The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

Former_MSE_Andrea

Update Tues 6 January 2015

Grand 2014 Total: 92 MSErs Debt Free in 2014! (2013 total: 81)

We've added the last minute additions and are so pleased to announce 92 forumites cleared their debts and joined our Debt-free Roll of Honour in 2014. The full list is below. If you're one of them please come back to tell us what you did next: Debt-free No Longer Wannabes - What they did next.

Here's to beating the total again in 2015


Back on budget, JCL, sandycheeks, fab_and_frugal, black taxi, MummyRivett, Liliyanna, ontheway, bambos, yorpington, Coppertongue, ladymay, Andy_WSM, EMMAP, debtfreeby35?, geefer1982, Missu, VeronicaMars, FeistyFidget, Samiszel, newroadahead, davo51, *Robin*, wackynut, queen of cheap, mizmir, *Mari*, abundant1972, EvergreenDreams, ec86, MerchantMariner, Moneymash, flyingmamma, ruby_eskimo, gollysmissus, Mothermercury30, speakingofart, ailz95, dfbefore30, Cinny91, Hopefuljoy, Hopelessly Hopeful, walby1993, darkpeak, Jonesy88, LAM2011, Vicky496, savingmummy, seasideDreamer, natlie, FlacosFloozie, sallyjo, GreenSaints, LittleMissKitty, sashanut, CGGR, garynuman, Westminster, 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

KirstyO

The date of your lightbulb moment - can't remember the exact date, there was so much going on at the time, but it was somewhere around Christmas 2011


Debts at their highest - £4,398



Debt-Free Date - 2nd Jan 2015 (Happy New Year!)



Your one perl of wisdom - You are not alone, and someone else's debts are always higher than yours!

Which forum threads helped you - general motivational ones, and the ones where I asked a specific question and got a fast response from a number of people giving me options! Options always seem to be more limited when you are in debt, but they do still exist!

newstartstartshere

Im new here and just starting but beginning to read through these.Well wow!!!! Sincere thanks to each and everyone of you that has posted your story here - it gives me hope!
And of course,congratulations!

billywhizz87

ightbulb moment: November 2009
Debts at highest: £12,962

Debt-Free Date: 18 December 2014

Pearl of wisdon: Dont reach outwith your means! I had racked up my debts from overspending in my early 20's. My lightbulb moment came on the run in to my son's first Christmas finding out that i had under £20 left to spend on him after i had paid all my minimum payments+ late fees and bank charges. Was time to get my finger out and give not only my kids but also myself and partner what we deserve and spend the money I work hard to earn rather than pay the debts of a careless younger me.

rising_from_the_ashes

Well .... the day has finally come when I can say I'm DF :j

I've spent most of my adult life in / out of debt & had unsecured debts of £20K+ at one horrific point .....

I cleared the vast majority a few years ago but have never really managed to really get rid of the OD (I'd clear it & then need to use it a couple of months later)

I finally got rid of it for good (and am determined to keep it gone this time!) a few months ago thanks to the money from a PPI claim! :money:

But I was tempted by a new car last year and still had the car finance ......

I put the outstanding balance on my c/card in November (to get the max no of days before having to pay interest) and cleared that yesterday

So - it dawned on me this morning that I am totally DF ..... long may it last


Ohhhhh forgot my pearl of wisdom ...... Budget, budget, budget - it really is the absolute key. 'Robbing Peter to Pay Paul' was the way I lived for many years - it's unsustainable long term as eventually there are too many 'Paul's' at once! Do your budget & stick to it.

Savings pots have been my life-saver - I transfer money to each one on payday and treat the money as if it's been spent on a bill - it's gone!

Sazzie23

Well done Rising, that sort of persistence deserves reward.

Off to budget .....

daisy_1571

Hi, was reading through the mf roll of honour and realised i am supposed to post here to get my debt free badge please ? I would love to have my debt free badge please cos although i have been debt free (other than mortgage) for a long time now, it is still something i am very proud of myself for doing.:j:T:A

thanks, Daisy

tain

Didn't know this existed, so should have posted this a while ago!

Ran my own business selling stuff on ebay, but it went up the swanny. Thought I could recover the losses by racking up massive credit card bills and getting my mum to get huge loans for me. Wound up with something like £35k in debts by the time I faced up to it and calculated exactly what I owed.

Got myself a proper job, and into a debt management plan, 5 years later I finally paid my last debt off.

Now getting married in 8 months (already paid for with no debt @ ~£16k total), saving for a mortgage deposit, and already considering the savings we need for when we plan on popping a couple of kids out shortly after!

cluckyhen

a) my lightbulb moment was 2012 - I was quite ill with PTSD and as my coping mechanisms changed my fear became debts and spending (well splurging)

b) our debt at it's highest was around £27,000 (2008)

c) TODAY! 14.01.15

d) If you think you are owed money by a company who mis sold you something, don't give up if they say no.

e) http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-credit-card-insurance

f) All threads relating to PPI helped!

We say every year we are going to be debt free by the end of it! We have slowly been working our way through the debt. Thanks to the competition board I won our last family holiday as we had put holidays on hold. Thanks to my fear of spending I budgeted our bills, food expenditure etc and managed to put money to one side every month.

Thanks to MSE we have received 2 unexpected cheques this month - both have looked into our previous PPI mis sold complaints and decided that we were actually due our money back (Forces family, lived overseas etc). This means today I have managed to clear off our final £4k of debt!!

I have learnt lessons along the way. Young and naive we ran up credit card debt and took out loans. Now if we don't have the money we save for it or go without! I am proud of how far we have come and even prouder that we can now save our money for us - rather than it going on our debts.

Laconic

I never thought this day would come so soon!

a. LBM -- sometime in June 2012 when it became clear that I had no job, no benefits and owed money to my landlord, on my career development loan, to my family, to the bank and had just been turned down for a hardship grant. Something had to give!

b. Debts at their highest -- around £12k

c. Debt-Free Date
TODAY 15th January 2015. I did sort out some benefits, did appeal successfully for the hardship grant, came to an understanding with my landlord, then found a part time job (which I still have) and paid off overdraft, family and rent arrears, got into a great PhD programme with stipend which helped more and stopped ignoring my financial position (I used to throw away bank statements unopened).

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.
Can I have two? First: negotiate! It's amazing how much can happen when you don't take the first no for an answer and when you keep people fully informed of what's going on.
Second, it's not so much about budgeting as it is about intelligent resource allocation. YNAB has been the method that has worked for me, but others exist.

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you
If I can name just two:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning


f. Which forum threads helped you
So many but I'll highlight two: the moneysaving students board and the Debt free wannabe forum. Thanks for helping me see that my predicament was not special and could indeed be helped.


It doesn't matter where you are: when you put your mind to it, you can do it. I didn't expect to be debt free until 2017 so I'm over the moon. Doubly so given that the inevitable emergencies have arisen on many an occasion.