The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

babyplum

Well done naughtymonkey!! Good feeling isn't it.

7roland8

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
Probably 2010 when benefit cut drastically and I realised that having high amounts on cards was really a bad idea! We had been helping two sons through uni in small ways and it was all adding up.
b. Debts at their highest
Just over 9k - not enormous by some standards but I only get DLA and hubby home ill too so not much coming in. Spent a lot of time changing balances to benefit from the 0%.
c. Debt-Free Date
I was working on it being next year but managed to clear by March 2015. Managed to get it down to just over 4 just after Christmas, then hubby had small insurance out and managed to clear the lot - so never again!
d. Your one pearl of wisdom.
Its amazing how much you can cut down and what you can do without when you have to.
e. Which forum threads helped you.
Old style for tips for not buying stuff and grabbit for getting really cheap items as gifts.


Now children left home less expenses anyway.

But in a way I was enjoying the keeping a tight reins on things and seeing the totals coming down each month.

Though did not enjoy when hubby benefit got stopped for a few weeks last year and we had to appeal -and was worrying how I would make all the repayments.

Rebecca_Palmer

briona wrote: »

Lightbulb moment: July 2005

Debt at highest: £3850

Debt-Free Date: March 2006

Pearl of wisdom: Look at just one extravagance and work out the annual cost. For me it was a real wake up call to see that my £2-a-day chocolate habit was costing me over £500 per year – around 1/8 of my total debt! Crazy! By cutting out just one [stupid] spend, I became more inspired to reduce other spending.

I had a the same realization! I didn't realize that the coffee I drink every morning is equivalent to my monthly mortgage. We would have paid off our house earlier if I was not buying coffee from Starbucks every morning for the last 5 years!!! :mad:

Philis_Burrell

We have finally completed the payment for our apartment around 6 months ago. Actually, it really took a toll on our finances the past 8 years. There had been a lot of struggles along the way but we surpassed it. Now we can focus on our personal savings.

tiredmumof2

I love this support threaad. All of your achievements are a great inspiration. We were looking at 14years of repayments, but thanks to all the saving advice we're now looking at paying it back in 9 years total (that's if I don't find other ways of saving and increasing our payments!). Hoping to be DF this side of 2020. Congratulations to all

Zabki

Yay, finally woho


a. The date of your lightbulb moment
December 2011, kick off date 1st Jan 2012

b. Debts at their highest
Not really sure as I started to pay of without completely adding them up, couldn't face the truth in the beginning. Prob £15,000ish

c. Debt-Free Date
20th April 2015

d. Your one perl of wisdom.
Don't be ashamed of your debts, tell friends and family and they will help you stick to your budget and understand why you don't eat when out with them and just nurse one drink for the rest of the evening.

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you
Balance shifting, eligibility calculator, the Demotivator and the guides on credit reports (love the noddle free one).

f. Which forum threads helped you
Not one in particular but all in general, fantastic forum, fantastic resources, good job MSE and all on this forum.

[Deleted User]

I have been debt free for a few of years now.

My LBM was when I discovered the MSE website and I looked at House Insurance - at the time I was paying £35 per month to my bank who had encouraged me to take this with them when I took out my mortgage. Back then I didn't know any better. After looking at alternatives I realised I could get House Insurance for around £15 per month - a massive saving. That was me hooked on MSE.

Debts at their highest - around 20k plus mortgage.

Debt free date - Sometime in 2011.

Pearl of Wisdom - the security of having no debt is better than all the 'stuff' I bought.

Challenges that helped me - jwil's Pay off as Much As You Can Challenge (don't think this is there anymore), the OS Grocery Challenge, Frugal Living Challenge.

joee

The date of your lightbulb moment
I am not sure of the specific date, I returned to work in May 2012 after a four month absence from work because of physical and mental health conditions – I realised two days after I got paid I only had £2.57 for the rest of the month. It was then I realised that I could no longer carry on the way that I was living.

Debts at their highest

Creditors £10,634,82 rising to £10,806.23 because of additional interest and charges.
£1,750.00 to friends and family

Debt-Free Date

Today – 6th May 2015 :j :j :j

Your one pearl of wisdom.
I have a few because I am a rebel without a cause! J

Letters can be scary but their contents won’t change, if you are feeling scared I found it helpful to just take a peek first and then open it fully.
If you are on a DMP with StepChange check out this link http://www.stepchange.org/Existingclients/DMPclients.aspx - it is full of interesting and useful information
Write down every transaction so you are aware of your incomings and outgoings and you will know if you can afford something.
Be gentle with yourself – you need to remember that you are dealing with your debt and that is in itself an achievement.

Links to the MSE guides that helped you
Mental Health & Debt
Benefits Check Up

Which forum threads helped you

DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10 - The current discussion thread
DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9
Who knows ? In debt & suicidal, you are not alone, read on PLEASE

The DFW Challenges -
Sealed Pot Challenge" ~ 8 – The current challenge
Sealed Pot Challenge" ~ 7
Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2015!

For Inspiration -

A Thread for After Debt?
Welcome to the Milestone Inn!
Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Debt Diaries

I saw these diaries when I first joined the forums, it was honour to share these members journeys.

Memoirs of a Sista.......
The unthinkable has happened...redundancy

And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it

I do have a diary but it has not been updated since October 2013 but here is the link any way - Help! I feel as though I am drowning in debt

Acheron

Don't know what to do... If I'd done an IVA when I'd first gotten in touch with Stepchange (CCCS), I'd have been debt-free a long time ago. I'm reduced to paying the bare minimum because my reduction in salary dictates it which means my debt will not be paid off for another 26 years. Very depressing. I wrote to all of the companies to ask them to write off the debt - just one out of six replied saying "no". Another wanted a letter from my doctor to get it even looked at (I laid it on about stress etc.) . The rest simply didn't reply/ignored the letter.


My job means I cannot go bankrupt - if I did, I'd lose my job which is just not an option. Is an IVA the right way out of this? Is there anything, given I've been paying for last seven years with no visible sign of it being over, I can do to get it wiped so I can rebuild my life again?


Thanks in advance.


A.

allydowd

The date of your lightbulb moment

2006

Debts at their highest

£12,000

Debt-Free Date

Today – 8th May 2015

Your one pearl of wisdom

Don't give up. Turn your electric alarm clock off during the day. If yours is radio controlled it'll reset itself when you turn it back on.

Links to the MSE guides that helped you

Credit card comparison
Car insurance advice

Which forum threads helped you

What small debt free wannabe things will you be doing today?

:beer: