Revised First Time Posters Thread

Welcome to MoneySavingExpert.com and the Debt Free Wannabe board.

This is your complete guide to start your journey to a better, debt free life.

First things first, well done for confronting your debt. This is known on here as your "light bulb moment" :idea: . This is the biggest, and hardest, step you will probably take so if you can do this you CAN become debt free.

You may be feeling a lot of mixed emotions right now. Fear, anger, relief, embarrassment, happiness. These are all commonplace. But you are not alone. Everyone on this board is here for the same reason. Because we’re in debt. We have all got here through one way or another. But what is important is everyone is in the same boat and you will not be judged or ridiculed.

The members on here are so genuine and helpful it is unbelievable. I don't think there is much between us that we can't help with, debt wise or otherwise.

OK let's get down to the nitty gritty so to speak.

For other DFW (Debt Free Wannabe) users to be able to offer you the best and most appropriate advice we need you to provide us with as much information as possible. You don’t have to include your life story (although the nosier ones won’t mind if you do ) but we do need to know every penny you have coming in, and every penny going out. The more accurate and detailed you are the better the advice will be. We call this a SOA (statement of affairs). You will need to include all wages, benefits etc coming in, and all your spending. Doing it monthly makes things alot easier. For working out monthly costs from weekly, mulitply by 52 then divide by 12. Also at the end include a separate list of all your debts. Include all your balances, APR’s, credit limits, minimum payments, terms of loans. Anything you don’t know phone your creditors up and get the information.