Many people suffer from depression after the holiday season has ended. In part, this depression may be caused by Christmas spending. This holiday season, people in South Texas also face the challenges posed by a sharp, artificially manipulated, fall in oil prices. For many, this holiday season may be punctuated by temporary job loss, or cut backs, that limit income. In all situations where expenditures exceed income, people try all sorts of solutions. Cut backs, consolidations, invading retirement savings, second mortgages, are all types of solutions that people think about when faced with temporary job loss. Most people see bankruptcy as failure, a “last resort” and want to try to avoid it at all costs. However, just as the price of oil is often a strategic decision, so too, a decision about how to handle temporary insolvency must be a strategic decision. It is important to look at all the alternatives, and model the likely outcome, before making any choices. This means creating a realistic budget, predicting possible alternations in behaviors, exploring sources of temporary cash infusion and understanding your Bankruptcy alternatives. If adjustments won’t work, then a thorough understanding of how Bankruptcy will affect you is the next crucial step.