The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

pete-20-11

suite001 wrote: »

Hi,
Your story brings so much hope to me! I am at my wit's end - I am a single parent, I work part-time and I have to find £500 every month to pay my bills. I think I will take your advice and call CCCS but I am so embarrassed and ashamed. None of my family know and I am too scared to tell them but I need to take that first step.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

Please do call them (or Step Change as they are now called).

I know someone who has used them and it was a massive help, really good and really friendly.

Coppertongue

I became debt-free a few weeks ago after losing my job and getting a redundancy payment that was not only generous enough to clear the debt but also to put aside some savings. I've also started using YNAB to help me budget. Currently without a job and looking around, but enjoying having a bit of a break from the last 30 years of unrelenting slog!

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - Feb 15th 2006
b. Debts at their highest - around £13,000
c. Debt-Free Date - Nov 25th 2014
d. Your one pearl of wisdom. - Found on this forum: "Everything you spend is just to make someone else money. Don't go through life lining others' pockets".
e. Links to the MSE Guides that helped you - I didn't use any of the guides, but occasionally read through them for inspiration.
f. Which forum threads helped you - All of DFW. Just seeing that I wasn't alone made me feel less, well, alone!

(Not actually a newbie, by the way. I changed my account for personal reasons. I've been around for a while otherwise!)

debtfreeby35?

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - Oct 2006
b. Debts at their highest - Around £25K
c. Debt-Free Date - 3 December 2014
d. Your one pearl of wisdom. - Never pay someone for debt advice/help
e. Links to the MSE Guides that helped you - I didn't use any of the guides
f. Which forum threads helped you - Debtfree wannabee

Oh and thanks for my shiny badge, it's lovely!!

yorpington

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - September 2011
b. Debts at their highest - around £13,000 but I ended up paying a lot more off because it took me a long time to really stick the DFW lifestyle!
c. Debt-Free Date - November 2014
d. Your one pearl of wisdom - take advantage of all the motivational tools available to you. I read the forum every day, I had small, reachable goals, I read books like 'The Millionaire Next Door' and listened to Dave Ramsey's podcast.
e. Links to the MSE Guides that helped you - I've used quite a few of them. Even reading ones which don't necessarily apply to you can be good motivation and help you understand personal finance in a broader way.
f. Which forum threads helped you - All of DFW. I have been a very haphazard poster but a loyal reader, and just knowing you aren't alone helps so much!

Karen777

well done all of you!! brilliant and cheering for the rest of us!

bambos

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Update Fri 13 June 2014

Big congrats to araminta who finished clearing over £30k on Saturday

34 MSErs Debt Free in 2014 so far! (2013 total to beat: 81):

araminta, pigpen, emmaglet, sourcrates, Stormy Petrel, Special Brew, HOK3Y, carlislelass, Billy-no-Money, TOOMUCHWORRY, xJoJox, shyspender, brizzledfw, jaydeeuk1, MrsGSR. sistafromanothermista, kataklysm, clippy_girl, Bailey25, Sea78, Domayne, beanielou, trying hard, lornz23, preable, Unicorns, ridgers84, lornz23, SavingSassy, RockPaperScissors, AnnieBox, Sandypan, yamsteroo and ianmak

We started this Debt Free Roll of Honour back in 2006 and since then there have been some fabulously inspiring stories, which you'll see if you read below. To read the most recent click to the last page of the discussion thread.

----

Welcome to the Debt-Free Roll of Honour.

This is for Debt-Free Wannabees who are no longer Wannabees.

Please report

a. The date of your lightbulb moment 01/01/14
b. Debts at their highest £11,500
c. Debt-Free Date 01/12/14
d. Your one perl of wisdom. its never too late
e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you
f. Which forum threads helped you DFW was the best support network
g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it

And huge congratulations

Martin

PS Please no one else post - let's keep this a pure record of successes

PPS Please come back to let us know Debt-free No Longer Wannabes - What they did next" discussion to tell us what you've been up to."

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A truly liberating feeling to be free at last

Ellieseleven

Well done to all of you who are ending 2014 debt free. I love reading when one of us becomes debt free, I find it such an inspiration:)

ontheway_2

The date of lightbulb moment - summer 2004
Debts at their highest - £64,000 (aaaaargh)
Debt-Free Date - April 2014
Your one perl of wisdom - you are never as alone as you feel. Face the truth (e.g. checking bank balance: the only difference will be that you will know about it!)
Links to the MSE guides that helped you - can't put a link at present, but really found the budget planner useful.
Which forum threads helped you - for me, it was benefiting from the help, companionship and non-judgemental advice that other forum users so generously provided.
I will never get myself in that position again. There, I've made it public. xxxx

Sazzie23

ontheway wrote: »

The date of lightbulb moment - summer 2004
Debts at their highest - £64,000 (aaaaargh)
Debt-Free Date - April 2014
Your one perl of wisdom - you are never as alone as you feel. Face the truth (e.g. checking bank balance: the only difference will be that you will know about it!)
Links to the MSE guides that helped you - can't put a link at present, but really found the budget planner useful.
Which forum threads helped you - for me, it was benefiting from the help, companionship and non-judgemental advice that other forum users so generously provided.
I will never get myself in that position again. There, I've made it public. xxxx

Yahoo, :j :jwell done :T:T

Liliyanna

What a brilliant Christmas pressie, I've been paid early due to the Christmas bank holidays so have paid off the last £800 of our debt. My best present this year will definitely be my debt free badge



a. The date of your lightbulb moment - 1st Jan 2013
b. Debts at their highest - Just over £42,000
c. Debt-Free Date - Today - Christmas eve 2014
d. Your one pearl of wisdom - Have faith in yourself, you can do this, it's a very bumpy road but don't loose sight of your end goal. (Yellow stickers and batch cooking were a god send as well)
e. Links to the MSE Guides that helped you - None particularly but all were read as a source of motivation.
f. Which forum threads helped you - The old style board for inspiration and the DFW board to get a better understanding of how to debt bust. I've read over all of the boards to be fair to educate myself on all types of money issues in the hope I never get myself into this mess again!! Forewarned is forearmed as they say :cool:


Happy Christmas everyone :j:j :beer: :j:j