If you’ve been reading about bankruptcy for a while, you’ve probably seen lots of stories about unusual circumstances that forced people into bankruptcy.

You might have read about a guy who got into some kind of accident, or someone who contracted a tragic disease causing him to be unable to work.

You probably have seen at least one scenario where somebody ran a business, only to have the business fail and end up owing tons of money to creditors.

There are people whose families have taken advantage of them. There’s divorce, where one spouse is left destitute. There’s the girl who gets laid off and demoted. There’s the repossessed luxury vehicle. And the tragic circumstances go on and on, all leading to bankruptcy.

But all of these cases are more the exception than the rule. Even though each situation is relatively common, most bankruptcies we file on a daily basis are of the garden variety.

Here’s the story of just one client, whose case was simply ordinary. Chances are his case is a lot like yours.

Ordinary People

Our client was a single guy in his early thirties. He had never been married, and he had no kids. His work was his life. He worked at a radio station behind the scenes. He also moonlighted on occasion, doing audio for local concerts at a few venues around town.

All of this effort earned him around $35,000 per year. It was enough to pay for his one-bedroom condo, the maintenance on his paid-off Honda Accord, and the rest of his daily living expenses. He was left with enough at the end of the month to put a little towards a 401k plan.

In part 2 we will learn about why this “ordinary guy” had problems with debt, and how we helped him move on with his life as a debt-free individual.