Once you’ve figured out where you spend your money, and allocated an amount to each element, make sure to keep paying your non-bankruptcy-related accounts. Student loans, for instance, usually can’t be discharged and must still be honored.
Develop new credit. Building your credit up again is going to be an uphill battle, no doubt about it. One of the easiest ways to start is by applying for retail and gas credit cards, since these usually have less stringent requirements than other unsecured cards. Other credit cards with higher qualification standards may also be an option, since the fact that you can’t declare bankruptcy again for seven years may help your odds of approval. Another option is a secured credit card or loan. These do require a security deposit (hence the “secured” bit) but many offer the option of switching you to an unsecured card after a year or so. A third option is getting a co-signer with good credit. If you do go this route, the pressure to keep up with your payments is even stronger, since defaulting affects not just you, but your co-signer.
