The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

David123456

I have never accessed the forum part of MSE but have taken plenty of advice over the last 5 or so years. I felt compelled to share some advice with other who are on the path to freedom!

Today I made my final debt repayment (excluding mortgage), the feeling is worth the effort of paying down all debts, I can assure you all of this. 12 Months ago my wife and my debt combined was £18,000 split between a loan and two credit cards, 80% of this was refurbishing a property we bought but no other way of borrowing more from our mortgage lender. So not the biggest debt but sizable.

It took 10 months to repay this debt in full, £6990 was repaid once we sold the property to move to a bigger house, but the remaining £11,010 was paid off over 10 months, averaging £1101 per month.

This is how we did it, maybe it could work for you...

1) Cut all non essential spending, this included trawling through our direct debits, cancelling all music subscriptions, credit file checking services etc... this is the money equivalent of a dripping tap!
[Saving £100/Month]

2) Stop eating out so often - So we went from eating out 3 times a week to once. This saved us around £350 a month. You may not spend this much but I bet you spend more than you think on this, or perhaps buying lunches which you could make instead. I have a friend who spends £11 a day on lunch!
[Saving £350/Month]

3) Commit to repaying the debt - want to do it, be empowered by it and enjoy it. This will sound mental but it really helps. Its a game. You win when your debt is £0.00.
[Saving £0/Month]

4) No lottery, No gambling, No scratchcards - a personal bug bare of mine but I saved £40 a month. I have committed to stopping this ongoing.
[Saving £40/Month]

5) Using Topcashback.co.uk - I used this with military precision, took all offers, discounts, bank account incentives, life insurance bonuses, etc... This was tough but yielded £900 in 10 months. This is free money but 9/10 difficulty as it requires a large time investment and managing all the payments going out and stopping these when bonuses are paid.
[Saving £90/Month but this is maybe not for all of you]

6) Reduced our monthly personal sending budget from around £1000 a month to £600. This was fairly simple but it means not buying clothes or buying anything new at all really. The nomadic life for a few months.
[Saving £400/Month]

I think that the underlying theme was to stop the frivolity of wasteful spending.
My wife and I do have very good salaries but this was not the most powerful tool in paying off the debt. Everybody can save a good % off their monthly frivolity, and if your debt is in keeping with your income (ours was 20% of our annual income) then perhaps you can have a similar result but set a realistic time frame. Any payment off a debt is a positive and powerful move.

I hope this is of use to at least some of you and the very best of luck.

David

crazy_cat_lady

Oh, it's my turn now. I have had a few moments of ever wondering if I would get on here - but I am...
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


This was March 2010 when I just couldn't get any more credit from anyone.

b. Debts at their highest


£28447 :eek:

c. Debt-Free Date


6 Nov 2015

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.


Don't lurk on here - get involved. I wish I'd done it years earlier

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you


Reclaim PPI
Cheap Energy Club
Resolver
Martin's weekly email



f. Which forum threads helped you


What small DFW things will you do today?
Ninja Saving Turtle Challenge

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


crazy_cat_lady finds a way forward

And huge congratulations


I definitely wouldn't have gotten here without this site and the fantastic people on it.

The_Only_Girl

Congratulation ccl. Welcome to the club! So pleased for you!

misselvis

Amazing inspirational achievements folks massive congratulations

agent69

Been debt free for some time so don't have precise dates. All I can offer is:

• Debts at their highest were about £75k, when I bought my current house in 1988 (remember interest rates at about 11%)

• pearl of wisdom - life doesn't begin at 40, it begins when you pay off your mortgage.

Roll on early retirement

Sapphire

Light bulb moment There wasn't one, really. I just never felt comfortable having even the smallest debts, perhaps because I know, through my family's experiences before me and when I was small, what it is like to lose everything and be really poor.

Debts at their highest £1,000 I guess, but if I ever had such an amount owing it would be on a card, which I would pay off very quickly, month by month (I remember buying things like a 'forever' cashmere coat and electronic goods this way). Also, before I was freelance I would regularly have a couple of hundred pounds owing on a card, but even this made me feel uncomfortable. I finally stopped that in around 2000, when I felt I needed to tighten my belt due to having less security as a freelancer than when employed full time. Even when I was enticed back to work for some years until 2012, I didn't get back into the habit of having the 'monthly debt', though I do still sometimes put an expensive purchase on a card with a plan to pay it back quickly (I've used interest-free cards for such purposes).

Debt free Around 2000, more or less.

I believe small debts can spiral, and would feel incredibly insecure and unhappy if I had large debts.

This forum has helped me be even more aware of ways to avoid having debts (and why one should do this), and I've used many of the tips posted on it, though I can't think of anything specific except for stoozing. Great site.

Incidentally, I am not counting mortgages in this – I did actually overpay mine and can't believe the sense of relief I had once I'd done that.

Former_MSE_Andrea

We're at 88 debt-free so far this year folks!

Keep them rolling in. If you spot someone celebrating on their diary post the link to the Debt Free Roll!

Former_MSE_Andrea

agent69 wrote: »

Been debt free for some time so don't have precise dates. All I can offer is:

• Debts at their highest were about £75k, when I bought my current house in 1988 (remember interest rates at about 11%)

• pearl of wisdom - life doesn't begin at 40, it begins when you pay off your mortgage.

Roll on early retirement

Fantastic! Love your pearl of wisdom!

If you haven't already check out the Mortgage Free Wannabe Board and the Mortgage guides.

Did you clear your debts this year?

northerngeezer

Lightbulb Moment: September 1997
Debt at highest: £42,000

Debt free date: 1998

Pearl of Wisdsom: Only buy what you need and haggle, haggle and haggle. They can only refuse and if you don't ask you don't get

Want_to_be_free

I am too Debt free - So over the moon!

Lightbulb Moment: April 2010
Debt at highest: £30 K+

Debt free date: Oct 2015 :-)