My debt free story

mummum2

Thank you very much for your inspirational story. Three years into my DF and hopefully another 3 to go till debt free, sometimes feel a bit low, but reading stories like yours certainly gives one a lift! Thanks again and good luck to you and your wife on your debt free life. Can't truly wait for my time, but know with Grace and determination I'll get there.

MM2

MrC1977

Excellent post. it shows there is light at the end of the tunnel for us.

Well done and enjoy your debt free life

jillby

That was a very inspiring and open letter you wrote and shared with us all hun,i to was in debt and dreaded the knock at the door and the phone constantly ringing.I was fed up going to bed every night and not sleeping with worry and stress.Luckily with my husdand and family at my side i tackled the debt head on and can say there is light at the end of tunnel guys.We have now been debt free for just two years and its the best feeling in the world..Site,s like this are an inspiration to many and are fab for advice.thanx to all those who care x

brucie10

That was a very uplifting story and I am sure it will help many others too.

I too am on my way to clearing my debts now. My partner has helped me and cleared a credit card of about £1100. I cleared another myself over time with approx a £400 balance and since then I have cancelled both cards. I balance transferred to Virgin to gain their 18 month no interest deal and am steadily paying off that, the original balance was £2000 and I owe approx £1100 now. I only use this card to make payments on and have destroyed the card itself. That leaves me with one credit card with a balance of approx £370, which is also an interest free one for a year with Tesco. I am keeping this card for credit rating and emergencies and the total credit amount I can borrow is £400.

In addition I took out a loan a few years ago and still owe £6000 on it. I would love to have cleared that to save my £132 monthly repayments but I am going to have to wear this as I can only pay off the whole balance not dribs and drabs. I have another 5 years to go unfortunately.

My partner is debt free and his influence has helped me face up to my spending issues. Its so easy to ignore the bank statements etc. but doing an Excel spreadsheet of all my outgoings/incomings has really helped. Being aware is on the way to taking control. We still go out and have holidays but always budget sensibly for both.

I am a single parent with 3 grown up children, the youngest is off to University this month and he has saved £1800 of his own money by working and keeping birthday money etc. I am very proud of him because he has done it all himself. He will have a student loan and grants but budgets brilliantly. I am taking lessons from him too.

So this is a work in progress and I am sure I can do better. I have found lots of useful tips on this site. I have saved on gas/electric and telephone, Sky Channels, broadband etc etc. I have also sent a mail to see if my house is suitable for solar panels. Look forward to more peoples progress reports.

Happy debt busting. K

namiles

David, what a lovely story. Made me chuckle as I am at the OCD stage, trying to see what I can do without or reduce to save, am aiming to be debt free at the end of this year, was my new year's resolution and it may be done if I continue working out all to the penny. My social life has been affected and I haven't seen much of the summer while I try and find ways of cutting down and repaying. Had taken out one of those 15 year savings plan 7 years ago where payments started at £10 a month and have now gone up to £16, I asked for a surrender value which I was sent at £600, so have asked for it to be cashed in so that I can pay one card off, although I got the are you sure it's wise, however it's better than paying all that interest and when I am debt free I shall be able to save the £600 in a couple of months. I had a few months ago cashed in a £30 a month policy that had been running for 7 years. One thing I would urge people to do is save, that £30 a month brought in over £4000. £30 is not an amount many people would miss each month, but if you can lock it away on one of those 5 or 10 year pain in the a*** to cash in during the early years plans and you get a few thousand, then it all helps. Although the aim is to be debt free by end of this year, realistically it's more likely to be by April next year. I am really looking forward to treating myself to a small shopping spree, not one of those I shouldn't really be buying this dress for £40, convincing myself that if I whack it on the credit card it equates to £10 a month for 4 months. Well done for your inspiration Dave. Good story

beanielou

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story

System

Thank you so much for such an inspirational post. After a year of battling my own debts I hit 'the wall' last month and blew £400 on stuff that I could've lived without. Time to get back on the wagon now though and, with postings like David's, I know it is possible to get out of debt through time and hard work. Thank you!

emab_4

Wow!!! What an insperation.....

My battle is nearly over too. It's been a long hard slog but come January 2011 I will make my last payment and that will be a debt of £25,000 paid off completely.

I lived my life way beyond my means and the past 5 years have been a struggle, sometimes that light at the end of the tunnel is never gonna appear but i'm proud that i've managed to get this far and am counting down my last 4 payments

These boards have been a great help

Thanks one and all who contribute

xxx :beer:

mummum2

Emab,

Well done, your story is also wonderful, here's to a quick countdown for you and happy DF future.:beer:

MM2

persian_star

Hi OP

Our debt stories are very similar - only we are only halfway through! We cut everything back to the bone too, budgeting every last penny and stopping every little luxury. I'm really looking forward to being able to go out and have a coffee again

You're right though, it gets horrendously depressing when you're in the middle of the month, you know you can't spend anything - I get obsessive about my spreadsheet too Which is why posts like yours are so good - they spur us DFW's on, reminding us all we can do it and encouraging us that it's not forever. I find these forums invaluable

Thankyou for sharing