The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

Ellieseleven · 19 June 2015 at 9:47PM

Well done Happycrafter, an amazing achievement...enjoy your debt-free life xx

maria3104 · 25 June 2015 at 9:18PM

Hi All

I am debt free dh still in massive farm debt, but mine is gone.

a. The date of your lightbulb moment.

Never needed one my debt caused by farming, and low income rural living. Real basic stuff. Not happy shopping for nice stuff. No holidays, glam cars, but C
children through school, through uni, we have enough food, house is warm. All done with constant worry re cashflow, farming costs, farming succession costs, deaths, and other real life events. Feel totally exhausted and just learnt that my health is now deteriorated permanently as a result. So going forward will be more difficult again, but at least no child costs so we will need less. Current disposable income from 2 self employed incomes £3000 per annum for food and living. We currently use £6000.

b. Debts at their highest No idea, constantly in motion. Probably £39000

c. Debt-Free Date 25 june 2015

d. Your one pearl of wisdom. Try to see the bigger picture, focus on pennies, yes, but also remember if you are raising your family, reaching life goals and not borrowing for depreciating assets or just stuff you are progressing with life. Sort of borrow to accumulate. Difficult in farming as it can really be borrow to survive, eat etc. Do not panic.

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you. Random, I dip in and out as the mood takes me. Never defaulted or been late with any payment, just missed a lot of sleep and worked 60 hours a week for 30 years to sometimes peddle backwards so fast like absceiling with no rope.

f. Which forum threads helped you. All of them but the daily DFW day small stuff has kept me smiling and been very supportive. Also like the menus, reading debt diaries, fly lady, grocery challenge. Used to spend £150 a week on groceries, now average £43 a week. In a year £5000 freed up towards other things.

g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it . Never had one, it would have been all over the shot going up and down depending on time of year and state of agriculture.:money:

Sadly it is likely to survive I will be back in debt in Jan 2016, but I am saving hard to try to minimise the damage to my finances between now and then. Please buy British Beef and Lamb. It is much appreciated. :T

Ellieseleven · 26 June 2015 at 7:51AM

Well done Maria, a huge achievement and I wish you well for the future:)

Ellie xx

P.S. I always buy British;)

Igamogam · 26 June 2015 at 5:35PM

maria3104 wrote: »

Please buy British Beef and Lamb. It is much appreciated. :T

Well done Maria. You have done so well. We never eat anything but British and local - I would rather pay more and eat less IYSWIM. Try to eat seasonally too..........you will never see me buying Spanish strawberries or green beans from Kenya! But we do like a few exotics so we have to let them in:( However last year we did have kiwi fruits in our fruit and veg box grown only 3 miles from us - they were delicious and nothing like the carp flown in from half way around the world!!

Keep going and good luck!

StrawberryJam132 · 27 June 2015 at 1:43PM

a. The date of your lightbulb moment:
I've had several :rotfl:I'm the queen of giving up after a few months. But the last LBM was 4.12.14.

b. Debts at their highest £6,000 (roughly).

c. Debt-Free Date 26.6.15!!!!!:j

d. Your one perl of wisdom:
You WILL lose motivation. Just keep the monthly payments up, and try not to think about it. Then, when you look at the figures a few months later you'll be surprised and happy

Also, look on MSE forums for inspiration and motivation.

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you
The paying off debts in a set order (can't remember which one it was). It explained about tackling the smallest/highest interest ones first. Really helped me prioritise and break it down.

f. Which forum threads helped you
DFW, and particularly MFW. I know MFW diaries aren't debt focused, but the stories of their huge dreams and reading as they achieve them made me realise I could achieve mine too. I found the MFW an escape from my depressing world of debt haha.

g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it
I don't have a DFW diary, but I do have a MFW diary that I'm hoping to keep updated: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5128575

On to the next crazy saving goal now :rotfl:

SJ x

Chimping · 28 June 2015 at 4:03PM

Hey,

I only found this forum the day after I became debt free. I came to the site with a view to share how great it feels to be debt free

The date of your lightbulb moment: May 2013. I had just got a car on finance and realised that the amount of debt I was in was preventing me from living the life I wanted.

Debts at their highest: £25,000 May 2013

Debt-Free Date: Friday 26th June 2015

Your one perl of wisdom: Decide what you value most and live accordingly.

I noticed that when I took out a loan to pay for a £9,500 car that I wasn't buying the car because I really liked the car. I was doing it because I wanted to be seen as a success.

I later realised that I value financial freedom and the associated peace of mind than I do with what others may or may not think of me. I now do my best to only invest in what I need and not what I think will impress other people.

kb_soma · 30 June 2015 at 7:18PM

Hi everyone, today is my DFD.

Thanks to all of the support from these forums, I have finally made it.

My lightbulb moment was November 2011

Debts were at their highest at around £9500

My debt free date is today - 30th June 2015

My one pearl of wisdom is - it doesn't matter how or why you got into debt, but that you are dealing with it. You are strong.

Inspirational threads:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4988866a
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5138351

My diary: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4787573b

Thanks to all the support from these sites, I wouldn't have made it without you guys.

Pollygarter · 5 July 2015 at 11:48AM

I love reading this thread. Want to join you. Helps me when the debt feels too difficult to deal with. Small steps. Well done all x

MissShoes · 5 July 2015 at 12:52PM

Waited a long time to be able to post in here! I joined MSE in Dec 2007 and began tackling my debts in 2008. Chronic pattern of overspending, lurching from payday to payday had led me to having iI think 11 credit accounts at one point plus an overdraft and interest rates were shooting up so payment amounts were increasing and I had to take action to stop myself drowning.

When I think back to those early days, I'm really proud of how I coped and found enjoyment and pride in being frugal and clever with what little money I had- creative grocery shopping and meal planning, ebaying constantly and doing what I could to top up my main salary with side income through childminding/babysitting/tutoring/overtime/focus groups etc. At points I really was lucky and other times hard graft got me through.

My salary had increased significantly over the course of my DF journey which did help speed things up.....but of course inevitably slowed things down when things that had been luxuries crept into the necessities category- this wouldn't work for everyone but worked for me. I'm sure I could've become DF several years ago but I added to the debt with a house purchase and modernisation, travelling a lot and an ever increasing wardrobe. Even when doing this, MSE stayed with me and I am pleased to say those habits are still here now I have a very healthy bank balance thanks to the sale of that house. So lucky property buying and selling have catapulted me over the DF finish line and into the black- and now I have the freedom to think about what I want to do for a living, set new MF goals and continue with a financially savvy existence....well I hope at least!

I have loved reading the diaries and the advice everyone gives....must now update my diary! I'm more of a lurker than a poster but this site has definitely been the backbone of my debt free journey.

Lightbulb moment- January 2008

Debts at their highest- £19450 plus probably an extra £20k in interest and extra credit taken out over the last 7 years for home improvements etc

Debt free day- July 4th- payments cleared to creditors...INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Pearl of wisdom- PAD makes a real difference and gives you a feeling of daily progress which is really important when you only have one payday a month.

Increase your income however you can- selling, babysitting, cleaning, tutoring, proofreading, overtime, second job, focus groups etc

Post on your diary regularly to keep focused- something I am still not great at

Find value and worth in simple pleasures that don't cost a lot/free- walks in the evening, candlelit bath, baking, downloading free books, signing up for free preview tickets to films/galleries/plays etc

MSE guides- all of them, saving money on travel and renewing insurances etc, as well as buying and selling houses came in handy

Which forum threads helped you- DFW, PAD, the OS board for dinner inspiration and frugal ways to live the good life

DFW diary- I had a couple only sporadically updated...they're on there somewhere under MissShoes. The last one is called Escaping the Grind....which I have done. At last.

Pollygarter · 5 July 2015 at 5:30PM

Financial Independence Day! Well done to you. Fantastic.

The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

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