A lurkers small celebration! 30 June 2009 at 2:04PM edited 21 July 2009 at 6:50PM in Debt-free wannabe 60 replies 12.6K views

savvy

WOW I've finally done it! :j:j:j:j Today is the day I officially pay the last instalment, meaning I am now not in debt (well aprt from the £6Kstudent loan left to pay )!

Way back at the end of 2003 I was fed up of credit cards and having a smallish debt around my neck. Didn't know where to start but then saw Alvin Hall on TV and got a second hand copy of his book and read it cover to cover, that was my first introduction to snowballing loans :T I knew it wasn't going to be easy to get rid of £12K debt and a £12K student loan with 2 kids on the go and an airhead bf that was in and out of work and spending money like it was going out of fashion :rolleyes:

Then in Feb 2004 I found this little site called MSE :rotfl::rotfl: Honestly, it really WAS small back then, but soooooooo informative, and that's when I started tapping in to Martin's hard work at researching better deals etc, and learning that companies aren't nice to you to help you, it's cos they want your money, I admit I was flattered when they kept giving tons of credit and big overdrafts . But armed with MSE it meant we didn't have to miss out on some of the things that other families were doing and could yet still find the repayment money each month even when me and airhead split up and it was back to single mum again, which was also a lot easier to cope with now I had lots of new pals on MSE to moan to

THEN in 2005 I met my current bf here on MSE and to cut a long story short he sold his house and moved in with me at the end of 2006..........and he very very kindly lent the last £6K of my debt from the sale of his house, and every month I've paid him back £250 without the evil interest, and today is the last payment to him................well next month would be at £111, but I've put some aside to pay the lot off this month instead of next :D

So for the last 2 years I've been able to budget and put money aside for different things like car ins/tax/MOT, holidays, birthdays and christmas, and it makes it so much easier now instead of wacking out the CC and paying off the minimum each month

BUT I still can't go too mad and start blowing that £250 per month, cos my son's Dad has decided he doesn't want to pay maintenance anymore so I'll actually only be £50 richer, and that won't last long as we live in his house (although I pay the mortgage), and we might have to get out soon :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Hey ho, I'll enjoy today :DNot that I think I'll ever be able to be frivolous, even if I won the Lottery! :rotfl:

So despite the sharks and incompetent bumbling idiots like NPower, HMRC, E7even, Eclipse, ScreenSelect, Capital One, Tesco and all the other money grabbing, customer ignoring prats that have tried to rip me off and undermine my goal (I'm not bitter eh? )......................I DID IT :p

But I'd like to personally and genuinely thank Alvin Hall, Martin, Godders, MSE and all it's members for all the hard work and research/reporting/support that they do here too, and everyone who's helped me so far.............THANKS VERY VERY MUCH :A :beer:

EDIT: oh god I forgot to mention the Snowball Calculator - was extremely invaluable to me all the way through!



PS to SS - I know I never posted my SOA here I'm sorry, but seeing the amount of debt you and many others were in here, I just didn't feel I could whinge about my small debt, didn't seem right

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Edinburghlass_2

Well done savvy, and thank you for your friendship and the fun over the years.

savvy

Awww thanks Edilass, you too...............oh and your BG guidance :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

churchrat

:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:

lorweld

Biggest congrats Savvy :j:j

You are an inspiration to those that are in debt & feel that there is no way out. YOU DID IT.

Well done, you've so much to be proud of

Numpty_Monkey

That is brilliant savvy:j:beer::T
and from such along time , it gives people hope and inspiration :T:T

The Debt Free Roll of Honour. Awaits:T:T:T:T:T

gargrave50

Well done what an achievement - i've started on my way to joining you. What a wonderful feeling, pour a glass of wine (half price offer one of course) and feel properly smug!!!!

savvy

lorweld wrote: »

Biggest congrats Savvy :j:j

You are an inspiration to those that are in debt & feel that there is no way out. YOU DID IT.

Well done, you've so much to be proud of

Thanks lorweld, I hope I can inspire some to keep plugging away and see there IS a light at the end of the tunnel Even small steps adds to the big journey, but at times you just don't see that :rolleyes: I think that's why this board is one of the best on the site, especially the debt diaries, and especially SS's he's done waaaaay better than me on his journey and it's been that that's kept me focussed at times

savvy

Numpty_Monkey wrote: »

That is brilliant savvy:j:beer::T
and from such along time , it gives people hope and inspiration :T:T

The Debt Free Roll of Honour. Awaits:T:T:T:T:T

LOL yeah quite a long time I guess, but I've had some incomes stopped like maintenance/child benefit/tax credit so put me back a bit, and then a few fiasco's along the way, most notably NPower who caused me a £700 phantom debt and slung me over to the most atrocious and verbally abusive of debt collecters when in fact it was their mistake all along!! :mad::mad::mad:

And then there's still the Tax Credit fight, but I don't count that as a debt seeing as I did what they said and yet they are accusing me of lying - but I'm happy to go to court if they want as I have evidence against them they don't know about

Roll of Honour here I come then

savvy

gargrave50 wrote: »

Well done what an achievement - i've started on my way to joining you. What a wonderful feeling, pour a glass of wine (half price offer one of course) and feel properly smug!!!!

Ahh thanks gargrave and of COURSE it will be a half price one as I say I just can't imagine me ever being flippant with money

Well done on joining me if you ever want any motivation just pm me and I'll kick your butt for you, gently of course :rotfl::rotfl:

hypno06

Hurrah :T:T:T

Many congratulations, and although you won't actually be better off once the ex stops his payments, at least you won't have this millstone of debt around your neck!

Enjoy!!