes of increasing the number of jobs I work. I am currently making enough to cover the basics expenses but not enough to pay down my existing debt.