The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

natlie

Lightbulb moment - Many random ones mainly in 2007 but often since- just never ben in a position to pay off debts, in 2005 got a new job then fell pregnant, in 2009 got a large back pay and husband quit work due to depression, 2011 fell pregnant, 2013 lost my job and had to relocate so its been almost impossible to decrease the debt but I sold my house and am now living in rented accommodation which is much better for us


Debt at highest about £14000

Debt free date Today!

Pearl of wisdom - try not to despair, I did everything I could to survive, working 2 jobs 65 hrs a week. I was tired but I knew I needed to carry on. I am lucky to have had a property to sell - don't feel that you have to own a house we love our rental and feel at home here and I wouldn't change things now I feel our owned house kept us limited to the area where we were for far too long!


Once you get money its pretty scary, and I am struggling now trying to find somewhere to put it. Last week I had -£200 in the bank and a payday loan and £14000 with no money for groceries, I have been lucky and I realise this. I wish all of you all the best


Nat
xxx

seasideDreamer

Debt free as of yesterday:j:j:jI think its just about sunk in after all these years.

Debts at their highest £14000 on credit cards, £3000 graduate loan
Debt-Free Date 31/07/14
Pearl of wisdom Pay off the minimum as soon as you get paid and make regular payments throughout the month if you can, no matter how small.
Which forum threads helped you Pay as much as you can in 2012, 2013 threads for pure motivation.

Good luck everyone who is still battling the debt and well done to those of you that have beaten it:T:T

savingmummy

At approx. 10.30am this morning I paid my last debt and I am now officially DEBTFREE - I owe £0.00p AND have a few bob in the bank :J


As a SAHM with NO income its been stupid, selfish and idiotic to even get back into debt - I have NOW learnt my lesson!!


I will NEVER order from catalogues again, I`ve finally realised its not worth it at all!
Some of the things I ordered I didn't have anymore (kids clothing/shoes etc) but I was STILL paying the bill for them!


FEELS so good to know I wont have any bills coming in the door, NOW to start saving............................

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2275809

Karen777

massive congratulations. you are all an inspiration!

gothrockchic1

Congratulations to FlaciosFloozie, natlie, SeasideDreamer and Savingmummy on becoming Debt Free :j

Vicky496

Well I did it! I'm debt free :j
My goal was to do it before I give birth next month
Now I can save enough for my maternity leave and after that towards a house deposit


a. The date of your lightbulb moment

I had several lightbulb moments over the last 5 years... I fell of the wagon and got back on and kept trying!

b. Debts at their highest
c. Debt-Free Date

My debts at their highest were about £12000 - cleared on 25th July 2014! (It's taken me a couple of weeks to post as I wasn't 100% sure it was real!).

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.

I think my pearl of wisdom is not for everyone... having tried really hard to manually clear my credit cards and overdrafts the thing that worked for me was getting a consolidation loan. I think I got a bit obsessed with making savings and paying more off and spent so much time thinking about money that when I fell off the wagon I ended up still thinking about spending all the time - not healthy and usually undid a chunk of good work. I got turned down for a consolidation loan at first though and it was only when I spoke to my bank in person that I got it sorted.

I would say don't push yourself to live too uncomfortably or you're more likely to fall off the wagon and slide part way down the hill.
But DO expect to fall of the wagon - it's kind of inevitable for most people I reckon, just try and get back on quickly!

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you
f. Which forum threads helped you

I used the debt free wanabee boards a LOT. I did various challenges... I really liked doing the make £10 a day challenges and in this last year I've done pay your debts by xmas. I used the MSE guide on finding old bank accounts (found £10 in a childhood savings account!). I use other guides too, too many to mention!

g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it
I had a couple of diaries... earlier ones I deleted cos I felt like I'd shared so much and got paranoid that people would know who I was and I was too embarrassed! The other (more recent one) is here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4980236

pete-20-11

I've been debt free for three years now - it is a great feeling.

Ten years ago, I had £21,000 of debts, although £8,000 of that was a student loan.

I made the mistake of paying off £2,000 off my student loan, when I had some spare cash, whereas I should have just left it in a savings and then used it later.

I bought a new car, using a loan, and then a few months later moved out of the family home - doing both of these at the same time was a mistake, and for a while I was paying for bills on credit cards, building up £3,000 of credit card debt (which I later re-financed onto the loan).

Thankfully I got a new job, with a good payrise, and every time I've had a payrise since I've put most of the increase towards debt repayment.

I haven't paid interest on any credit cards since October 2008 (having cleared the balances) and paid off the personal loan in August 2009.

Then I completed my student loan payments in August 2011 (although I didn't make any further overpayments, having learned my lesson about cheap interest rates!)

LAM2011

I have just called and paid my settlement figure on my loan which makes me officially debt free :j


I can honestly say without having found this forum / website in Jan 2011 I would not be typing this post now.


Debts at Highest : £33,895 (possibly higher it was at this point I realised I needed to take control)


Debt Free Date : 08/08/2014 (Today!!)


Pearl of Wisdom : Write everything down, budget but allow yourself a treat now and again. Get rid of high interest credit cards first. Keep visiting diary land on here - makes you realise you are not alone and you get ideas, support and inspiration to keep going.


Links / forum threads: I found the PPI thread extremely useful - I printed off the forms and got £7,000 back from my bank for the PPI on my loan. The challenges especially pay off as much as you can and this year - pay off your debt by xmas threads. The food budget threads, the old style money saving (one of my favourites) - actually you can find a thread for just about anything you need to know - just love the forums.

moohound

LAM2011 - awesome effort paying all that off, well done on the PPI as well, enjoy your debt free life :beer:

Jonesy88

The date of your lightbulb moment
I never really had one as i wasn't reckless with money, i didn't really need to change my habits. However in Jan 2013 i just got "bored" with making repayments so went on a mission to get debt free asap!

Debts at their highest
£10K +

Debt-Free Date
17/7/14

Your one pearl of wisdom.
Be honest with yourself when you budget. It's false economy to deny youself £1 chocolate bar at the supermarket because you want to keep the food shopping in budget but then spend £5 in the local shop when your craving gets too much!

Links to the MSE guides that helped you
I just had a general nosey over the site.

Which forum threads helped you
The early NSK challenges, the 100 day challenges and the debt free before Xmas thread

And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4453915