MasConcepts Incorporated

I’m 29 and recently filed for bankruptcy. I’m trying to look at this as an opportunity for a fresh start and to rebuild my financial habits properly.

I used to be really good at saving and managing my money when I was younger, but over the last few years that changed quite a bit.

I had a number of unexpected family and personal issues come up. I helped family financially when they needed it, and I’ve never expected to be paid back because they’re family and they’ve helped me plenty over the years.

I also went through a very low point personally and developed a problem with gambling, which obviously made my financial situation much worse. I’m not saying any of this as an excuse for the decisions I made, it’s just where I noticed my relationship with money really started to change.

I was in a consumer proposal for about 9 months. Then, within a short period of time, my aunt passed away, my great-grandmother passed away about a month later, and two of our family dogs had to be put down a few weeks after that.

Between funeral costs and previous vet bills, I made the extremely stupid decision to take out a payday loans to help with expenses, paying down my already existing debt and other things (gambling). That only made an already difficult financial situation worse, and eventually I ended up filing for bankruptcy.

At this point, I want to stop dwelling on the mistakes and actually use the bankruptcy process to rebuild.
My long-term goal is to come out of bankruptcy with much better financial habits, rebuild my credit after discharge, build up savings again, and hopefully put myself in a position to become a homeowner a few years down the road.

For anyone who has been through bankruptcy or had to rebuild their finances from basically zero

**What habits would you recommend developing while I’m in bankruptcy?**

I’m especially interested in things I can start doing *now*, rather than waiting until I’m discharged.
One of my biggest problems is that when I pay all my bills and see money left over in my account, my brain treats it like “spending money.” I’ll end up wasting it on things I don’t need instead of saving it.

I currently bring home around $3,400/month and my monthly expenses are around the $1,200 mark.

I really want to break that habit and get back to being someone who is comfortable saving money and leaving it alone.

Any advice on budgeting, saving, rebuilding credit after discharge, controlling unnecessary spending, or just developing a healthier relationship with money would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the long post..