There can life after bankruptcy if you work on dealing with your money and other issues. This is proven as MLC interviews Friedrich (not his real name) who went through bankruptcy and has since fixed his Money Life.

MLC: You’re successfully self-employed so it surprised me to hear that you went through bankruptcy some time ago. Tell me what happened.

FRIEDRICH: I was in my early twenties, about a year after I came to Vancouver. I was simply living a lifestyle I couldn’t afford. I would buy things that I wanted, knowing I couldn’t afford them, but at the same time ignoring the voice in my head that was warning me to stop. I put everything on my credit cards. I was using one credit card to pay off another.

MLC: Did you stop payments and have collectors come after you?

FRIEDRICH: No, it didn’t come to that point, thank goodness. I tend to feel guilty about not doing things right. That guilt got so bad when my car broke down, I didn’t have the money to get it fixed or pay off my credit cards even with the credit juggling. I decided then I needed to do something about my situation.

MLC: So you decided to declare bankruptcy. Couldn’t you go to family for help first?

FRIEDRICH: No, my parents bailed me out of debt twice already, the first time as a teen when I couldn’t pay off my credit card bills and another time when I blew my student loans on booze and partying. I couldn’t graduate until I paid the school $3000. I didn’t want to go back to my parents for help, so I went to a credit bureau.

MLC: You mentioned uncontrolled spending and partying. What kind of lifestyle were you leading and what were you thinking during that time in your life?

FRIEDRICH: Yes, I as partying all the time: living life not caring what tomorrow would bring. When I wanted something I bought it. I realized after the whole bankruptcy experience that I had some emotional problems to deal with; that the emotional issues were what caused my uncontrolled spending and money problems. The spending was just one way that I coped, and it was a distraction from what was really going on with me and how I felt about myself.

MLC: So bankruptcy opened your eyes to this?

FRIEDRICH: In a way, you see, when I declared bankruptcy, the credit bureau kept tabs on me. They followed my spending for months after that. I had to do a budget and stick to it, I had to write down each and every item I bought and why. What it did was not allow me to spend, cope, self-medicate, whatever you want to call it, like I was doing before, therefore forcing me to deal with the real issues at hand.

MLC: How do you deal with your finances today? Do you still buy things you don’t need?

FRIEDRICH: Yes, I do buy things I don’t need, but only on occasion. The difference is, if I see something I want, I think about it first. Is it something I really want or is it something that will make me feel better at that moment, and then I couldn’t care less about the item in a few hours or days? And I only buy it if there’s room in my budget. I still use that same budget tracking system I learned from the credit bureau years ago.

MLC: And emotionally, how do you cope nowadays? Are you happy now?

FRIEDRICH: I deal with what’s bothering me, I feel the feelings I need to and go from there. So yes, on the whole, I am very happy now.

* Bankruptcy laws may differ depending on where you live. Please check with your local bank, a local accountant or credit bureau about laws in your area if you are considering filing bankruptcy.

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