woohoo...£50k gone!!!!

Smoggy_2

hi folks, long time lurker here, never really posted before but have used this forum as a guide to avoid falling off the debt free wagon! Anyway had LBM 2 years ago when i totted up our unsecured debts were getting on for £50k.Between the wife and me we have always had pretty decent paying jobs, but (big)University debts/kids/cars/hols/gadgets/etc meant we were living beyond our means for years - regular payrises kinda hid the fact we werent getting anywhere with paying anything back - until one montth we found the bank account empty only halfway through the month. the light came on!
2 years later, no more gadgets, cars, daft holidays etc and the last credit card has just been paid off. Frankly its the first time in my life i havent owed money to anyone - its a wonderful feeling. Its been hard at times - having never missed a payment and decent incomes we are constantly badgered by loan companies, banks etc, and its tempting sometimes....so i come back here to remember whats important - a new Audi, or big daft TV isnt.
To all of you trying to get out off the mess that the last few years silliness has led to....keep going, it'll get there eventually, try to avoid distractions that are out there all the time, trying to suck you back in to the debt trap. Screw 'em!

Anyway my plan now is to change career to one i enjoy, where the main deciding factor isnt the paypacket, but one that makes me wake up in a morning knowing that i dont dread going to work, but have to go to pay off the debts. Its the first day of the rest of my life!!

Bethankim

wow brilliant :j:j

Although i didnt manage avoid my the path i went down, i do understand doing a job you enjoy. After a very long illness i start college on the 14th to train as a holistic therapist something i really wanted to do for years. I was stuck in a job i had come to hate, and caught up in the salary trap..

Good luck on your new direction, you have done brilliantly. you and your wife have given yourself the freedom now to do anything you want.

Catzpaws

Congratulations on escaping the debt trap... You and your wife have done amazingly well. You now have the luxury of freedom of choice - not on what thing to buy but on what to do with your lives. Well done.

If I can become debt-free in 2 years time, I will be ecstatic!

CP x

Shoe_Gal

:j:j:j well done to you both, fantastic achievement :A

BeautyandtheBeast_3

Excellent well done!!! im still plodding on but i have a job i love!

rubyslipper

Inspirational. Well done x

dorisday

Quite some years ago I did exactly what you did, the cars/gadget/holidays/designerclothing etc etc. Now some years later at the age of 62 im still paying for the silliness. It will take me many many more years to pay these debts but I now have a job I like (much less money but no stress) and I have found the best way to stay out of debt is KEEP OFF THE CREDIT CARDS try handing over £150 in cash for a pair of designer sunglasses. Always pay in cash at least you know it is paid for and sometime in the future no DCA is going to knock on your door because you have spent too much money on your credit card and find you cant pay the bill.

dorisday

OOps I forgot to say well done, just keep remembering how you felt when you owed this money and the feeling you now have when you dont.

Lemon_Tree

congratulations on your achievement.

Oeillade

Brilliant, well done! It really was a LBM if you haven't just paid off the debts but changed so much you won't get into debt again. Wow, impressed. Thanks for posting and giving the rest of us encouragement that it can be done.

iforwms

A great achievement, well done!!