I'm not trying to talk you out of it, but I've heard this line before "bankruptcy will be a clean slate for me".
I've heard that from people. Let me just explain to you, that it is most certainly not a clean slate.
If you get a new job, and you have to move to a new location, or someone dies, or something happens in the family that forces you to move....
You will have an exceptionally hard time finding a new place to live. That bankruptcy will be on your record for 7 full years. During that time, they will see "this person dodges their responsibilities".
People that know nothing about you, will judge your character based on that bankruptcy.
Employers who could offer you a fantastic job, will see that you have a bankruptcy, and deny you employment. Your bankruptcy will haunt you for almost a decade, and pop up in strange ways. 6 full years from now, when you have good money, good job, and everything else is good.... you will do something simple, like try to buy a phone, and have them decline you because you have a bankruptcy on your record.
Again, like I said before, I am not trying to talk you out of it. If you have to, then you have to. But understand that it will not be this euphoric clean slate. It won't. Every person that I have met that went through bankruptcy, regrets it.
And additional warning.
Bankruptcy does not change your bills, or how you live, or what income you have. I personally, learned this the hard way. If you do not change something in the equation of your life that created the debt, then you will end up right back in debt.
And listen, this time the lenders will be even more ruthless to you, than they were before. Why? Because they know for certain that you can't file bankruptcy for at least 7 years. So they will do everything they can to get you back in debt, and working to pay them.
This is why people who file bankruptcy often file again. Almost 30% of all bankruptcies, are repeat filers. They filed bankruptcy, went back into debt, and filed bankruptcy again.
You need to think about that. Clean slate doesn't matter if you keep living how you have, that ended up in debt, because you'll end up right back where you are now.
Again, I'm saying this as someone that did it. Don't do that. It sucks to look back a year or more, and realize you are no better off than you were before.