MasConcepts Incorporated

I live in the US Midwest. I have a lawyer; retainer is fully paid and I’ve done the class and the bankruptcy work book. After making my car payment and getting my medication refilled, I’m currently sitting on about $1400 to get me through the month.

Had my 2nd appt today to sign and file, but I got paid at the end of March and my lawyer wants me to spend down to under $500. Problem is, I only get paid once per month and when I’m not paying on my unsecured debt, I don’t have a lot of expenses relative to my income. I don’t own property, no mortgage or rent payments because I moved back in with my parents about a year ago & they won’t take money from me, not even for the family phone plan and car insurance.

I stocked the household fridge/pantry right at the end of March, and it’s going to be at least 2 more weeks before I’ll have enough room to justify another grocery trip, even if I shop at the most expensive store in town and buy the highest priced/smallest packages of food stuffs. I grabbed a couple of skincare products from my hair salon for just under $250 at the end of March also, before my paycheck hit. I’m actually out of pretty much everything for skin/hygiene but I’m worried the trustee won’t consider $70 moisturizer and $100 liters of shampoo and conditioner as legitimate expenses (even though they end up lasting me 5 months at a time) if I try to restock everything I’m running out of. I know I’m already toeing the line with my hair appt next week being around $150.

I can come up with about $600 in grocery/hair expenses for the rest of the month, assuming my hair and skincare aren’t considered unnecessary luxuries. That would leave me with around $200-400 to get rid of. Otherwise. it’s $800 to spend somewhere if the salon/hair products are a no-go.

Can I actually buy the products I usually use to help spend down, or do I need to switch to the cheap stuff and buy a new set of tires for my car instead? Bonus concern: I just found out last week that there’s a chance I’m going to get laid off in the next month due to budget cuts, so I really want to get my hair/skin products now while I still have the ability to do so.

What about contributing money to my HSA, or is that not considered a legit expense? I currently only have $200 pulled from my paychecks for my HSA, so I’m well under the contribution limit for the year. I’m getting close to needing new tires, but a full set is up to $1000 now for the basic 4 season set with the increase in prices and I’m still going to need at least $350 for groceries/gas before the end of April.

My lawyer suggested opening a retirement account, but I want to know what other options exist.