The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

ashok2508

Total Debt: £246,000
highest interest rate for debt : 3.9% - 10k
most debt is on 2.39%

RosaBernicia

Lightbulb moment: 2008. Ish. It flickered!
Debts at their highest: about £14,000
Debt-Free Date: 25 May 2016

Pearls of wisdom:

• Find ways that work for you - everyone's situation and needs are different. I worked full time and studied as well, so had little spare time to use for an additional job or daily clicks. But I did take on acting up roles at work, which made extra income, and found ways to reduce costs that fit with my needs (eg emergency meals in freezer for the nights I am too wiped out to cook avoids the temptation of takeaways).
• Track everything. Even when it's scary to look at. If you don't know where you're at, you can't plan well for where you want to be.
• Join the Debt Free Diaries. It gives you somewhere to talk about this stuff where it's completely normal and you learn loads from people doing the same. And make friends
• Real friends in real life understand.

Links to the MSE guides that helped you:
I used the car insurance guides and other sections of the site as needed.

Which forum threads helped you:
Debt Free Wannabe and Debt Free Diaries regulars - including Lula-Hula, Shoegal, Buffy, ZTD, Souk08, Knitting Nora, MuffinTops, Kerrigt, Vasseur, and DoingItAnyway

And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it:
It's in my sig


THANK YOU to all the MSE website and forum teams - this is a wonderful resource and community.


Rosa xx

moneycantbuyyouhappiness

Lightbulb Moment - 17th August 2015

Debts at their highest - £7632.32

Debt free date - 26th May 2016

Your one pearl of wisdom - A diary makes you accountable. Even if you don't post everyday have a read everyday the enthusiasm on here is infectious. You can make as many attempts as you want but one day it will just click. Trying to change your attitude towards money is easier that constantly trying to tame your inner spender!

Links to the MSE guides that helped you - None specifically.

Which forum threads helped you - Way to many to list, just having a read of this forum everyday helped me stay on track.

And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5307754 - Not very interesting reading but here you go.

:beer:

Tiglath

The date of your lightbulb moment - back in about 2006, I think
Debts at their highest - approx £150,000
Debt-Free Date - 28th May 2016
Your one pearl of wisdom. Keep plugging away.
Links to the MSE guides that helped you - too many to mention. I went oldschool down to the final penny and looked at everything, even to the point of saving coppers to pay back into my bank account.
Which forum threads helped you - again too many to mention. Pretty much everything.
And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4292439

sistercas

Lightbulb moment 2008 it's been slow progress with some ups and downs

Debt at its highest £40000

Debt free date. May 2016

Pearl of wisdom To get inspiration from these forums , so much incredible information , so many inspirational stories , I couldn't have done it without MSE and everyone on it

Check your money every day and account for every penny , don't buy on a whim , stop and think before you buy , do you really need it

Forums which have helped : without doubt old style money saving , so much information on how to reduce spending , making do , cheap recipes and amazing support

Debt free wannabe and snowball calculator

Thanks to everyone for the fantastic support

HornetSaver

Lightbulb moment - Twofold really - discovering that I needed to move out of parents' house shortly after taking on a car loan, (June 2015) and realising just what a bad deal the car loan was and how little I was doing about it (December 2015 - I joined MSE later that month).

Debt at its highest - £12,000 (in reality a bit lower as I kept some savings in reserve to cover unexpected costs from moving, probably a net £10,000). Split about 50/50 between the car loan and the bank of mum and dad.

Debt-free date - 1st June 2016

Pearl of wisdom - controlling spending in a sustainable way is the key. If your income is £1000 over a given period of time, and your outgoings in that period are £900, you're only ever going to be £100 up. This site contains many pearls of wisdom on how to boost your income, many of which I've taken advantage of. But I found that while reducing spending was the harder part of the equation to kick-start, it has proven to be the easier part of the equation to sustain. Apart from takeaways (quicker than cooking though neither as cheap or healthy, and rarely as tasty), I really haven't noticed any difference to my quality of life by watching the pennies and pounds more carefully.

Best MSE guides - Cheap car insurance, Best bank accounts were the two that helped the most, with an honourable mention to Boost your income. Moving forward I'll keep using those three, and the 5% savings loophole will also serve me very well.

Most helpful threads - The biggest gamechanger to the way I approached my situation was the 1% challenge, which I'm still following. Stretching the question slightly, the Old Style Moneysaving board has probably been my biggest source of tips, tricks and sustainable strategies for cutting everyday spending.

No debt-free diary for me, as I had a habit of starting to write things and then not following them through. Unfortunately I have taken a similar approach to saving in the past, which is probably why I needed to borrow for a car in the first place. Writing wise that's just the way I am, but money wise I've definitely learned my lesson and am determined to keep the saving train rolling in preparation to buy my own home in a few years.

Gladioli

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
The day I registered on here 02/01/2015
b. Debts at their highest
North of 20k - however since our lightbulb moment we have paid off 18k
c. Debt-Free Date
02/06/2016
d. Your one perl of wisdom.
Don't beat yourself up if you fall off the waggon, it is a marathon not a sprint
f. Which forum threads helped you
I love the Milestone Inn... always made me smile and encouraged me to celebrate the small accomplishments

Kate_fixing_it

Dear God I have dreamed about the day I'd get to post on this thread!!!

1. Date of LBM: 17th October 2013 and May 2014 when I called Stepchange
2. Debts at their highest circa £16,000
3. DFD: 3rd June 2016. 5.45pm
4. Pearl of Wisdom: You are not alone and you can't change the past so post here, ask for support and advice and NEVER give up.
5. Thread that helped the most: DMP Support Thread. I cannot tell you how many times the regular posters on that thread saved me from doing stupid things to shift the debt (that wouldn't work), from falling apart, from my own destructive thoughts, from so much. I can never thank them enough.

This is truly one of the best days of my life

Kate x

black_taxi_2

nice one Kate

stekka

I never thought this day would come! But here I am, posting that I've paid off all my debts. Wow, that feels good to type!

Lightbulb moment: September 2009
Debts at their highest: £56,000
Debt-Free Date: 28/05/2016
Pearl of wisdom: Don't hide from your debts. Tackle them - head on, and you will soon start to enjoy life again. I promise.
Which forum threads helped: ALL of them. It is truly enlightening to read others situations and to know that you are not alone. The guidance and advice given is second to none, and I am truly thankful to everyone who contributes!

Steve